Amish Buggy Doing Donuts

According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, the following definitions can be applied to "donuts," which is the Americanized spelling of "doughnuts."

1 : a small usually ring-shaped piece of sweet fried dough
2 : something (such as a mathematical torus) that has a round shape like a doughnut
3 : a controlled skid that sends an automobile into a tight circle of at least 360 degrees —usually used in the phrase "do donuts"

The following YouTube video clip is a demonstration of the third definition, done not by a car, but by an Amish buggy.

I probably wouldn't have shared this clip here except that this occurred in the neighboring small town of Grabill. So this is one of "our" Amish.

Following is a little map of the area where I live. I thought it would give you an idea of how the communities that I sometimes talk about here are situated in relation to each other.

The tiny map in the upper left-hand corner shows the state of Indiana and how it is divided into counties. The county highlighted in red is Allen County, where Fort Wayne is the largest city. Actually, Fort Wayne is the second-largest city in the state, after the state capitol, Indianapolis.

Huntertown (northwest of Fort Wayne) is where I lived when I had the horses. Doug and I currently live in Harlan, northeast of Fort Wayne. Grabill, where the video clip was taken, is about four miles northwest of Harlan. New Haven is where our church is. 

Speaking of our church, here is a picture of it:

This photo was taken in 2013. A lot of work has been done on the church since then, so I really need to get an updated photo of it.

I hope you've enjoyed this little tour of my home area and that the Amish video clip gave you a chuckle.

More From Our Back Roads Amish Tour

After our visit to the Amish school on September 26, our next stop was at an Amish home, where Lena, the woman of the house, talked with us about a typical day in the life of an Amish wife.

Above is a picture of Lena's home. She actually met with us in a separate building, though, one she said they had built for family gatherings.

Our bus driver, Jan, who is also an associate pastor at our church, didn't think I was taking enough pictures. So he grabbed my camera and began taking some shots, surreptitiously, because Amish don't like to have their pictures taken. The photo on the left above shows Lena, her two-year-old son, and our guide, Allen, from the Blue Gate. The photo on the right above shows part of our group and the room in which we met.

Jan easily relates to children, and the little boy was quickly drawn to him. When Jan teasingly asked him if he'd like to go home with him, Lena told Jan that her son probably had no idea what Jan was saying. She said Amish children are not normally taught English until they go to school, although she and her husband usually started them at about age five. Until then, they speak exclusively in German.

Wash Day

Our group with our church bus

Cat in the flower bed, photo taken by Jan

Our final stop on this tour was at the home of an Amish bishop. As much as I enjoyed the previous two stops, this was my favorite by far. The bishop, Glen, and his wife, Carolyn, invited us into their home for the visit. The two of them sat at the kitchen table, while we sat on an assortment of chairs that had been provided for us in the same room.

Glen is 72 years old. His wife of fifty years had died a few years earlier, and he had married Carolyn, who is 20 years his junior, just over two years ago. Carolyn had never been married before and had worked among English most of her life. So English came easily to her. Not so with Glen, who rarely spoke anything but German. As a result, he occasionally had to look to Carolyn for help in finding the right words as he talked with us about his life as a bishop and the process by which an Amish bishop is chosen. 

Glen has been serving as the bishop of his church district for 30 years. Amish bishops receive no pay for holding that position and must earn their living by other means. Glen is a farmer and also raises deer, one of which is pictured below.

As we left Glen and Carolyn's home, Carolyn gave each of us a freshly baked cinnamon roll that was absolutely melt-in-your-mouth delicious!

Of course, that delicious cinnamon roll didn't keep us from stopping at a local restaurant for lunch afterward.

Our Group at the 5 & 20 Restaurant

Lastly, we found time for a little shopping before heading for home. The following two photos were taken from the parking lot of the shopping complex.

This is the second year that our church has taken this tour. Doug and I couldn't go last year. But I hope we'll be able to do it again next year.

An Amish Schoolhouse

On September 26, Doug and I joined other senior adults from our church for a Back Roads Amish Tour in Shipshewana, Indiana. The area in and around Shipshewana is home to the largest Amish settlement in the state, and the third-largest nationwide. 

The tour was arranged through Blue Gate, a major tourist attraction in Shipshewana, which includes motel, theater, and restaurant. Blue Gate provided a knowledgeable guide who made advance arrangements for our group to visit an Amish school, an Amish housewife, and an Amish bishop.

Today's post will focus on the Amish school.

Amish Schoolhouse

The large classroom accommodates grades 1 through 8. The grades are divided between the father and daughter who serve as teachers, with the intent of giving each teacher approximately the same number of students. Since some grades have more students than others, the division isn't quite perfect. I believe the daughter had 15 on her side of the classroom, while the father had 17 on his side. A curtain can be drawn between the two sides to help reduce distractions between the groups, but it can also be pulled back to allow the groups to participate together in common activities such as singing.

There is an apartment on the second floor, to accommodate a teacher that might need it; but it isn't currently in use. 

I'm not sure what the Amish would call this; but, when I was in school, we would have called it a "cloakroom." This side appeared to be for the girls' wraps and lunch containers. There was another room on the other side of the entrance for the boys' things.

Each of these plastic cups had the name of one of the students written on it in permanent marker. This was on the side of the girls' cloakroom. I imagine there was another just like it in the boys' cloakroom. I was trying to be inconspicuous about my picture taking and didn't make it over to the boys' side.

This is a little better picture of the front of the schoolhouse, taken as our group was leaving.

And this last photo is a shot of the playground, with a slide, swings, and teeter-totters, as well as the bicycles which the students had ridden to school.

Amish, including the teachers, don't attend school beyond the 8th grade. Our guide told us later that the male teacher at this school had written the story problems for all the math books for all the grades, with each story problem dealing with things found in Amish culture.

Our group sat on benches at the back of the classroom, while the teacher provided information about the school and answered our questions. Then he led the students in a song for us before we left.

This has already become a long post, so I'll save the next two stops for the next post.

Pony Among Draft Horses

I posted a picture of this little pony among a pasture of draft horses a few weeks ago. We just find it fascinating how he bonds with his much larger pasture-mates. He's usually right in among them, rather than drifting off by himself. Sometimes we even see all the horses trotting across the field with Little Guy in the lead, as if he's the one they all look to for leadership.

There are a couple of other ponies on this Amish farm, but they are kept in a separate pasture. Doug thought maybe Little Guy was a stud and that they were keeping him from the pony mares. Could be. There's not much risk that he's going to sire a foal with one of these Belgian mares.

Recently, though, we've seen a pony mare and her foal in the same pasture with Little Guy and the Belgians. The pony foal and Little Guy seem to enjoy chasing each other around the pasture. I'll try for photos of that soon.

An Assortment

Here are several mostly unrelated photographs that I've taken while practicing with the Canon EOS Rebel T3i.

A neighbor's Sheltie, two houses away.

A pony among draft horses. The larger horse next to the pony is a draft horse foal. I had to shoot across two pastures to get this picture. Someday, I hope to get a better photo, showing the leadership role that this little guy seems to play among his much larger peers. Of course, he's at a bit of a disadvantage when they pair up to scratch each others' backs.

Storm clouds in the east, lit by the setting sun.

Rain collecting in a mushroom in our back yard.

Daisy-like flowers next to the water's edge at Ouabache State Park.

A cropped section of the previous photo, showing a bee on one of the blossoms.

Another shot of the same group of flowers.

My photo doesn't do this flower justice. It was a tiny fuchsia-colored flower growing in the grass at Ouabache State Park.

That's it for now. Back soon with more.

Hope everyone had a great July 4th. For those of us in the United States, that date holds a special significance.

Some Amish Farm Scenes

One of the things I enjoy about walking at the reservoir is that the path, on top of the high bank surrounding the water, allows good views of the Amish farms that surround the reservoir. Following are several photos  taken at the reservoir on June 19th.

Amish woman cutting hay

An open gate between pastures

An Amish barn

A panorama view showing two houses and the same barn from the prior photo

Solar Panels

This is the farm where the construction was going on in a previous post.

Many of the Amish have built separate buildings on their property, where they can host the church meetings when their turn comes up in the rotation. Church meetings used to always be in the homes of the various families in the district, but more and more of these separate buildings are appearing on Amish farms.

And here is one last picture of an Amish farm.:

  

This one is not near the reservoir but can be seen from a highway that we frequently travel. It was a late-afternoon drive-by shot.

Amish Drive-Bys

Doug and I spent Sunday afternoon in our backyard, reading and enjoying the sunshine. I positioned myself with my camera, where I had a small window of photo opportunity between the house and the trees, where I was able to take photos of the Amish traffic passing by, hopefully unnoticed by them.

The backdrop wasn't the best. I need to get the neighbor across the road to take down that beautiful blue spruce tree so that my subjects can be more clearly seen. And, while I'm at it, I should see if they couldn't reposition that utility pole, too.

So much for remaining unnoticed.

I love this horse's coloring and gait.

Little boys holding their hats always make me want to reach for a camera.

I have the utmost respect for the Amish and never want to offend them, but I confess to trying for photographs whenever I think I can do it without offense.

I love horses, and living among Amish is the next best thing to having my own. I can enjoy the beauty of their animals...without any of the work involved with their care. And the Amish in our county have some of the most beautiful horses you'll find anywhere. Many of them could compete successfully in the show ring.

I hope you've enjoyed this little glimpse of Amish life.



A Walk at the Reservoir

On Friday, I went for a walk at the reservoir and decided not to carry my camera. Of course, you all know how that goes. I saw a green heron. I'd never seen one before and wouldn't have even known what it was if I hadn't seen pictures that other bloggers had posted. This one gave me ample opportunities for photographs, but it wasn't willing to wait for me to go to the car for my camera.

So, when my friend, Pat, suggested that we walk together at the reservoir on Saturday, I made sure to carry the camera with me. Of course, there was no green heron. But I did find other things to photograph.

A lovely chicory blossom

Unfortunately, this picture doesn't show the red on the wings of the Red-Winged Blackbird.

Two Mute Swans flew over, and I snapped a quick shot.

The path around the reservoir looks down on Amish farms. This little guy, leading his pony in from the pasture, was too cute to resist.

There was a workday going on at this Amish farm. Some of the buggies are visible here.

Several men were busily at work erecting a new building on the property.

This buggy and wagon was headed for the work site.

Even with this closer look, I'm not sure what that cargo is.