Friday, August 12, 2022

A Day Out

For all of their plain ways, it struck me as inutterably sweet that two Amish sisters were tickled pink to find very fancy teacups with matching saucers for $2 a set. Lavishly painted, gilded, the fancier the better, it seemed. They gathered them up, speaking rapidly to each other in German. 

Later, they explained, in English this time, that they were buying them for their mother, who loved to give a teacup and saucer to her all grandaughters at Christmas time, I'm guessing for their dowery chest. 

I loved that little glimpse into their lives. 

Mattie also found a sewing machine with a cabinet. She stood studying it and asked if we could fit it in the car. "You know how it works," I said. "We'll get it in there some way." (We did.) 

I asked her what she was going to do with an electric sewing machine, and she explained that it would be disassembled and refitted with a treadle and belt. That's pretty clever. She mentioned that she buys these sewing machines when she sees them so that the girls can each have their own machine when they're old enough. 

The older children met the car as we pulled in. They were much pleased to see that their mother had brought home three pizzas.  Next door at the sawmill, I saw a tiny little girl driving the team pulling logs to her father. One boy pulled his mother aside to tell her something, and she went quickly into the house and came out with a letter from another sister who was planning a visit. Mattie and her sister read it together. The day was not a good one. They agreed that Mattie would write a letter back, suggesting another day, posting it the very next day. 

Then I took Katie home.  She said, "I don't know when I've had so much fun! It was an adventure!" 

Yes. Yes it was. 





13 comments:

  1. So interesting that the Amish sisters still knew German! What a nice day to visit away from home. Linda in Kansas

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    1. The children all know German. Rudy and Katie were singing in the back seat. It is my understanding that the children do not learn English until they begin school.

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  2. People assume that Amish and other similar groups have no sense of humour...I was working in a folk museum shop and a woman with beautifully plaited hair came to the till. I asked her how she did it....she laughed and said "I cheat!!! My sister lives with us"

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    1. Oh my gosh, Do they ever! When we stopped for lunch on the way home, the place was very near a small airport. A plane came in for the landing. I pointed it out to Rudy and he was excited at this. I looked at his mother who was just as wide eyed as he was. She said, "Is there an airport here?" and I said, "Well, if there's not we'll here a very loud kaboom here in a few seconds." and turned back to Rudy. When next I looked both women had their hands to their mouths, waiting with wide eyes. I said, "It must be an airport then," and headed inside. They howled. They kept bursting into laughter during the meal, and couldn't wait to tell Levi that I'd 'got them'.

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  3. It is interesting to read about such different lives. We could do with re-learning how to live with less, especially now.

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  4. Sue has a collection of teacups, but I wonder if they’ll ever be used again. Times change.

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  5. They do, I guess, but not for all of us.

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  6. How sweet, picking teacups their mother would gift their own daughters.

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    1. They were so tickled to find them and couldn't wait to give them to their mother.

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    2. Another think to consider is that this woman likely has 40 or more granddaughters.

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  7. I remember finding a delicate china cup with an elongated saucer, with a dip for the cup to one side and the extra length for the biscuits (cookies) to rest on. My mother loved it, but it wasn't amongst her things when she died. I guess a neighbour got it, mum often told them to choose something after they had helped her with whatever she needed.

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  8. I have never seen such a thing! It would have caught my eye for sure.

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