Weekly Update: Kelly and Matthias

The past week at Arcadia has been filled with muddy trails, wet canoe rides, and cloudy skies. Our spirits were low and the forecast was grim, but with a swift stroke of luck the clouds parted and the sun began to shine just in time for our field trip to Indian Lake Central School.

At the school, we were paired with seventh grade students and helped them prepare a presentation on ecology. While some of the performances were a bit more zany than others, the seventh graders were able to effectively share their knowledge with the visiting sixth and eighth grade students.

Despite the good weather on Thursday, rain persisted until Saturday morning which unfortunately put a damper on our plans to go to the Saranac Lakes to canoe and climb. But the gallant gentlefolk of Arcadia didn't let the weather ruin our weekend extravaganza! We threw on some of our craziest costumes, grabbed a Frisbee and headed to the Saranac bowling alley. As we loaded up the van, rainbow suspenders, purple tracksuit and onsie in tow, we spotted sunlight and we knew the day was destined for success.

As the weather continued to improve, we decided to travel to some nearby fields to play some Ultimate Frisbee (costumes required) while the sun was still shining. After running, diving, and wrestling in the grass, we decided it was finally time to bowl, the reason we had headed to Saranac Lake in the first place. When we showed up at the lanes, still in costume, we certainly were in a league of our own. As weekly teams were rolling strikes around us, the sound of our laughter and gutter balls filled the room. While our scores weren't record-breaking, we did what we had come to do; we conquered the rain and at the end of the day we ate pizza
--Kelly

Sunday was spent just outside of Canton picking apples, 3 bushels in total, for storage, sauce making and pie filling. Fall raspberries were also gathered at Ellie's house as the group elated in the bounty of harvest and the comfortable cold of a fall day.

Snow accumulated for the first time on Tuesday amidst the evergreen and mixed hardwoods, and preparation for colder weather became our top priority. Wood was split with vigor and set under the cover of our existing and recently completed shelters. The lake went calm on Wednesday as if to acknowledge our hard work.

We are all looking forward to the continual development of our practicum placements and our new woodworking projects started with Tupper Lake local, Michael Frenette.
--Matthias