We enjoyed every moment watching the Amish families.  While fathers plow the fields, the women hang laundry to dry.  The children push manual lawn mowers or feed the livestock.  Home and family are central to these people's lives — they don't worry about money or social status.

Most Amish are trilingual.  They speak a dialect of German, called Pennsylvania Dutch, at home;  they use High German at their worship services and they speak     English when they deal with anyone who is not Amish.  They are a private people who believe God has kept them together despite pressure from the modern world to change.  Although they are not perfect, they are a beautiful example of a community that supports and cares for its members.  They are a people apart.... they are also a people together..... 

The beautiful Amish farms surround towns with the most colorful names like Intercourse, Bird-in-Hand and Strasburg.  They are located on the Old Philadelphia Pike, earlier known as King's Highway, in Eastern Lancaster County.  These little towns are a clear reminder of the traditional American heritage as people live by a simpler way of life.

Each season has its own charming and changing pictures of beautiful landscape and people... whether it is Spring plowing and planting, Summer hay making or Fall corn cutting — a tourist always stands in awe of these simple people.  Time stood still when I was watching the horses, doing a practiced dance as they negotiate the 180 degree turn at the end of each row while plowing. 

I am sure the Amish people must be the happiest people on earth.  They find pleasure in the simple things in life.  When last have you walked into a sunset.... noted a bird chirping happily as it makes a nest... caught the smell of Jasmine in a breeze? 

The Amish reminded me again to find pleasure in simple things in life...