Farewell, sweet August

This evening marks the end of a most glorious summer. In my mind at least. Though I've technically been doing school-ish stuff for a month already, the end of August still brings a sadness to my heart, knowing that the fall is truly upon us.
As I sat on my side porch the other night, peanut butter and banana in hand, gazing up into the amazingly beautiful Fisherville sky, it dawned on me that it is four weeks ago tonight that I drove into Fisherville for the first time, exhausted from a cross country adventure and rejuvenated by an awesome young adults retreat weekend. It is hard to believe that the four week point has come already. Partly because I still feel like I just got here. And on the other end of the spectrum, I feel like I've been here so much longer than that already.
It is interesting how quickly something that you are around constantly becomes normal. Maybe that sounds kind of strange, but really think about it. Something that you've never before experienced in your life is all of a sudden consistently present. And before you know it, you feel strange when it's not there. Perhaps I'm being too vague. What I'm referring to mainly is my whole living in what some might call "the middle of nowhere" and all that this entails. This style of life is fast becoming normal for me. And I find myself thinking of things I was missing out on before now. (though I miss a great many things and people from life before now as well)
The quiet of the country really spoils you. That night when I was sitting out under the stars with my peanut butter and banana, I got slightly annoyed at 3 cars in a row driving in front of my house because of their noisy and bright interruption of my serene moment. There was a baseball game going on at the Fisherville diamond. I really should have expected it...it's not like I can't see the lights and hear the cheering from across town (yep, it's small alright).
Ooh and last night I saw a live possum for the first time. They're kind of dumb, I'm not gonna lie. We had it cornered in my neighbours' garage, and it just kind of sat there. Then again, their dog wasn't overly keen on tearing it apart, and I'm not so sure we had the means of killing it either. But it ended up being a good hider, always slipping through our desperate clutches, so after a while we gave up the hunt.
And today I biked down to Lake Erie. It was a lovely, sunny day, only moderately warm, and the perfect day for a bike ride. It was a good 10km to the lake down the country road, past rolling fields covered in hay bails, and other fields full of Queen Anne's lace among the sea of various blue and yellow wildflowers. The lake was like glass; a far cry from my first encounter with it, where the gusting winds brought rather large waves crashing into the shore, and the stormy sky made it look less than appealing to swim in or bike along. Today, however, the sun danced on the shimmering water, and the scattered beaches that appeared as I rounded point after point along the lakeside drive made me feel like I was at some tropical vacation spot. The lakeside homes were so quaint and pretty. I found a patch of grass along the lake and sat under a tree for a while, taking in the view, marvelling at the fact that I live so close to such beauty. Fisherville and the surrounding country truly is beautiful, but I definitely have a weakness for lakes. Or oceans or streams or rivers...I just really like water, I guess.
Oh, one more random thing. So random. Anyway, Saturday, so 2 days ago, I was awoken by the sound of a spraying hose. I had forgotten that I'd told the church trustees that they could clean my eavestrophs that morning, and they were hard at work at 9am. I had plans to go out that morning, so it was no problem. After getting ready, I was a few minutes early, and decided to head out to see what they were up to out there. Long story short, I climbed the ladder onto the roof and hung out on the top of the house for a bit. Eventually I came down and went on about my day, thinking little of what I'd done. WELL. Sunday morning rolls around, and I'm always there early to greet people on the way in (great time to learn and reinforce names of people!)...and I get, no joke, 12 people in a row, come up to me and say "Good morning, Kaitlyn, I hear you enjoy climbing roofs!"
What the heck! I was so confused how everyone could know about this. I find out later, my neighbour, whom I've never met, saw me up on the roof and told a few people, who in turn told a few more people...and that's how the story goes. Ooooooh small towns. Apparently this neighbour was wondering if I was up there because I missed the mountains in BC! Hahaha. I have never met him! But apparently everyone here knows a good amount about me, whether I've ever heard of them or not. I feel like I understand in a very small way what it'd be like to be famous. I'm not so sure I like it. But anyway, most people weren't too horrified that their DPS intern was found gallovanting on rooftops. In fact, one older lady said "Why, that's okay dear, all it means is that you're adventurous!"
Anyway, I have absolutely no idea how any of this relates to the fact that it's the last day of August. But alas, that fact remains true, and I thought I would finish off the month with a blog update. I am happy here in Fisherville. God has blessed me with a wonderful church family here and every day I see glimpses of his goodness.

little thing: was introduced to raspberries in milk, and the board game "candyland" tonight. according to my fair neighbours, I haven't lived till now

Fisherville!!!

Wowee so I don't even know where to begin. It feels like so much has happened since I got here...it's hard to believe it hasn't even been 2 weeks.

First, I feel as though I should relay to you some of my first impressions of Fisherville.
I absolutely love all of the farms. It kind of felt like we were driving into the middle of nowhere, and then bam, there's fisherville in all the glory of its one and only intersection. But honestly, there's just something about this place. It's got a charm all its own.

The sunsets are soo beautiful; nearly every night the sky is at least somewhat clear, and the sun peaks through in gorgeous pinks, oranges and yellows. And looking at that with a view of green, gently rolling fields with hay bails catching the sunset light and a line of dark green lush trees in the background. Truly breathtaking.
The sky gets so dark at night and the stars are so clear and there are sooo many more of them!
The crickets are actually the loudest thing you hear at night. They seem almost obnoxiously loud. It's unreal.
My dear friend and travel buddy Nicole will tell you that I cannot say enough about the brick houses. I'm sure she's wanted to slap me on several occasions for my constant "oooing" and "ahhing." But honestly, the houses here are so beautiful. There are a TON of older brick houses that just remind me so much of Europe; they're so quaint and pretty. And the best part is, I live in one of them!!! It was built in the 20s and it definitely has its quirks...but I don't think I could be happier (unless I had friends and family to come and fill up the 3 spare rooms on occasion..wink wink :p)

So here's a quick list of some of the super awesome things I've been up to in my free time in Fisherville so far:

Adventuring through soy bean fields, during which I was swallowed past my ankles by a rather stealthy puddle of mud

Shooting clay pigeons over a corn field....by the way, I've decided I'd like a 12 gauge for my birthday...

Living with and learning about the adventures of water cisterns...

Climbing my internet tower to clean the gutters of my house

Sitting in the parking lot drinking milk following a strenuous gym workout (this wasn't even my idea!! it's actually a well established tradition with certain folks in these parts :D)

Picking beans and tomatoes from a friend's garden in the pitch black...we decided it was like experiencing how a blind gardener did things...I definitely got a few green tomatoes...but couldn't wait to go home and fry them. They actually weren't bad.

Running to the end of a concession (country road :D)...they're supposed to only be a mile long. Yeah, this one was more than 2. But dang it, I couldn't give up. And I had to make it all the way back. And it was muggy. Which made it feel like I was running a flipping marathon in a sticky shower room. Siiiiick.

Took in several excellent wind/thunder/lightning storms. Apparently a tornado touched down in Cheapside (great name, eh?), which is about 20 minutes west of us. You can see the lightning forever because there are no mountains in the way of the sky!

Saw a meteor shower.

Yesterday: Driving to a city I've never been to, visiting an elderly man I've never met in a hospital I've never been to (I only mention this because even the hospitals I've been to multiple times, I still always feel like I'm lost in them). Oh, and this man has pneumonia and Alzheimers, so he had no clue who I was either. I was definitely nervous. But it was great and God is so good and the man, Vic, was a total sweetheart. Why do I always worry?

Today: Adventured in the Niagara Valley. Seriously, parts of this province look completely topical!! There are palm tree looking things and we were in a gorge with a rocky path and huge boulders and trees overhanging and we climbed waaay down to the water and saw a huge whirlpool thingy on the niagara river and went down the side of the escartment (like a huge cliff that goes for miles...it's actually on a fault line, and is what niagara falls runs off of...in case that's new news for you like it was for me, I thought I'd explain). Anyway, this place looked like what I thought a South American rainforest would look like. It was gorgeous. Then we went to see the falls themselves more inside the city of Niagara on the Lake, and to see the fireworks show!

So these have been my fun adventures. Tomorrow night we're having a bbq bonfire thingy and I'll get to meet some more young adults from around here. I'm pretty stoked for that. And I'll also be visiting Port Dover because apparently they have an "art in the park" thing going on. So yeah, that'll be something to check out.

I'm having such fun here so far. God's grace is amazing, thank you so much to all of you who have been praying. Of course I miss you all, but despite that, God's given me such joy and excitement for the year ahead.
The job is definitely a lot of work and some moments I think my brain can't hold all of the information I need to know, and that I'm just not qualified for all of it. But then the next moment I hear my Father saying that the task ahead is a huge adventure, and something in which all the credit for success should go to him, and it's good that i know that from the start! Praise God for being so amazing! Yeah, I can't do this on my own, but I'm not expected to!

Alright, I believe I've jabbered a sufficient amount for now. I'm off to bed at long last...

Greetings and hugs and God's blessings from the bonny bonny land of Fisherville, Ontario!!!

Kaitlyn :)

Little thing: a dear friend picked me blueberries and brought them to me at work