Taking Time to Linger

Kendra Jaspers-Fayer has lived in the Act Five home for 2 summers and one program year as a resident. This summer, she is also working as the property caretaker for the home, which means taking care of the house, yard and garden, and continuing to invest time into this home and neighbourhood that has become her own. Here, she reflects on different seasons in the home, and the ways it grows and changes with time.

Living in Someone Else’s Home

Right now, the backyard of 75 Blake street is reaching its prime. As I return to the garden after a weekend away, new flowers have opened. The tomatoes ripening on their vines are two shades darker, the grass stands an inch taller. I have walked and lived in this space for over a year now, but for the past two months I have also been working for Act Five as a property caretaker. Instead of striding through the yard on my way to the back alley or the shed, I get to linger- to notice the small changes. As I venture into the yard every day, something is always different. Sometimes it is obvious like a branch that fell in a storm, or a new radiant bloom in the garden. Often, though, the day to day changes are more subtle. 

“…the four floors were each filled with names of people and places I had yet to meet.”

When I first moved into this house just over a year ago, it felt impossible to take in all the details. After six years of programs and summer tenants, the house and the yard were saturated with other people’s lives. Art – beautiful,varied, and sometimes weird- covered the walls – each attached to a story and a name. So many students had “left one thing”,  and the four floors were each filled with names of people and places I had yet to meet. While these details made for a vibrant and exciting place to live, they felt separate from me, a backdrop to my life before the next destination. 

Shaping and Being Shaped by Home

Now, some of these details are mine. In my two summers as a tenant and my time as a resident, I have laughed and cried and loved in this house. During a full year, the seasons shift and blur into one another. It can be easy to look ahead and forget how much has changed. But a lot has. The staff offices have jumped floors twice in the year. A big part of summer residency has been lived alongside renovations that have brightened hallways and completely changed the bathrooms. 

These are larger, seasonal shifts, but there are so many smaller ones. There were canning jars on the chandelier where games of basketball shattered the original light fixtures. There is fresh paint on the walls from the Year Six gap year students. The recycling bins now live in a different corner of the kitchen. I know how to change a fuse. And so many of the names I only knew scrawled on the door frame or in pictures have become people I know and care about. 

At Act Five, we often talk about how the summer brings a different pace of life. I get to spend my last months at Blake St. with a smaller group and a simpler schedule. As I cook spaghetti for Wednesdays, explore Hamilton, spend my days in the garden and my evenings perched by AC units, I’ve had time to walk the floors and see physical evidence of how the time I have spent here has shaped me and this whole community.

“…the house and the yard are saturated with other people’s lives.”

Caring for the property at 75 Blake St. has allowed me to slow down and consider that change up close. In the course of a week, Act Five’s backyard might not look all that different, especially if you’re just passing through. An inch of growth here, a new leaf there. But compared to last month, last season, or last year, the changes are undeniable.