Posts by Saloma Furlong
A Day Among Old Order Mennonites in the Shenandoah Valley
Spring has arrived in all her glory and what a splendid day it was here in the Shenandoah Valley! David and I are both taking a class called Mennonites in the Valley through the Lifelong Learning Institute of James Madison University, and taught by the pastor of our church, Phil Kniss. Today we took a…
Read MoreOur Search for a New Home
Our long search for a home has finally come to an end. It led us to a modest ranch home in a little town called Broadway, just fifteen minutes north of Harrisonburg. We had hoped to find something in closer to town, but when we looked at this house, we realized that it met so…
Read MoreWide Open Spaces of the Southwest
Those of us who live in the East often travel north or south, but forget that there is SO MUCH country west of us. When I was traveling through the Southwest, I was just so amazed at the wide open spaces and the diversity of landscapes. It is something everyone must experience in person to…
Read MoreA Visit to the Petrified Forest National Park
There are so many aspects to the Petrified Forest National Park. I’ll provide photos for the various “stations” of our tour through the park in pretty much the order in which we saw them. The Painted Forest Overlooks: These were aptly described in Mem’s travel journals in my last post. Below is a reminder photo.…
Read MoreA Long Way from Middlefield, Ohio
As promised, I am bringing you part of Mem’s travel journal from her cross-country trip. Her trip began out of Middlefield, Ohio on May 1, 1950, when she was 30 years old. I am now 60, twice the age Mem was when she took this trip. I thought of her often during my trip out…
Read MoreTrains and More Trains
Every time I saw a freight train during our trip to the Southwest, I thought of Datt. He loved trains. He seemed to have a nostalgia for them, likely from his days of working on the railroad when he was in his twenties. He had left the Amish to join the military when he was…
Read MoreMountains and Freedom
I have always loved mountains. I often wonder where this came from, given I grew up in northeastern Ohio, where barely a hill, and no mountains, are to be found. During my Amish teaching days, when I lived in a little house of my own, I had a calendar picture with the Psalm quoted above,…
Read MoreExperiencing the American Southwest
Oh my! Where do I start in describing what it was like to visit the Southwest for the first time? David and I flew to Denver, rented a car, and drove more than 3,500 miles through Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona in ten days. Awesome does not even begin to describe what we experienced. Over…
Read MoreCatching Up Sunday
It has been ever so long since I’ve written a blog post that I hardly know where to start. I thought it’d been about a month, but it’s even longer than that! So I will attempt to catch up today and then make a concerted effort to stay up with it. About a month ago,…
Read MoreMemories of Sundays in Winters of the Past
The other day I read an article published in a local paper in Aylmer, Ontario Canada called, Hydraulic printing press has been used by local Amish community for 50 years. This is a fascinating story about the way the Amish will adapt technology so that it fits their way of life. It is clear that…
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