Uncategorized

I’ve always loved autumn. Perhaps some of that comes from my childhood memories of the time when summer would change into autumn. I still notice the shift: the days are shorter, the nights cooler, the air gets that fresh and nutty smell, and I change what I cook to accommodate the autumn harvests of apples,…

It was several years after I left the Amish that I first heard about Hutterites through a magazine article. At the time I was astonished that there could be a third branch of Anabaptists that I had never heard about during my 23 years of living in an Amish community. (The other two are Amish…

Life is full right now… David and I are heading to Cape Cod tomorrow. I am delivering five books talks on the Cape, plus one on Martha’s Vineyard to make six in five days. More than a little to do… I appreciate all your good wishes about mending from my bike accident. I am happy…

Last night after dinner, I had plans… I was going to take a quick spin on my bike with David before it got dark, and then post on my blog. Those plans were suddenly changed. I was just ahead of David coming down over a steep hill when I saw that the pavement was gone…

This morning I was interviewed on MassAppeal for WWLP, Channel 22 in Springfield, Mass. You can watch the video of it here. This was in preparation for a talk at the Forbes Library this Wednesday evening at 7:30 PM. This was my television debut, so I was really nervous, which comes through in the video.…

Susan J. Reinhardt wrote: I've been researching the Amish Communion Service. As part of the preparation, do they go to each other and mend broken relationships? I found references to reading the Ordnung and going over the rules, but nothing about making things right with each other. Is the footwashing part of this? Susan, very good questions.…

I am happy to announce the winner of the giveaway for a copy of Growing up Amish by Ira Wagler — KATHRYN! Congratulations! I’m sure you will enjoy this well-crafted story. If you’ll email me with your address: salomafurlong[at]gmail[dot]com, I will forward it on to Ira. For those of you who did not win the…

  I had the privilege of interviewing Ira Wagler, author of a new memoir: Growing up Amish. Here is that interview:   For anyone writing a memoir, there are tough decisions to be made about which experiences to write about and which ones to leave out, especially if it has to do with others’ shortcomings. How…