Day 6 Final Reflection and Exploration

Day 6: Wrap-Up Tour


Today was our last full day in Hamilton, and we took the opportunity to reflect on what we had done thus far on our ABST and explore the area a little more before saying goodbye. We started the morning with another voyage (through a miniature blizzard) to Vintage Coffee. Upon our return, we embraced our inner children and built a snowman in front of the Sherman house. After, we met Karen at the Day Program to talk about our experience and what we learned. Each of us shared two highlights from the week, which led to many laughs and smiles as we all recounted our interactions with different members of the L’Arche community who drew close to our hearts this week.

 
Next, Karen took us to Café 541, a non-profit restaurant that specializes in serving deliciously-prepared, local and nutritious foods at reasonable prices. The restaurant was intentionally positioned downtown in what was once considered a food desert. Many who you will see in the café are volunteers. Patrons have the opportunity while ordering, to purchase buttons for $1 each, which can be used by other customers to subsidize the cost of their meals. One of our Hamilton core members, Janice, volunteers there, and told us a lot about the organization. The food was amazing and suited all our dietary needs, including gluten free and meatless Fridays for Lent!

From there, we drove along the Escarpment to Dundas where we visited a scenic overlook, and had an impromptu snowball fight. Dundas is home to many waterfalls, and we took a little hike to see one of the larger ones. Dundas is also filmed often for American cinema, and we past many scenes from the Netflix show Good Witch, which Jordan highly recommends. J We also stopped in downtown Dundas and visited a local specialty cheese shop, eco-friendly refill store, and artisan bakery.

After dropping our gracious tour guide Karen back off at the L’Arche Office, we explored Downtown Hamilton on James Street, purchasing knick knacks and locally-sourced goods. While the girls enjoyed the downtown shops and supported the local economy with highly sought-after American currency, the accompaniers enjoyed “a portion of what I am able to eat” all-you-can-eat sushi, an hour and a half before our in-home dinners. Which Brent would like to point out, he successfully finished with no problems (and it was good).

Then, it was back in the van to the Sherman house before going to our respective homes for one last dinner and goodbye with our favorite core members. Our visit was quick as we prepared to decorate cupcakes with the community at the Day Program center with all of our Hamilton homes and friends. The event was a major success, with Jordan being declared the official winner (by Megan and Brent as of writing this blog) for her fondant dog creation. After cleanup, we all came home for a particularly special reflection of our entire experience. What a week!

Peace,

Brent, Megan, and the L'Arche Ontario group