Wed 8/8 – 5891 steps
Song: Shoofly pie sung by Dinah Shore or Ella Fitzgerald
We did a tour of Amish countryside with Kathy who used to be a driver for an Amish family. I can highly recommend this tour. Kathy gives you a radio and you (and others) follow her in your own vehicle listening to her speak on the radio. She was well informed and took us to homes of her Amish friends. As you enter the valley, there are no electricity wires to be seen.
The quilts we saw were incredible, all hand sown. We tasted the most delicious apple bread and bought some wonderful hand home-made peanut butter, which does not stick to the top of your mouth. It was clearly washing day and all houses had washing on the long lines that are wound in or out with a pulley system. The houses are immaculate and all have beautiful gardens.
I saw a sign advertising shoofly pie and immediately I could hear my dad sing in my head, “ Shoo fly pie and apple pan dowdy makes your eyes light up, my tummy says howdy” I never realized as a kid that Shoofly pie or apple pan dowdy were actual desserts. I googled the lyrics and found the song. Then I remembered the delicious brown Boston bread we used to eat. It was a round steamed loaf and more like cake except we ate it with a thick layer of butter, yum! I made a note to look out for that when we got to Boston.
After the tour, Kathy recommended Good ‘n Plenty for lunch. This is a family style buffet restaurant, serving Pennsylvanian Dutch food, meaning you sit at a table next to strangers and when there are about 10-12 people, they bring out the food on platters, family style. We had roast pork, fried chicken and stroganoff as the meat dishes with veggies and homemade bread. For dessert, shoofly pie!, It is a pie made from treacle and in all honesty, it was a bit disappointing! However, I found a recipe and will try it at home. The cherry pie and home-made ice cream were very good.
We drove, in the rain, to our campsite in Lehigh Gorge, chosen for its proximity for cycle trails.
Chuckle of the day: Americans and their dogs
What I learnt: Pennsylvanian Dutch is a misnomer. The Dutch is an incorrect translation of Deutsch but typical of the Americans, they disregarded their mistake and continued, even building windmills at a themepark.
More interestly, from Kathy, so much about the Amish way of life. Here are a few things that stood out for me. The Amish broke away from the Mennonites, to continue in the more traditional life style. They do not have electricity, but use gas or generators. They do not drive vehicles, but may be driven in one. They mostly travel in horse drawn buggies and steel wheeled scooters. They can use fork lifts for heavy lifting. They plough and harvest crops with horse drawn, steel wheeled implements. They can use a shared land line telephone situated in telephone boxes between farms for communication. They have a one room school system.
Most significantly, they don’t waste money building elaborate churches. The old order Amish get together in people’s homes to read the bible, sing hymns and listen to a sermon. Their bishops are chosen to lead the community and are not paid. I wish they could have kept this tradition in Swaziland.
Kim's journey 