Last week David and I traveled to Ohio. We took a different route this time, by way of Route 88, 17, and 86, through the middle of New York State. The mountains were in full color, so we had plenty of colorful vistas. Unfortunately, the highways don’t lend themselves to taking photos, so you will have to take my word for it — that we actually enjoyed traveling to Ohio this time. Traveling on Route 90 is long, expensive, and boring.
Sunday morning we attended the Mennonite Church in Millersburg, Ohio, which we absolutely loved. We felt right at home there because the people were so welcoming. We look forward to visiting there again, and who knows, we may end up living near enough to make this our church community someday.
The reason for the trip was that I was delivering a lecture at Bluffton University. This is one of the four Mennonite colleges in the country. What a beautiful campus they have! My talk was well-attended and well-received, which was gratifying.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so I will share photos I took in Holmes and Wayne Counties to share some of the beauty we enjoyed.
© Saloma Furlong 2016
© Saloma Furlong 2016
© Saloma Furlong 2016
© Saloma Furlong 2016
© Saloma Furlong 2016
© Saloma Furlong 2016
© Saloma Furlong 2016
© Saloma Furlong 2016
© Saloma Furlong 2016
© Saloma Furlong 2016
I’d love to know if you have any favorites among this group of photos.
Beautiful pictures Saloma.
Thanks, Melody. I appreciate you saying so.
I loved the photo of the laundry drying up high on the line strung between the barn and the house!
Thank you, Norma, for your comment. We happened to be there on “wash day” for most Amish women… Monday is the traditional day for laundry in Amish communities.
Hills, fall leaves, blue skies, green grass, horses, lines of laundry, countryside….could it get lovelier??? I like all your photos! And glad to know you were well received!
Thank you, Mary Ellen. You get the picture. It was just as lovely as it looks!
I am very grateful for the reception at both the church and the college. Thank you for your kind words.
Have a wonderful week!
All the photos are beuatiful!
I mean: beautiful
I knew what you meant, Sonja. Thank you for the compliment.
I , too, love all these photos. When looking at them, I think of you, returning to a land that you know, and taking pictures to share with those who do not know it as you do. They all share an aspect of a landscape – physical, emti9nal, spiritual that, from what I’ve have gleaned from your writings, you have longed for from afar And how comforting it must be for you to be in 0rocess of returning and how exciting to share with the rest of us…The sights you share we don’t see everyday here in the Valley – laundry on the line, a horse drawn carriage, a long vista 9f gentle hills, a farm, from the backsid3, showing all the many structures that support all the human endeavors. The laundry dancing on the line, like a natural part of the scenery, speaking volumes to the efforts of life that the laundry is metaphor to -human hands on the plow, human hands on the cloth, human energies washing, hanging, a taking in to fold and put away so the cycle begins again- a poetry of the hardworking represented by the dance of laundry in the eind. Your photos make me almost smell that crisp sweet smell of laundry when it comes in from the line,vas it did in South Amherst 70 years ago. And the horse and carriage speak world’s about interdependence that we used to understand as a matter of course because our lives depended on it. Having said all the above, I am drawn to the photo 9f the two horses
In the foreground, with the road curving between field and woodland soon to pass a home farm , with neighboring farms in the distance…I see this road beckoing a way to the heart’s home.
Elaine, I love your descriptions of the days when one didn’t need to feel apologetic about hanging out laundry. I have gotten over it, and I do hang out my sheets and kitchen towels. I love bringing the smell of autumn (or spring) breezes in with the clean linens!
Thanks for sharing which is your favorite photo in this group. I took that photo because of the sorrel horse… so beautiful.
This trip I really did see many sights that beckons a way to my heart’s home. I don’t know if the time is right, though. David does not seem to be ready to leave New England. (He may never be). My heart’s home is also with David. If ever he wants to move there, we will.
Bless you for sharing your memories of a different time here in the Valley.
Your photos are so clear and distinct. Good camera and good photographer.
Sadie, thank you. I actually have never really made friends with my camera. I find it is not at all user-friendly. I have figured out how to make it work, but I look forward to the day when I replace it.
I hope you’re doing well, Sadie.
Gorgeous photos, Saloma!
Thank you, Joan. I had fun taking them.
Your photo’s are beautiful Saloma, an extension of your God given creativity/artistry. They make me long for Holmes county. That area always seems to bring me inner peace. Haven’t had a chance to go there since this past spring but hopefully in November. So glad your Lecture went well and was well received. But then I wouldn’t expect anything less from you. I get the feeling your a born speaker!! I’m with you about Rt. 90 it’s everything you said it is.
Pamela, thank you for your kind thoughts. But then again, I have never heard a thought from you that wasn’t kind… I appreciate your comments very much.
Yes, Holmes County can restore you, can’t it? I don’t feel the same way about Geauga County where I grew up. We were there briefly, but the reasons for going there are lessening.
I hope you’re enjoying autumn!
I love the 3rd photo,looking across the different fields to the rolling hills.Very Ohio
Sally, that is one of my favorites. I like the Guernsey cows grazing… so peaceful.
Photos from my home community. Of course they are beautiful. Thank you Saloma.
Katie, you are welcome. You come from a beautiful place. I wish I’d been born there. We could have known one another growing up…
Thank you, Katie.
Your pictures tug at my heart…that’s where I grew up. I like the picture with the horses.
Twila, thank you for your comments. I bet photos from a home area so beautiful would bring about nostalgia.
Thanks for naming your favorite. Others have named that one as well.
Have a wonderful week!
They are all great. The picture with the children outside is really nice. You can see that they have no internet of cell phone. They enjoy to be outside.
Love from Canada!
Wilma
Wilma, great to see you here! I agree, children playing outside looks so wholesome, doesn’t it? Screens in front of our faces ruins so much, doesn’t it? (She says with a screen in front of her face).
Thanks for stopping by, Wilma.
Thanks for sharing the lovely photographs. I am anxiously waiting for Bonnet Strings to be delivered, I anticipate it will be as informative and enjoyable as your first book.
Saloma you may recall I recently responded to a previous post of yours, I want you to know you helped me, for the first time in my sixty-six years I was able to talk about my horrendous childhood with a close friend. Doing so lightened my heart. Thank you.
Suzanne, I am so glad to see you back. I will always remember how your comments touched me. And I am so glad you were able to talk about our experiences. Keeping these memories inside doesn’t allow us to come to terms with them. Sharing them with someone can certainly lighten one’s heart… thank you so much for sharing this.
I was really overwhelmed with gratitude for all the comments on my introduction. It is because of stories like yours that I feel compelled to publish this book, even knowing it will cause strife in my life. There are those who do not want to hear my truth.
Thank you, Suzanne, for sharing of your story.
Saloma I just finished Bonnet Strings, you did not disappoint. Although we share similar but different childhoods the pain is the same. Your courage and strength is amazing. You have overcome so much, you are truly an inspiration. I hope you continue to share your gift of writing with us. Thank you Saloma.
Suzanne, you are so kind to let me know you liked Bonnet Strings. You are not the only one to realize that the pain is the same, even though the circumstances were different. This is why telling our stories is so important. I will continue to do that, I promise. It took me to the point of being halfway through the writing of Marytr’s Myth to realize that writing is my life’s work. I will now fully accept this as a gift, and I will not squander that gift.
Suszanne, it is readers like you who make it worth all the hard work that writing entails, to know that the message is being received well. Thank you for that!
Suzanne Hanson you will love Bonnet Strings. It is a hard book to put down once you start it. It really touches the heart.
Michele Larson
Michele, you are so kind to say so. Thank you!
Thank you Michele Larson, Bonnet Strings arrived, anxious to dive into the book. Saloma is an incredibly knowledgeable writer who processes an abundance of courage and strength.
I love reading your newsletters, and would love to visit your B & B!
#’s 4, 6, & 9 are my favorite pics! Can you tell that I love horses, and have always been intrigued by Amish clotheslines?
I understand that sometimes they are on a pulley device of some kind, that takes them up high off of the ground.
Growing up, we always hung our laundry outside, but never elevated.
Thank u for sharing the beautiful pics, and the stories, of growing up!
I would love to visit Holmes & Lancaster areas, AND attend a mud sale, an Amish horse sale, and a fundraiser auction at a Fire station.
I am such a homebody though, and do not enjoy being away for any length of time!
Many Blessings to you, C.J.
CJ, thank you for the comments. We never elevated our clothesline, either. It does make for a dramatic photo, though, doesn’t it?
I hope you get a chance to experience the different events. Sometimes it’s hard for me to leave home, but when I do, I appreciate home all the more when I return.
Have a wonderful weekend!
What pleasing pictures they are! So totally different from where I live, here in Alaska.
I think my favorite picture is the second one- it seems so typically Amish. I’ve never been in Ohio other than driving through it many years ago; your pictures remind me of some parts of Pennsylvania And Virginia. Driving through Virginia long after I had left the state, one could still almost always identify the farms of the Amish. Memory with its nostalgia is so strange- many, many years later I still have ‘bauchweh’ for certain aspects of my Amish upbringing.
Oh, Elva, I know what you mean about the bauchweh. It’s hard to explain to anyone who hasn’t lived that life. Unfortunately for you and me, we cannot have only those aspects we miss… we’d have to accept those we couldn’t live with years ago. But there is something really amazing about driving through Amish country on a church Sunday and then the next day — washday — after being away for years to recall one’s childhood in detail. It is bittersweet, looking from the outside in.
Elva, have you ever watched “The Amish: Shunned”? Naomi Kramer talks about this aspect of looking from the outside in. There are several poignant moments when she shares her thoughts.
As always, Elva, thank you for sharing your thoughts.
Saloma, Thank you so much for sharing these wonderful photos with me. They depict the Amish life and the beauty of the landscape so perfectly. They take me back to my trip last spring to the Amish area in Pennsylvania and in many respects the farming community where my Mom grew up in New Brunswick, Canada. There is something so special about these farming communities. I’m so glad you were able to get pictures of the clothes on the lines. As you know, I have a passion for hanging out clothes, seeing them fluttering in the breeze, and the smell after as I fold them and put them away. I love the fact you share that feeling with me and it comes of course from our upbringing….it’s well ingrained in who we are. I also loved the picture of the horse and buggy. Seeing that must have brought back huge memories for you of your past.
I’m so glad you and David got to take this trip and restore your memories of these things and refresh your soul as you contemplate your next chapter in your life.
Thank you, Orca, for your descriptive comments. You described perfectly why I love hanging out clothing and linens… to bring the fresh smell in with them. Spring is the best!
Being in Holmes County and hearing the horse and buggies clopping down the roads certainly did bring back memories.
Thanks for being such a good friend. We have a lot in common — including our “Thursdays with Marie.”
See you this afternoon.
We traveled last weekend too and it is just hard to capture moving scenery! The other shots are lovely. Curious about the event at Bluffton–I’m glad for this opportunity for you! Blessings,
Thank you, Melodie. I believe Tricia will be sending her story of my lecture to you for publication in Mennomedia. At least that was her plan. You’ll get a good sense of the talk from that.
Have a blessed weekend.
Thank you for sharing your pictures. They are all beautiful. I live in Holmes County and feel blessed to live here. We have so much to be thankful for. Your pictures describe this area very well.
Eileen, I’m glad to know that you live there. Perhaps we’ll be neighbors someday. I suppose when I live there, I won’t be taking as many photos… that is usually how it goes.
Thanks for stopping by, Eileen.
Saloma, all of the pictures are beautiful. They remind me so much of the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont but my favorites are #8 and 9. Growing up in Vermont my mom or me always hung our laundry from a pulley clothesline from an upstairs window or porch to a nearby tree. After I got married and we bought our first house in Springfield MA, I hung all of my laundry out on lines like in photo 8 — good sturdy “T” bar clotheslines on the ground. When we moved back to Vermont in 1976 we lived in a house that bordered 3 streets and the yard was only level where the driveway was so having any kind out outside clothes lines was difficult (even though I asked for them) so for 27 years I missed hanging out laundry. Now in PA I have 2 sets of those sturdy “T” bar clotheslines again so I do hang my laundry out again. I feel sorry for those who want to hang out laundry but it is not allowed in their neighborhoods.
Michele, thank you for your compliment. The Northeast Kingdom is so beautiful! I have never had a clothesline on a pulley, but I helped others who did sometimes. I actually like the “T” bar clotheslines. Right now I am simply stringing a line between pillars on my front porch. Someday I want a “real” clothesline again!
I wasn’t hanging clothes out for a long time, because David was concerned that it might not be welcomed in this neighborhood. I decided I didn’t care… I’m doing it. I’m glad I did.
I just had to reply to your comment on my comment when you talked about hanging clothes on your front porch. My mother-in-law loved Vermont (she lived in East Longmeadow MA) and commented often how she loved going to Vermont and seeing clothes hanging on front porch lines. She did not see it much in E. Longmeadow. She did not like seeing newer homes in VT like ranches because she said they “did not look like Vermont”!
Each new photo became my favorite as I scrolled down. But looking back at them, I must admit the one-room schoolhouse (having been a teacher in one of them) is a favorite. I also really like the one with the one article of red clothing hanging on the line.
Aleta, thank you for your compliments. You are so observant… I did not even notice that one article of red clothing on the line until you mentioned it.
So glad you enjoyed the photos!
I love all the pictures. :-) Hadassah loves the one with the children playing outside. My favorite is the one where the laundry is strung between the barn and the house. This is definitely a swiss thing. :-)
Miriam, thank you for your comments. I’m not surprised that Hadassah likes the children… I can imagine her right in there playing with those children.
My guess is that many of the Amish ways hark back to their “Mutterland,” so it does not surprise me when there are correlations between the Swiss and Amish ways to this day, such as hanging clothing between house and barn. Perhaps you will be doing that soon :-)
Hello Saloma:
Congrats on the little excursion to OHIO, I am sure it was intense for both you and David. Never give up on the TRUTH!
I liked photo 1 and photo 3 the most and photo 4 except for the “English Looking” house in the background (lol) however the last photo pulled at my heartstrings especially when one knows what the hayloader represents.
Say Hello to David
Best Regards;
Delmer B. Martin
Elmira ON
Thank you, Delmar, for your comments. I know, that last photo is like a photo of the past with the windmill and farm equipment from bygone days.
David thanks you for the hello and gives his greetings in return.
Blessings to you, Delmar.
These are beautiful photos, Saloma. I can tell you are being pulled toward home. Continued blessings as you listen for the still small voice of God.
Thank you, Shirley, for your thoughts and blessings. Continued blessings to you as well.