Sunday, May 22, 2016

PHEEBS & I FOLLOWED BUGGY TRACKS UNTIL WE HEARD ANGELS SINGING

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ALL THE HOMES, BARNS & PROPERTIES IN TONIGHT’S POST ARE FROM AMISH/MENNONITE COUNTRY

Turned out to be a beautiful sunny Sunday morning so figured Pheebs & I would head ourselves up into Amish/Mennonite Country.  With a bit of luck maybe we could find us where the folks had gathered for their Sunday morning service & by chance even hear them singing again like we once did a couple years ago.

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First stop of the day though was Goderich’s Canadian Tire store to pick up a matching seat cover for Libby’s passenger seat.  After the nice looking but poorly made crappy ones I bought a year ago & ended up throwing out I wanted to be sure we had better quality ones this time so only bought 1 for the driver’s seat a month ago.  Liked it so much we got the second one this morning.  When traveling with a muffin sharing dog good seat covers are a definite necessity if you don’t want your seats looking like soiled rejects from a crumb factory.

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THESE AMISH FOLKS HAVE THE NICEST LOOKING FARMS OF ANYWHERE….WELL KEPT, NEAT & TIDY & YOU KNOW ALL THOSE WATER WINDMILLS ARE IN THE BEST EVERYDAY WORKING CONDITION THEY CAN BE

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I HAVE A FEELING THEY MIGHT BE SMOKING UP SOME GOOD OLD MENONITTE SUMMER SAUSAGE IN THERE

From Goderich we made our way North before angling off to the East over in the direction of Dungannon Ontario where we stopped to see Pheeb’s Alpaca Pals for the first time this year.  Of course the gang was happy to see her & I’ll post those photos along with some old & newer farm machinery, golfers, a couple piles of cows, a few horses, an old Ford car on the highway, more farm houses, a ‘guess what it is’ water reflection, more birds, some sheep, roadside farm lane flower arrangements, tulips, a cluster of telephoto barns, & of course my co-pilot Pheebs uncustomarily riding shotgun in the back seat:))

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From Dungannon it wasn’t much farther before we were in horse & buggy country & it didn’t take long to find us a trail of fresh Sunday morning buggy tracks on the gravel road all heading in one direction.  Followed them until together they turned into a single farm laneway.  With windows down I pulled over & stopped.   As expected when I turned the Jeep’s engine off I heard the nicest melodic & angelic singing coming from an old large red barn at the end of the long lane.  Sat there for awhile just listening & enjoying what I was hearing.  It didn’t sound like church music from when I was a Kid & got dragged off kicking & screaming to Sunday School Sunday mornings.  This was a different sound & appeared to be deeper & male oriented.  Harmony & tone were in perfect unison lifting the many voices skyward.  I couldn’t make out any words which of course is preferable to me anyway because it is the sound of the human voice used as an instrument of perfection which always garners my attention & appreciation more so than words.  Those chanting like voices I heard rising & falling this morning were on par with any professional singing group I have ever heard anywhere & sitting there I was wishing I had had some kind of a quality recording device with me.  A truly awe inspiring event in the country side & how better to spend a Sunday morning than wrapped in the arms of Mother Nature’s splendid reality.DSC_0041

THE BUGGY WHEEL TRACKS LED US TO THIS FARM LANEWAY

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FROM THOSE BARN WINDOWS CAME THE MOST BEAUTIFUL SOUNDS

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IT WAS SO NICE TO SIMPLY SIT HERE A FEW MINUTES JUST LISTENING

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I HAVE NOTICED OVER THE YEARS IN MY TRAVELS THROUGH AMISH COUNTRY THE FOLKS LIKE TO PAINT THEIR HOUSES WHITE & THEIR BARNS & DRIVING SHEDS RED & YOU WILL NOTICE THAT IN TODAY’S PHOTOS ON VARIOUS FARMS

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NOTE THE OLD BLACK HANDLE WATER PUMP

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FOUR FELLOWS CAME OUT OF THE HOUSE & HEADED FOR THE DRIVING SHED & FROM THERE WALKED OVER & ENTERED THE BARN

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WHEN THIS MOTHER & 3 CHILDREN CAME OUT OF THE BARN I FELT IT WAS TIME FOR ME TO MOVE ON & NOT MAKE THEM UNCOMFORTABLE AT SEEING A CAR STOPPED AT THE END OF THEIR LANEWAY….KEEP IN MIND I AM USING A LONG TELEPHOTO LENS SO I AM NOT ANYWHERE AS NEAR TO THESE FOLKS AS IT WOULD APPEAR

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SOON THIS FRONT YARD GARDEN PLOT WILL BE BURSTING FORTH WITH COLORFUL FLOWERS & HEALTHY GREEN LEAF VEGITABLES

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MOVING DOWN THE ROAD A BIT I COULD STILL HEAR THE SOUNDS OF SINGING COMING FROM THE BIG RED BARN

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HORSES FROM THOSE BUGGIES COULD BE SEEN GRAZING BEHIND THAT RED BARN ON THE LEFT

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I took 182 photos this morning of which after editing 139 are useable for my blog.  Of course way too many to fit into one blog post of course so over the next few days I’ll toss a smattering of today’s photos in each post.

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THESE AMISH/MENONNITE FARMS ALWAYS SEEM TO HAVE THE HEALTHIEST & ROBUST LOOKING HORSES

GROANER’S CORNER:(( 10 Best Caddy Replies::

# 10 — Golfer: “Think I’m going to drown myself in the lake.”

Caddy: “Think you can keep your head down that long?”

# 9 — Golfer: “I’d move heaven and earth to break 100 on this course.”

Caddy: “Try heaven, you’ve already moved most of the earth.”

# 8 — Golfer: “Do you think my game is improving?”

Caddy: “Yes sir, you miss the ball much closer now.”

# 7 — Golfer: “Do you think I can get there with a 5 iron?”

Caddy: “Eventually.”

# 6 — Golfer: “You’ve got to be the worst caddy in the world.”

Caddy: “I don’t think so sir. That would be too much of a coincidence.”

# 5 — Golfer: “Please stop checking your watch all the time. It’s too much of A distraction.”

Caddy: “It’s not a watch – it’s a compass.”

# 4 — Golfer: “How do you like my game?”

Caddy: “Very good sir, but personally, I prefer golf.”

# 3 — Golfer: “Do you think it’s a sin to play on Sunday?”

Caddy: “The way you play, sir, it’s a sin on any day.”

# 2 — Golfer: “This is the worst course I’ve ever played on.”

Caddy: “This isn’t the golf course. We left that an hour ago.”

# 1 — Best Caddy Comment Golfer: “That can’t be my ball, it’s too old.”

Caddy: “It’s been a long time since we teed off, sir.”

11 comments:

  1. So, so beautiful! Thank you for all your hard work on your blog.

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  2. "Moreover, the Amish believe that photographs in which they can be recognized violate the Biblical commandment, "Thou shalt not make unto thyself a graven image." They want to be remembered by the lives they lived and the examples they left, not by physical appearance." I had heard this so looked it up and this is what I found. Love the photos tho'. Such beautiful country.

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  3. Such a wonderful experience in the country! By the way, how do you tell what direction a buggy's wheels are leading? Love the golfing groaner; my dad would really have enjoyed it, and used one of those answers on his buddies at the first opportunity.

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    1. If the buggy wheel tracks are on the same side of the road I'm traveling on then I know I am following them but if they are on the opposite side of the road I know they are going the other sway so have to make a U turn to follow them in the other direction.

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  4. We always love visiting the Amish community in Lancaster, PA. We've seen so many buggies, but never heard them sing when they gather for Sunday services. What a neat experience:) You are right, they have the most beautiful and well cared for farms. Love the photos!

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  5. Love this party of SW Ontario, such peaceful and scenic farm country.

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  6. Great photos Al. I have a lot of respect for the Mennonites in general. They seem to be hard working and very resourceful. Their lifestyle seems to be so much simpler than the rat race of major cities.

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  7. Beautiful pics of a beautiful day. Seems you found the perfect "church" :-) How lovely that the horses have a nice big pasture to spend their Sunday mornings while their peeps are in the barn!

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  8. Love the the pretty Mennonite farms, so cool that you get to listen to the music, I used to live near a Monastery and I could hear the beautiful Gregorian
    Chants.

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  9. I realize those were Amish farms you were photographing but it reminded me of the Mennonite community near Estacada, OR where I managed the funeral home there. When I retired my boss, the owner of the funeral home, invited the choral group to sing two songs at my retirement celebration. Their voices, minus any musical instruments were just beautiful. Something I will always remember.

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  10. Great photos of the country side!
    Michelle

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