Amish Country PA - A "QUICK" out-of-the-car-window photo essay + Summer Squash Casserole

As the Summer of 2012 is ending, we are all busy trying to squeeze in everything we want to get done - even then leaving many items not crossed off the list, but saved for next summer. Personally, this is a very busy time in my life, I will post a few weeks of double issues during the New Fall Arts Season in an effort to cover more subjects, openings and exhibitions. 

Enjoy these last days of summer!

ART
Amish Country 
Pennsylvania
A photo essay.

Have you ever wished you could take a picture of something you saw while driving down the road, but doing so would mean, throwing on the brakes, turning the car around, finding a place to park and THEN setting up, composing and taking the picture. Of course that IS the professional and correct approach to taking a good photograph, when on the road. Many times driving schedules do not allow time for multiple stops - after all you are on your way to a destination. 

On a recent road trip, with a very specific and tight deadline for arriving, I decided that "this was the time" to try the point and shoot approach. If I saw something interesting while driving, I would simply point my camera in the direction of the subject, focused at infinity and without looking through the viewfinder, or at all, I would take the picture for better or worse through my car window. This resulted in mostly tilted or blurred photos and a few good pictures.

I did this process across 2/3rds of the USA, for about 2000 miles. Here I present the section of road through Lancaster County (Amish Country) in Pennsylvania. (August 2012) 

Enjoy this quick view of the neat and well tended homes, farms and fields, all maintained the old fashioned way, using horses for pulling the plows and the mowers.

I may post more snapshots from my "Road Trip" at another time, after I sort through the blurred, the bad and the bazaar! America is a "Big Country", I recommend that everyone should drive across the USA sometime, rather than fly over it. When driving, the interesting "bits" are not seen from the interstate, but are found in the unique cities, small towns and back roads along the way.

Note: I did make a few short get-out-of-the-car, stops with my camera in hand. A few photographs taken at the "Bird-In-Hand" weekly "locals" market are included in this photo essay.

On the Road:

Young Amish on their unique scooter bikes, the only bicycles they use.

The horse drawn carriages have the right-of-way in Lancaster County, PA.

Unusually well tended fields, farms and barns are everywhere.

Two crops, in strata, planted in the same field.

Lancaster County road signs.

This gasoline station and hardware store uses vintage pumps from the early 20th century.

BIRD-IN-HAND, PA
Town named for a picture on an
old hotel's swinging sign.
Founded 1734

At the Bird-In-Hand Weekly Market:

Milled and raw grains for baking.

Amish HEX signs sold as
decorative art for tourist's homes.

Canned and pickled vegetables
have been a part of Amish and all rural lifestyles for generations.

Squares of local hand sewn quilts.

 Back on the road:

"Road Side" front yard sales - produce and flowers sold at this stand.

Old home in Lancaster, PA.

HEX signs made in metal.

Green lawns and perfectly kept homes, are everywhere in Lancaster County, PA.

The Amish's wonderfully simple way of life (where their techology and lifestyle have been frozen in time since the mid-1800s) seems to create a very pleasant and happy community.

(Source: All photographs were taken by Jack A. Atkinson)

FOOD

Summer Squash Casserole

Our family's favorite baked squash. 

Cut 4 or 5 yellow squash into rounds and boil in slightly salted water, just until  tender inside with slightly firm skin. Drain. Add 1 med. diced onion, 1/2 stick butter (melted), 2 eggs (beaten), 1 teaspoon sugar, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper - mix all together in a 9" x 9" casserole dish. Top with breadcrumbs and spray (at a distance) with PAM, or top with 1/2 stick melted butter, both will help the breadcrumb topping to brown. Bake at 375* for 45 min. Mmmmmmmmmm.

(Source: Atkinson Family Cookbook)

Until later,

Jack

ARTSnFOOD, is an online publication dedicated to "The Pursuit of Happiness, the Arts and Food." ™ All rights reserved. Concept, Original Art, Text & Photographs are © Copyright 2012 Jack A. Atkinson under all International intellectual property and copyright laws. All gallery, museum, fair or festival photographs were taken with permission. Images © individual artists, fabricators, respective owners or assignees.