From Downton Abbey to Lanchester County

"This morning I got up at a quarter to 5 and I started getting the laundry together.  Then I woke the girls at 5 o'clock and they made breakfast" - An Amish woman as she uses a old-fashioned one tub washer to do the laundry by candlelight.  

I have been fascinated by the Amish for as long as I can remember.  I've read many many fiction books about Amish and Mennonite families and even have a few in my bookshelf by Beverly Lewis (Abram's Daughters Series).

Now that Downton Abbey is over I've had some time on my hands on Sunday nights.  Well this last week I came across the PBS Documentary The Amish on their series American Experience.  I was fascinated and learned a few new things about their culture and way of life.  I guess you could say it was a little more in depth than the Amish-fiction-romances I'd been reading over the years. ;)

In another life I would love to live as an Amish.  Of course I'd miss my laptop, netflix, van and world travel.  But, if I was born there I guess I wouldn't know any better. ;)  There is just something so attractive about the simplicity and complete devotion to their religious beliefs and way of life.  Also their commitment to each other as a group, rather than to their lives as individuals.  So foreign to our typical American way of thinking.

I've never been to Lancaster Pennsylvania but I have a friend who recently transplanted out there and so I hope to visit one day.  I'd love to be a tourist and see their farms, handwork and a glimpse of the life they live.

I highly recommend seeing PBS's The Amish, it's almost 2 hours long but worth the time.  Watching how hard these women (and families) work makes me want to clean my house.  But you won't catch me hand washing my laundry by candlelight at 5am.  No thanks, I'm happy to use my newfangled front loader.  Ha!