Blogroll: Amish Are Rule Breakers? Also: Tom Looks At Schools; Amish Church Spread, Potato Dinner Rolls, and Lydia Glick's Whole Wheat Amish Bread

AMISH AS RULE-BREAKERS?   There was a piece in The Humanist this past week by an author that is very thought-provoking.  My first reaction was to put up a knee-jerk defense of the Amish.  But I do try to be open-minded on almost everything. I give people a fair hearing whether I agree with them or not and as long as their view is coming from a place of respect and is articulated well, I think that is what matters.  The author is flat wrong on some points (i.e. the Amish DO pay into social security unless they are self-employed), on others...well, he makes some points that maybe are at least worth considering.  Not saying I agree, just saying some of his points are thought-provoking.  What do you think?  Click here to read the piece.

AMISH CHURCH SPREAD:  Blogroll has a bit of an international flair this week.  A Swedish-American blogger gives her take on this most Amish of confections: church peanut butter spread (check out her unique serving suggestions...Yum!) Click here.

DOWN UNDER DINNER ROLLS:  Heading from Sweden to New Zealand, a Kiwi shares a recipe for Amish Potato Rolls, but she adds a twist or two and they sound - and look - delicious! Click here for the recipe and her twists!

ONE-ROOM NOSTALGIA:  Tom the Backroads Traveler goes on a school sojourn this past week and it kind of makes me wistful and reflective to view his photos. The countryside in rural southwest Ohio where I live is dotted with the skeletons of schools from another time.  Ghostly one-room brick apparitions that stare vacantly into a future that's over.  For these buildings, their purpose was in yesterday.  They were once teeming with the vibrancy of youth, the promise of tomorrow, the stern stare of a school-master, the crinkling paper bag of a packed lunch, the squeaking chalk on a board, a school-yard bustling with ball games and hopscotch.  No more.  The buildings sit empty crumbling into tomorrow.  Sad.  Tom provides a solemn selection of these decaying relics in his rural New York countryside. Click here for the peaceful, yet sad, photos.  His photos, by the way, are old schools that are likely non-Amish.  Amish "one room schools" are actually a relatively recent phenomena.  Most Amish used to attend public school, but the trend has been towards their own parochial schools over the past 30 - 40 years.  So the Amish are managing to keep the vibrancy to their rural schools.

LYDIA GLICK'S AMISH HOMEMADE WHOLE WHEAT BREAD:  Okay, I see.  Glick is a common Amish surname especially in Lancaster County, PA. It's not a name you see a whole lot elsewhere. So when I saw this blog, I thought, "oh cool."  But then I kept seeing the pieces written by a Justina Dee and scratched my head. But  Justina is the author and she has named the website Lydia Glick after her Amish grandmothers.  Got it.  This week Justina posts a delicious-sounding (and looking) Amish whole wheat bread recipe with some super photos.   Click here for the recipe!