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I recently met a guy from an online "Yahoo User group"" forum and we met for the first time today... He and his wife and child. I must say that i was shocked at the intial meeting. I do not want to offend anyone here, but the guy was nothing what i expected... He was Almish, with a long beard, handmade clothes, straw hat, white shirt, suspenders, and barefoot.
His wife was in a similar garb, with a dress, head covering, and a baby that she was breastfeeding. (also barefoot).

The purpose of the meeting was a tour of some forested property. The funny thing about it was he had a 400.00 android phone, that he took pictures with, and apparently uses to get onto online forums, but had no shoes while walking thru the woods.... I didn't even think Almish people used the internet... must have been a progressive..

From now on, you guys, Do not ever, ever, ever place a mental image of someone in your head before meeting them...

Good advice. Did not know there were Amish in your part of the country.

That was another shocker... I did not know it either... I hope he's not reading this. We were looking at an area that has planted pines that have been thinned, pasture grass established, and cattle grazes on it... sort of growing a crop of timber and livestock simultaneously, called "Silvopasture"...

it caught me off guard, that i took a picture just for the heck of it.. i did not realize that his wife was breastfeeding til after i took the picture..

That would have been a bad thing in some communities. They do not believe in having their pictures taken. It gos back to the "Graven Images" thing. Sounds like these are less strict than some.

My experience is they can be pretty nice people if they are treated fair and honestly. Some of them have a grand sense of humor and can crack you up.

They try to live their faith and that faith calls for honest dealings with everyone. That doesn't mean they can't drive a hard bargain, though. It just means you're less likely to get cheated. There's always the renegade to watch out for, though.

you sure he was Amish

younger pard got married, one of his groomsmen looked just like you described


ain't nothing Amish about him, he's changed his look now, but you'da swore he was by appearances.

made for interesting wedding photos.

There are not any Amish down in Florida sheesh!

That was a family of Garden Gnome's! I can't believe you couldn't tell the difference.

I guess the "Almish" are a Florida offshoot of the northern "Amish."

Dan

More likely Mennonites. they're more like Amish light, use technology, drive, electricity, etc. Even the most "progressive" Amish aren't going to have a Droid.

not aware of any Amish in Florida. There ARE a lot of rainbow people and hippies though, more than a few with money.
I think you hooked up with a hippie myself.

There are quite a few Mennonite's around Sarasota.
They have some excellent resturants, sell crafts and such.

Hippies..ugh! Smelly hippies...

Yep, there is a large community of Mennonite's in Sarasota and a few true Amish that will only ride bicycles.

Breastfeeding is not restricted to Amish women, but walking barefooted through woodland is somewhat unusual, specially in areas were venomous snakes are a possibility...

I guess the Lord takes care of them!

Lol, yeah whatever.

Here some of the Amish use cell phones. Most try to keep it hidden from their superiors or elders or whatever they call the cult leaders but the leaders have one in their pocket, too.

It's pretty funny.... and yet at the same time completely pathetic. They condemn their underlings and punish them in various ways, to include public humiliation, all the while being guilty of the same "offense".

Last fall the leader of our local chapter was punishing his daughter and son in law (friends of mine) for having electricity run across from the neighbor's place to keep a freezer for fresh meat. He drug their names through the mud, told everyone how evil they were, made them pay penance after penance, and whatever other morbid he could imagine from his pinnacle of superiority, and all the while had a freezer in his back shed secretly hooked up to the grid.

Hypocrites. Hypocrites with a superiourity complex. Hypocrites with a superiority complex keeping guilt of whatever sort they can imagine at the forefront of everyone's thinking. Doing anything possible to look down on their bretheren and make sure everyone else looks down on them, too. Doing everything possible to keep people looking at someone other than them and at the same time continuously looking down on the "english".

What a crock of chit.
I see absolutely NOTHING that resembles scripture or scriptural living. In fact all I see is contrary and usually in direct disobedience. Condemning, hypocritical piousness creating strife and ill will at every turn. This is NOT a Christian organization. The proof is in the pudding. Just look. Just watch. It is written, "You'll know them by their works." By definition, Amish is a cult, plain and simple.

Here's the picture...What do you think? (Lord Forgive me)...I did not have the guts to ask them about religion, or if they were just barefoot hippies into homespun clothing and growing large families.

The Amish are an ultra strict sect of the Mennonites. There are many Mennonite sects, some much more strict than others. We have 2 different ones here and they're quit different. For the most part, they're very good people who take pride in their work. If they do a job for you, it'll be done right and at a reasonable price.

I have worked with Mennonites in the past, most all of them wore shoes/ boots. They dug catfish ponds, butchered meat, and did construction work in MS. These are the first i have met in FL.

The whole situation did not quite seem right to me for some reason, i couldn't plug it into a hole i was used to...