Tuesday, May 17, 2011

A Hearse of a Different Caller

Sorry. That's the punch line of a lame joke, a play on the words "horse of a different color." 

It's just a workings of a sick mind, that's all. Because yesterday, I really did see a horse of a different color. Two of them, in fact. 

I always thought that the Amish could have any color of buggy horse they wanted as long as it was dark brown or black.  That's what you usually see: a buggy drawn by a single dark horse. The horse may have white socks, a white star or blaze on its forehead, but the rest of it is always black or brown.

Driving along Route 62 near Killbuck, in Holmes County, OH, we passed a buggy drawn by a team of cafe-du-lait horses with cream-white manes and tails. We've never seen such a thing before. Perhaps they were being driven by a teen-aged girl, because the rules are relaxed a bit for young people.

We had a pleasant weekend in Ohio. The wild dogwood is everywhere in bloom.  We also saw ragwort, spring beauties, phlox, dames' rocket, and trillium. Near our creek, we saw a deer, three blue herons, and a hawk. It rained a lot. The rivers are high and I am sorry to tell the folks downstream that more water is on the way.


3 comments:

  1. I love to go to Amish country. We used to go to Nappanee, IN...to the huge flea market there and buy up all kinds of baked goods and bring them home and freeze them. YUM! I never really gave it much thought before....but you're right....seems like every one of their horses were dark. I guess it went right along with their "plain" philosophy of their lifestyle. Do you live near the Amish of Holmes County?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes, our cabin is in Knox County, just over the line from Holmes.

    ReplyDelete
  3. We attended college in Lancaster County so seeing Amish brings back fond memories.

    And yes, this week has been like living in a rain forest!!

    ReplyDelete