Sam A. Malek lives in rural Pennsylvania, and he’s a photographer. This gives him perfect opportunities to photograph Amish and Mennonites living nearby.

At Amish America, David Arment is visiting with a special article on Amish phone use. In case you’re new to David Arment, he spends a lot of time in Amish country with a camera, so he learns what kinds of buildings community members use. Starting from the phone shack, David is talking about how Amish communities adopt technology.

Dial…

The herringbone pattern is an exciting way to bring modular geometry into your home. Small, rectangular tiles fit on almost any surface, and the diagonal pattern stands out. Visit Homedit and you will find a gallery of inspiring herringbone kitchen backsplashes, a refreshing alternative to herringbone wood floors.

These sources are gorgeous.

If you like Scandinavian architecture and design, visit Dezeen’s tour of Sommarhus Akenine by the studio Johan Sundberg Arkitektur in Sweden. The wood home is situated in a boreal forest on the coastline. Both inside and outside, the home is simply contemporary but for those who like to learn architectural details, the firm varied up wood types.

See samples.

Woodworking never stops teaching you things. Today, let’s talk about physics with Steve Schafer. Steve goes over the science of finding out how weak a dovetail joint can possibly be (I see humor here) if the pins are very thin. The lengthy article has illustrations and explains tension between pins and tails.

Neat!

At Popular Woodworking, Graham Hayden is trying out and showing off a Skelton dovetail saw. Besides being among the most beautiful handsaws in the world, the Skelton saw is custom handcrafted in England. Shane Skelton’s work is superb and Graham goes over every pro and con of the saw with respect.

Click on the beauty of tools.

Tiny houses are so ingenious, so beautiful, and so new. Many of us get inspired by tiny house tours with their unusual arrangements and efficient designs. Lloyd Alter would like to remind us to balance that inspiration with safe, sober thought. Click on TreeHugger for an article on fire safety and other safety considerations tiny house builders should keep in mind.

Remember, it’s for living in.

Those of you who read Popular Woodworking, visit Christopher Schwartz’s blog for a close-up on a Jim Leamy plow plane that the magazine snuck into a cover photo of a hall cupboard. Leamy’s tools are art; some are brilliant to use, others to touch and move the parts on.

Get the photos.

Kevin Williams has a treat for you. The Amish Cook columnist has visited Countrylane Bakery and Gifts of Berne, Indiana. Of course, he took pictures of Amish baked goods. Ooh, is that confectioner’s frosting on those peach fry pies? Photos, as well as directions to visit for yourself, are at Amish365.com.

Click to read about pie.