More from Kate!
I find that if I write long enough, most often an intriguing, albeit quirky, idea meanders into my brain. Much of what I write never makes it into my novels, so I’ve collected some of my thoughts and reflections, and yes, things I’ve learned during my research for my novels, and share them with you here.
Amish Women Wearing Red and Bathing Suits?
Surprises abounded when I chatted with friends in Lancaster County, PA. I’m grateful many of my Amish and English (anyone non-Amish) friends in Lancaster County have cell phones or were standing near their phone shanties when I called. Not to mention those working in English businesses. Read more…
Amish Women Working
No one can call Amish women lazy. An Amish wife is often the first to get up in the morning. She might run a load of laundry at five AM – not a small chore to accomplish without electricity – then move to the kitchen to brew coffee and prepare breakfast for her spouse and children. Read more…
Old Order Amish Attire
“Be careful,” I warned my husband as we pulled our rental into our Amish friends’ driveway in Lancaster County, PA. The couple had asked my husband, a chiropractor, to give the wife and their granddaughter an adjustment. Read more…
Educating the Amish
“You’ve got to be kidding,” folks have said when I mention the Amish graduate from formal education at eighth grade. Why? Because the Amish believe higher education separates children from God, family, and community. Their private schools, often built on the edge of an Amish farm, prepare scholars (students) to succeed in Amish culture. Read more…
What Surprised Me?
Home from my recent trip to glorious Lancaster County, I thought about the question author Suzanne Woods Fisher had put before me on her radio program Amish Wisdom. She’d ask what surprises I’d encountered while studying and writing about the Amish. Read more…
A Brief History of Zook’s Fabric Store
Lizzy Zook’s story starts in the early 1960’s when as a wife, mother and an active member in the Amish Community she found her family drowning in medical debt. Several of her children had to be operated on at Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia. Just as a slight digression – it is interesting to note that the attending surgeon was C. Everett Koop… Read more…
Guest Post From Suzanne Woods Fisher
Please enjoy this guest post from Suzanne Woods Fisher and enter to win a copy of Life with Lily! Suzanne has three to give away.
“Put the swing where the children want it. The grass will grow back.” ~~ Amish proverb
I’ve often heard that there is no better childhood than an Amish one. Mary Ann Kinsinger had… Read more…
What Would I Miss the Most?
Today, if I lived on an Old Order Amish farm, the item I’d miss most is my cell phone, because I can’t find mine! I turned it off last night … where is it hiding?
My goal is to get my Leaving Lancaster sequel into fabulous shape, so who needs a phone? (ha, ha) Secluded up at our island island beach cabin for two weeks, I haven’t watched TV nor listened to the radio. Read more…
Which Modern Convenience Would You Miss?
Take an author (me) who requires quiet solitude to complete her sequel to Leaving Lancaster, and sprinkle in a handful of electricians rewiring her house (old plaster walls, dust everywhere!), a construction company outside drilling up sidewalks and digging 6-foot deep trenches to install electrical and cable wires, a broken roof/vent fan, and what do you get? Read more…
The Art of Procrastination
“The best way to get something done is to begin.” ~Author Unknown
Some days writing is the last thing I want to do. Whenever I’m in the mood to reorganize a closet or refold my husband’s T-shirts, I take it as a sign I’m supposed to be writing. Pretty crazy to avoid my passion, huh? Not that I don’t get great ideas and conjure up unusual words and sentences while executing the mundane, but I admit I delay writing, sometimes until the night before my critique group gathers. Or that very morning. Read more…
Amish Quilt Giveaway
I’d planned to host a book launch party when Leaving Lancaster released March 1, 2012, but couldn’t settle on a theme, other than I had a hankering to give away an Amish quilt as part of the celebration. Read more…
Farewell to Steve Scott
Steve Scott’s sudden death in late December, 2011, hit me hard. Never again will I pick up the phone or jet off an email to ask my mentor and friend to verify a fact, enjoy a chat about anything from milk houses to God, or pay him another visit at… Read more…
Winter Blues in Lancaster County?
Do the Amish in Lancaster County get the winter blues? I watch droplets splattering the front lawn and hope the rain eases up before my morning walk. I’ve heard depression heightens in January and February in the Pacific Northwest.
Minutes ago, my house brightened with a flick of a switch. As I sip my morning java, I feel our home filling with warmth and ponder the fact Amish intentionally don’t use central heating so families congregate together. Read more…
Borrowing Amish Christmas Traditions
My big decision this morning: How early should I get to the Gap to return a sweater to avoid long lines? I did the bulk of my shopping over the Internet right after Thanksgiving. Humongous sales and free shipping urged me to buy too much. The packages arrive daily. And since I hosted a brunch the first week of December, our Christmas tree’s been decorated for weeks. Read more…
Emulating the Amish
After several turbulent gusts of late afternoon wind, our electricity blinked out at our beach cabin for fourteen hours, moments after my husband had emptied a can of chili into a pan and turned on the stovetop. Soon an icy shroud descended on our outdated orange-carpeted cabin. Now what? The Amish came to mind! Read more…
Never Heard of the Amish?
So easy a child can do it, I assured myself, as I set about designing and ordering business cards online with the front cover of my book Leaving Lancaster on one side and my contact info on the other. I uploaded the book cover, no problem, but found applying the text to the other side a formatting nightmare. Read more…
Are You Creative?
Absolutely! All of us are. Even in the humdrum moments we demonstrate creativity when arranging asparagus, potatoes, and drumsticks on a dinner plate. We select a new tie that echoes our eye color and a shirt of a paler hue, and presto, we’ve revitalized our favorite suit. And aren’t we women brilliant when it comes to applying concealer and mascara? Read more…
Trouble in the Backyard
Fellow author and friend, Kathleen Kohler, has kindly allowed me to share the following article that was been published in the book, The Ultimate Bird Lover, released February 2010, by HCI Publishing. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
A pair of purple finch taught us that you can only experience the future by leaving the past behind. A flutter of feathers at our birdfeeder, diving and dodging one another, demanded my attention. Read more…
A Keeper
When I beachcomb, my eyes scrutinize and admire the unique pebbles. Many catch my attention, but only one or two land in my pocket. So it goes with people. Marian is a keeper. Read more…