Amish Beaver?
When we were vacationing at our favorite lake in Canada this summer, my husband came home from fishing one day and said, “I saw an Amish beaver lodge today.”
Right. “And why do you say that?”
“Because they added on another room over the winter. Now there are four rooms to the lodge. Last year there were only three. Three years ago there were only two.”
I understood exactly what he meant then.
We live at the edge of Amish country, three miles from the nearest Amish farm and five miles from the Lancaster County line. Amish farmhouses are very familiar to us as is the custom to add on and add on and add on. The house at the Amish nursery I visit each spring has the most interesting roof line I’ve ever seen with all its additions.
An original house is usually the home of the farmer who works the farm and his family. His parents, who may have retired from working the farm completely or at least ceded responsibility to the son, build an addition or gross dawdy haus (granddaddy house) to the main house. It has its own entrance and the older couple live as separately as they choose.
In A Stranger’s Wish the Amish son Jake lives in the gross dawdy haus instead of the grandparents who have died before the story begins. Jake is a paraplegic from a motorcycle accident, and his parents, Old Order Amish, have brought electricity and phone into the addition for Jake’s convenience and as a medical necessity. They also understand that he will never be Amish.
Jake hates being dependent and gets the idea to rent the second floor of the addition as a means of making a bit of money and gaining some semblance of independence. It is to this second floor apartment that the heroines of The Amish Farm Trilogy come to live. They are English young women, fascinated by the Amish life style though they have no wish to be Amish. Here cultures gently clash.
Last 5 posts by Gayle
- An Interview With Gayle - February 1st, 2010
- It's All Perspective - April 8th, 2009
- A little more about Gayle... - March 1st, 2009
When will this Book be available?
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Elizabeth Reply:
November 11th, 2009 at 8:54 am
Hi Nancy! A Stranger’s Wish releases February 1, but you can pre-order it now at many online retailers. Thanks!
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http://www.amishreader.com is very informative. The article is very professionally written. I enjoy reading http://www.amishreader.com every day.
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