AMISH BUGGIES, HORSES AND MORE

These are pictures that I took mostly in November and December. 

NEXT WEEK THERE WILL BE SOMETHING ON ALMOST EVERY DAY.  ON MONDAY IS MARTHA, EDWARD WILL BE ON TUESDAY,   WEDNESDAY IS RECIPE.  THURSDAY, FRIDAY AND SATURDAY ARE THE LAST OF THE PICTURES I HAD FROM THE HAITI AUCTION.  SUNDAY WILL BE A CHURCH - I HAVE'T PICKED WHICH ONE OUT YET.  

MARTHA'S BEEFY CHICKEN

MARTHA'S BEEFY CHICKEN

8 Boneless chicken breasts
1 can mushroom soup
1/2 can water
1 cup sour cream ( Can use yogurt )
Bacon and Chipped Beef

Wrap chicken in slightly pre-cooked bacon.  Layer bottom of casserole with chipped chip beef.  Place chicken on top of beef.  Mix soup, water, sour cream, and pour over chicken.  Bake 2 to 3 hours,uncovered at 275 degrees.

ELMER FROM PINECRAFT

Our vacation seems to be coming to an end so soon in Pinecraft.  We leave for home on Thursday the 27th and should arrive in Pennsylvania on the 28th. If all goes well, we will arrive home on the 29th. Time seems to be flying by.

Before, I get into your questions, I have a few things to say.  First someone asked questions about our religious ways and finances.  I will answer those when I get home as I believe it will take two posts to answer all the questions.  I just want you to know I am not ignoring the person that asked the questions.

Also, someone wanted out address here in Pinecraft.  We do not give out our address to anyone either at Pinecraft or up north that we have never met.  Honestly, we don't even like to give it out to delivery people we don't know.  Some people we do meet, we don't give it out to as we wonder why they want it.  In this day in age, all people should be careful in giving out this information.  Should we run into someone either at Pinecraft or up north, we would be glad to meet to you, but we do not give out this information until we get to know you.  Please do not take this personal.  I am sure you are great people/  But we still have to be careful.

Now to answer the questions.  With so much happening at Pinecraft, do we miss the quiet solitude of our rural  life back home?  We do miss back home because our children, church members, friends and farm are up there.  So we don't really live in solitude up north.  What we don't miss up there is milking cows, plowing, cleaning the barns, cleaning the house, etc. Anna and I hope that everything is running well up there especially since our son, John is up there.  We are pretty sure that the all of our children will be at our house cleaning it, cooking up meals, cleaning out the barns, checking the farm equipment and more before we get home.  But, when we get home, I am sure there will be something for us to do.

Someone asked if the ladies have quilting bees and such while they are here and the answer is yes.  The ladies gather at someone's house or garage.  They make quilts to donate to a cause, give it to someone or take it home.  Also, down here there is a store that will pay Amish and Mennonite ladies to work on some quilts to be sold in their store.  They only hire the best of the quilters.

This week the picture is of Yoder's, our favorite restaurant here.  We do go to other's but Yoder's is the one Anna and I like the best.

I guess I am cutting this kind of short this week.  Next week Martha will be doing the post as we will be getting ready to travel home.

Guess, I will have to give John's cell phone back to him when we get home.  When he left for home, I asked him to leave it here so I could call Marilyn for the posts instead of having to use the neighbor's phone.  Seeing he was kind enough to leave it, I will give it back.

The day this goes on will be St. Patrick's Day - so Anna and I wish you all a Happy St. Patrick's Day.  We will probably be eating corned beef and cabbage on that day even though we aren't Irish.

Well signing off from Pinecraft.  Will being doing posts when we get back home, Lord willing.

Trust God's Wisdom,
Elmer

EAST PALMYRA PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, EAST PALMYRA, NY

The current East Palmyra Presbyterian Church is the third church on this sight.  It was designed by T. R. Thomas and was built in 1868.  Church was entered on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.  It is still in use today, as you can see on the last sign.  In addition to service, there are many community activities held here. 

RUSHVILLE OLD ORDER MENNONITE SCHOOL, STANLEY, NEW YORK

When Bishop Joseph,  Martha and I went to the Meeting House, I came around a corner and turned into this driveway.  Bishop Joseph asked what I was doing.  I told him, I thought it was the Meeting House.  He informed me it was not the Meeting House, but a school.  Of course when I took a good look, I agreed with him. I asked if I could take pictures and he agreed. So I took pictures of the school.  I love the boots hanging by the front door.  This is not to far from the school Susan goes to.  Bishop Joseph said I was driving a car.  Walking or driving a buggy makes it a long way from Susan's school.  Also included are the out houses, water pump and the baseball area. 

ANNA'S KEY LIME PIE RECIPE

Seeing we are in Florida, I thought I would have Anna put on a southern recipe.  As Key Lime Pie is a favorite down here and back home, she gave me her recipe to put on.  Elmer

ANNA'S KEY LIME PIE

9 inch graham cracker crust

3 egg yolks

1 (15 ounces) can sweetened condensed milk

Grated rind of 1 lime

1/2 cup fresh lime juice

1 cup heavy cream, whipped and sweetened to taste (Anna sometimes uses Cool Whip)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Whisk egg yolks, condensed milk, rind and juice together until smooth.  Pour into pie crust.  Bake for 7 to 8 minutes.  Cool on wire rack for 15 minutes, then refrigerate until cold, at least 2 hours.  Spread top with whipped cream and serve.  Serves 8

NOTE: Key lime pie is NOT suppose to be green.

ELMER FROM PINECRAFT

Today I am answering some of your questions again.  One of the questions is if we retire here what does the church say about the different rules and lifestyle in Pinecraft than what we have up north.  Really, they don't say anything.  It is odd that the church will allow things at Pinecraft that they don't back home.  I guess they look at Pinecraft like an adult rumspringa.  Things that are not allowed at home are allowed here.  But, of course, there are no wild parties, drugs, liquor,  etc.   It is also a whole group of Amish, Mennonites, Englishers, all together.  The Lord is still the center of our lives here, just a little different. 

 

Do I think the Pinecraft lifestyle would influence John to leave the church and go the English way?  Not really.  I think that the north is more of an influence on him than Pinecraft here.  If John had done something that was not correct, in our views, in the outside world while he was here - Anna and I would have known by ten people before he got home.  In Pinecraft, the young people are more or less kept on an eye on.  People don't patrol the young folks, but you can't do anything at Pinecraft that you don't want everyone to know.  Even outside of Pinecraft, if he was to do something wrong there, we would know it.  Up north, with us doing our work, and being spread out in a wider area, we can't watch young folks as we can here.  Also, there are more evils up there than here - like drugs, liquor, etc.  Yes, outside of Pinecraft, these evils are here, but I don't think young folk would try something like that here as easy as they would up north.  I am sure there exceptions to both in both places.

 

Am I allowed to wear zippers in my jean's here?  Yes, I am.  How do I wear different jeans in Pinecraft?  Both legs in them.  No, really, different clothes are allowed here.  They must be presentable.  You won't find any Amish wearing shorts, sleeveless clothes or alike.   I wear my straw hat here, but some don't - except at Sunday service.  The day, we leave for home, we will dress as we do up north.  In our suit case, we pack all the jeans, flip flops, etc. that we are not allowed at home.  We won't wear them until we arrive in Pinecraft next year, Lord willing.

 

What do we eat?  Food.  Seriously, oranges and grapefruit are  easier to get down here at this time of year.  So, in addition, to orange juice and pieces are orange pies,, cakes, muffins and more.  Key Lime pie is another recipe that is know down here.  Pecans are in reason so pecans pie, pecan butter and more are here. 

 

As, I said in my post last week, I am trying to keep Anna from cooking as much as I can, so we are going out to eat a lot.  Sometimes we get a big breakfast and dinner with maybe a sandwich for lunch.  Also, we go to the benefit  meals that they have here.  We also walk to Olaf's Creamery as do many of the other Pinecraft people.  Olaf's has the best ice cream.  They have sundae's banana splits, floats, milk shakes, malts and alike.  Olaf's is a very popular place. 

 

Do we get a lot of tourists trying to take pictures?  Not to much at Pinecraft .  It is sort of known that pictures are not wanted here. 

 

As far as booking the bus to come here, we usually do it by family and not as a group although there are exceptions to every rule.  We decide when we go usually a year ahead.  Then we call the bus company and make reservations for going and when we plan to return.  The space is limited to how many people the bus can hold.  If something comes up, we can change the reservations. Like we are staying an extra month, so we had to change the return reservations. We do advise out Bishop when we are leaving and returning so he knows we will not be at church.   In our case, our Bishop owns the cottage we stay in, so we have to make sure it will be available when we want to come.  As our Bishop is also my friend, he would like us to buy the cottage we stay in for our retirement.  Then we would be side by side when we retire.  Anna and I are thinking about it.  If we lived here full time, we would want to take this cottage down and build another one.  It's just in the thought stage right now.

 

Hope I have answered some of your questions regarding Pinecraft.  If you have more, please ask.

 

Trust God's Wisdom,

Elmer