An exploratory weekend
Well, this weekend was eventful! I decided it was time to leave the big city for a while and spend some time with family in Aurora, Ontario. This weekend, for some reason, felt like more than two days.
I went up Friday afternoon and just lounged for a bit until dinner was ready. The weather has been really summer-like, so we ate dinner on the patio. We watched The Time Traveler's Wife, which was pretty dull but it was sort of interesting too. I had an early night because we were headed off to Waterloo, Ontario in the morning.
I have not really explored much of Canada despite living here my entire life and somehow visiting Europe a handful of times. I have visited more places outside of Canada than I have inside Canada, and it is kind of pathetic. Needless to say, I was excited to finally visit somewhere I had never been: St. Jacobs. The car ride was about an hour and a half (which felt way longer). It was really, really hot out and the sun was scalding, but I sucked it up. We visited the very popular St. Jacobs Farmers' Market, which is a huge outdoor market with tons of vendors and food, completely crawling with people. Not exactly my cup of tea, usually, but I was okay anxiety-wise aside from the fruit tents (which were just way too hot and packed). We walked around for over three hours, and I managed to find some cool jewelry stands and bought some neat lampwork glass necklaces. We got some hot apple fritters, and my family members picked up some produce. They had everything there. Meats, cheeses, fruit, vegetables, handmade furniture, jewelry, clothing, accessories, hats, shoes, plants, flowers, garden supplies, etc. There were a lot of craft vendors selling their handmade stuff. We got a huge cup of handmade lemonade; it was $5 but so worth it. Hah.
It was so, so hot out. My god. I obviously did not have a wireless Internet signal there but it must have been in the high 30s or maybe even early 40s with the humidex. I slathered myself with sunscreen and still ended up looking like this:
That is after only three hours (and three applications of sunscreen before I even stepped out of the car). And you should see my face and scalp. My entire forehead is red, as is my nose and parts of my cheeks. My scalp is bright red and I know it is going to peel. Gross. You have no idea how much pain I am in. It does not matter if I wear sunscreen; that is what happens to my skin within an hour or so of being out in the sun. I just burn to a crisp and I hate it. The same thing happened to me on the boat last year at the cottage. We were out there for five hours, and I was putting sunscreen on every fifteen minutes and still, I burned big time. My skin is just so pale and so sensitive. I could barely sleep last night. Just having my shirt on hurts, forget lying on my back. I have been applying aloe after-sun but it is not doing anything to help the pain.
Anyway, after the farmers' market we visited a quaint little town: Fergus, Ontario. Certainly, I could never live in such a place but it was nice to visit. With street names like Cambridge, Glasgow, Dublin, Essex, Yorkshire and Bristol... it is exactly what you would expect. Fergus has strong Scottish roots, so it was nice to experience a bit of my heritage right here in Ontario. They even have the Fergus Highland Games, complete with bagpipes and dancing. That would be neat to go to sometime. We took a look at Grand River (where I unfortunately saw a dead beaver and nearly cried). The shops were beautiful; I wanted everything in sight but it is all ridiculously expensive. I went into one shop that could, I swear, be the single store I would decorate my entire home with (if I were rich). It was hard to resist all of the jewelry... but I am broke so it is not like I had a choice. Hah. They had so much beautiful, Celtic jewelry though. When I do have some money, I want to go back and buy some. The town was so packed with arts, crafts and nice food shops. Again, not where I would want to live but certainly very nice to visit. Sometimes a busy city can be a bit too much to handle on a daily basis, and I do not mind experiencing these quieter places when I go out of town. Even if I could not do it myself, I like seeing the way other people live. I admire that these people seem to have so much less but seem... a hell of a lot happier.
There were so many Mennonite (Christian Anabaptist) farmers at St. Jacobs, and it really makes you think. Most Mennonites started arriving in Canada in the late 1700s, originally from Germany-speaking countries but relocating from Pennsylvania. A lot of the rural areas around St. Jacobs are populated with Mennonites, and they still maintain 19th century customs. They estimate over 200,000 are settled in Canada. These people first came to the Waterloo area in the 1800s and are still there. That alone is so neat. I suppose they are quite comparable to the Amish. Most have jobs in agriculture and run farms. Although there are different congregations of Mennonites, most of the ones that populated the area are Old Order Mennonites. Like Old Order Amish, they do not use modern day technologies such as electricity or motorized transportation. This means no cars, no cell phones, no iPods... and a traditional farming lifestyle. They use a horse and buggy to get around. They are quite strict with entertainment, especially music. Most reject the idea of state-run public schools, and in Canada they have private elementary schools, high schools and colleges. They dress conservatively, and the women must wear long skirts and cover their shoulders and cleavage. Women do not wear make-up and are discouraged from wearing jewelry, aside from a wedding ring. The women have very long hair, braided, and most wear bonnets. They are also pacifists, a very peaceful people against violence and war.
Everything the Mennonites were selling was handmade. They even had animal auctions there, to purchase farm animals. It was all very interesting. I have no idea how you can continue to live as people did hundreds of years ago in this day and age, but I admire it. There are downsides to the Mennonite way of living, but it would likely have some upsides too. Imagine how much your stress level and blood pressure would decrease without the worries of modern day technologies?
A picture of the jewelry I got (four necklaces, two pendants):
