Amish Visit

Washington DC

Hello,

Another retrospective on Lancaster time is coming your way. Years ago Janet taught school, including some Amish children. She has remained friends with some of the families. So we headed deep into Amish country on winding, hilly, and narrow roads to spend a wonderful and interesting afternoon with one of their friends.

The home looked much like any single family home that you might be used to, just no electricity. In spite of the heat it was cool and dark with no lights on and clouds in the sky. She was working on the “ugliest quilt” she had ever done. It was composed of all the old scrapes that she and others had lying around. It was truly a crazy quilt. The colors were not ugly just disorganized, but the pieces fit together well making a nice rectangle.

Then she opened up a quilt that was more her specialty. It had a star pattern that, if I recall correctly, was called the broken star. It was quite beautiful. I believe it was going to be sold for a charity that they support.

These people were old enough that they were retired, but they still had a sizable garden from which they generously shared some corn and tomatoes.

They had a map on which they had marked all of the Amish settlements that they personally knew about. Chariton, IA was on there, but no mark was there for NE IA where I know there are a number of families. Perhaps they are from a different part of the family tree.

Talking, laughing, and finding commonality was the sum of the visit. I am grateful for this experience.

Paula