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Announcing the Winners for the Three-Book Giveaway of Bonnet Strings
The winners to the three-book giveaway of Bonnet Strings that I announced on January 22 have just been drawn. I am happy to announce the three winners are: Doxiemutti Wilma Mary Ellen Wagler (because there was another Mary Ellen, I used your email to find out your last name. I hope you don’t mind). To…
Read MoreBonnet Strings: A Three-Book Giveaway
I am offering a giveaway of three copies of Bonnet Strings: An Amish Woman’s Ties to Two Worlds. Simply leave a comment, and I will add your name to the drawing. I will draw for the winners on Saturday, January 30. This giveaway is inspired by several things, most recently a review written by someone…
Read MoreOne Step Closer…
Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue, and the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true. ~ Lyman Frank Baum Photo by Marco Koch, taken from the Trachselwald Castle in Canton Bern Last year I blogged about my dream of studying in Germany. I did nine months of background research and I…
Read MoreA Double Tragedy in Amish Country
A fire near Canton, Minnesota claimed the lives of an Amish bishop and his son early yesterday morning. The cause of the fire is still unknown. An early report in the Star Tribune stated that there is no reason to believe there was anything suspicious about the fire. What a tragedy. I know that the…
Read MoreOld Christmas
When I was growing up, we celebrated Christmas on December 24 and "Old Christmas" on January 6. I was taught that this was the "true Christmas" because this was the day Christmas fell on before the calendar was changed. I never really knew what that meant, "when the calendar was changed." I now know that…
Read MoreChristmas Greetings
Best wishes for a Blessed Christmas from our home to yours! May your Christmas be filled with peace and joy, warmth and light, love and laughter, and plenty of good cheer!
Read MorePennsylvania German Proverbs
As I dig deeper into the literature of the Pennsylvania German heritage so as to get a better sense of the culture from which the Amish emerged, I am enjoying fun reading. I just borrowed a book Proverbs of the Pennsylvania Germans by Edwin Miller Fogel from the Five College Library system Some of these sayings…
Read MoreBook Reviews
It often feels like many years since my books were published. So when there are new book reviews that come out of nowhere, I am reminded that it is actually less than two years since Bonnet Strings was published. That is a very long time for a book these days, I know. But when you…
Read MoreAmish Man Suing Federal Government
In my home community in Ohio, I was taught that you are either Amish or not — there simply is no in between. One could not pick and choose which of the rules or traditions to follow and which ones to ignore. Amish have a long memory for the martyrdom that their ancestors endured in…
Read MoreWhat to Do about the Seneca White Deer?
Once in a while our advanced technology helps us to discover something new in nature. That happened last week, when something unexpected came up in my Google alert set at "Amish." There was a story in the Inquistr by Patrick Frye about a white deer population at the army depot in Seneca, New York called…
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