By Joann M. Ringelstetter
One of the goals of our trip to Ohio this year was to spend a day in Amish country, so on the eighth day of the trip, we did just that. We had arrived in the area the evening before and drove around a bit before checking into our motel. Just outside of the town where we were going to stay, we saw a sign for an Amish bakery, so we made a mental note to stop there for breakfast.
The next morning, we headed out at dawn, stopping in a small town nearby to photograph an old mill building, and then out into the country where we photographed a country church and cemetery, some Amish and Mennonite farms, and some llamas at an area llama farm. At the llama farm, which was located at a crossroads, a car pulled up and the woman driving asked for directions. Ruth looked at the Ohio gazetteer and we pointed her in the right direction and then discussed that she must have been a Mennonite because she was driving a car rather than a horse and buggy.
Just down the road from the llama farm, we saw a beautiful farm and stopped along the gravel road to take a few pictures. As I set up my tripod, an old Amish gentleman in a buckboard wagon pulled up beside us. We talked for a few minutes and then I told him that I needed him to educate me. He said that he would try. So I asked him how to tell the difference between the Amish and the Mennonites.
He agreed that the woman driving the car was likely a Mennonite. And he explained that you could tell a Mennonite farm from an Amish farm by whether or not there was electricity running to the farm. I told him that I had assumed the farm in front of us was Mennonite and he confirmed that it was. It wasn’t easy to see, but there was a utility pole and there wasn’t a windmill for power like you see on Amish farms.
Then I asked if you could tell by the way people dressed and he said that it was more difficult to distinguish between the two. He told me that both the Amish and the Mennonites wear plain colors rather than patterns, but that the Mennonites wear more pastel colors than the Amish, who typically wear darker colors. But he also cautioned me that some of the Amish were beginning to wear lighter colors, so it might be hard to tell.
By this time, it was around 8:30 a.m., and we had been photographing since 5:30 a.m., so we were getting rather hungry. I asked him if he could direct us to the Amish bakery. His eyes lit up and he told me that they had huge cream sticks and they were the best in the area. I told him to have a wonderful day and he and his horse headed up the road.
As is typical for us, we stopped to photograph more Amish farms and buggies on our way to the bakery.
It was 10:00 a.m. before we finally arrived at the bakery. Everything looked and smelled so good. We considered the cream sticks and the fry pies, but settled on a doughnut and a cinnamon roll. They were both delicious. As we were leaving the bakery, we photographed what we thought was an outhouse. Later we discovered that it is actually an Amish telephone booth.
We had worked so hard the first seven days of the trip that this day in the slower paced Amish country was a welcome change and very relaxing. Speaking of a change of pace, we have decided to change the pace of our blog posts going forward. We have been writing these detailed blogs every week for three years, which has required an extreme amount of time, dedication, and discipline.
We have some other goals for our photography business to which we haven’t been able to devote any time. Therefore, these detailed blog posts that often require extensive research will be featured every other week. On the opposite weeks, we may or may not post. If we do, they will be shorter posts about photos that don’t require as much time and effort. We value our readers, so we hope you’ll understand and that you’ll keep reading our stories.
Stay tuned and Happy Shunpiking!
Joann
Shunpiking To Heaven Backroads Blog
Showing posts with label Llamas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Llamas. Show all posts
Sunday, July 1, 2012
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Laughing with the Llamas
By Ruth A. Ringelstetter
Joann and I enjoy so many things about driving on the back roads of Wisconsin and other great places in this country. We laugh about a lot of things – mostly our silly jokes, puns, and memories, and our incessant teasing of each other.
Sometimes we’re lucky enough to come across some animals out in the pasture, and some of the cutest and funniest we come across are the llamas. Often what we find is a small farm with just a few llamas and sometimes there is only one llama.
Or two.
Then one night on the way home from a day of photographing, we came across a pasture full of llamas. We had never seen so many llamas, and stopped for a while to try and get some pictures and just to watch as they moved about. Joann watched through her camera lens, and I watched with my binoculars.
Since that first night of finding the llamas, we have returned several times. The next time we drove by specifically to see the llamas, the pasture appeared empty, and we thought they had sold all of the llamas or the farm had changed hands.
Then just last month at the end of our weekend trip to Iowa, we came past the same pasture again. As we passed the main part of the pasture where the llamas had been on our first stop, it was again empty. But as we drove further along the road, we found that there were several groups of llamas up close to the fence. We were tired, and it was getting late, but there were llamas!
Joann got out and grabbed her camera. She cautiously crossed the road, and the llamas stayed where they were, just checking her out. She inched closer and closer, stopping every now and then to take a couple of photos in case they bolted. Finally, she was right at the fence.
There was a little white llama that was very curious, but also very cautious. It wanted to see what was going on, but it wasn’t brave enough to come to the front to be the center of attention.
It just kept popping up in different spots to watch Joann.
There was also one with a spotted face and body, and a shear cut that made it look like a clown. That one was so cautious that it would never stand still long enough for Joann to get a picture.
This group of llamas is very well taken care of. They are sheared in different manners leaving them all very different looking. I wonder if the owners have them sheared based on their personalities.
As the llamas moved about, sometimes they would position themselves so they ended up looking like a pushmi-pullyu (pronounced “push-me—pull-you”), the mythical creature from the 1967 Dr. Dolittle movie. This animal had a llama head and front feet on each end, and each end wanted to lead.
The Llama
Ogden Nash
The one-L lama,
He's a priest.
The two-L llama,
He's a beast.
And I will bet
A silk pajama
There isn't any
Three-L lllama.
Take the backroads when you can and watch the pastures for a pushmi-pullyu!
Happy Shunpiking!
Ruth
Joann and I enjoy so many things about driving on the back roads of Wisconsin and other great places in this country. We laugh about a lot of things – mostly our silly jokes, puns, and memories, and our incessant teasing of each other.
Sometimes we’re lucky enough to come across some animals out in the pasture, and some of the cutest and funniest we come across are the llamas. Often what we find is a small farm with just a few llamas and sometimes there is only one llama.
Or two.
Then one night on the way home from a day of photographing, we came across a pasture full of llamas. We had never seen so many llamas, and stopped for a while to try and get some pictures and just to watch as they moved about. Joann watched through her camera lens, and I watched with my binoculars.
Since that first night of finding the llamas, we have returned several times. The next time we drove by specifically to see the llamas, the pasture appeared empty, and we thought they had sold all of the llamas or the farm had changed hands.
Then just last month at the end of our weekend trip to Iowa, we came past the same pasture again. As we passed the main part of the pasture where the llamas had been on our first stop, it was again empty. But as we drove further along the road, we found that there were several groups of llamas up close to the fence. We were tired, and it was getting late, but there were llamas!
Joann got out and grabbed her camera. She cautiously crossed the road, and the llamas stayed where they were, just checking her out. She inched closer and closer, stopping every now and then to take a couple of photos in case they bolted. Finally, she was right at the fence.
There was a little white llama that was very curious, but also very cautious. It wanted to see what was going on, but it wasn’t brave enough to come to the front to be the center of attention.
It just kept popping up in different spots to watch Joann.
There was also one with a spotted face and body, and a shear cut that made it look like a clown. That one was so cautious that it would never stand still long enough for Joann to get a picture.
This group of llamas is very well taken care of. They are sheared in different manners leaving them all very different looking. I wonder if the owners have them sheared based on their personalities.
As the llamas moved about, sometimes they would position themselves so they ended up looking like a pushmi-pullyu (pronounced “push-me—pull-you”), the mythical creature from the 1967 Dr. Dolittle movie. This animal had a llama head and front feet on each end, and each end wanted to lead.
The Llama
Ogden Nash
The one-L lama,
He's a priest.
The two-L llama,
He's a beast.
And I will bet
A silk pajama
There isn't any
Three-L lllama.
Take the backroads when you can and watch the pastures for a pushmi-pullyu!
Happy Shunpiking!
Ruth
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