There are no squirrels here...

Wandering around the village and beyond over the past almost three weeks (yikes, has it already been that long?!), I've come to realize that some animals to which I've grown quite accustomed are missing.  First, there was the near deafening silence that came with the lack of cicadas.  Over the summer, I had grown so used to hearing their song rising and falling like waves crashing gently against a sandy beach that their absence upon my arrival was close to jarring.  But as the days wore on, I noticed a distinct lack of other more furry critters as well.  Namely, squirrels and rabbits.  Maybe it's just because Kansas has such an abundance of them (though perhaps the new resident coyote has taken care of that to some degree) that it seems so strikingly odd to me.  Or maybe it's because I can drive down a street and not worry that I'm going to hit one of the less-than-brilliant little balls of fur.  Or perhaps it's because I just picture there being rabbits at the very least in Ireland.  Whatever the reason, it is singularly peculiar to me that there are no squirrels here...

Tarrying for just a bit longer in the realm of things missing (yesterday's sermon was on things lost, so I suppose it's fitting), it is remarkable to me the things that cause you to miss home--not as in "homesick" but rather just a momentary pang of realizing that you are very far away from the life that you're used to and the people who truly know you.  Walking through the grocery store, I needed only a few things.  American and shredded cheeses were on the list.  Perusing the cheese aisle, I was momentarily distressed when I couldn't find anything labeled "american cheese".  I'm just so comfortable with the friendly blue wrapper of Kraft singles (no matter what your opinion of them might be) that it was disappointing to search and search and think for a moment that no such product was available.  A similar story with the shredded cheese--I've just become so accustomed to walking into the diary aisle and having a million shredded options that it was startling to not see it right away.  Of course, in the end I found them both.  And it is, ultimately, a trivial thing.  But for a minute, I just missed familiar.  Sometimes, it's the little things that really matter.  Sometimes, it's the little things that remind you that no matter how similar a place might be to home, it isn't in the end.

This is not to give anyone the impression that I'm not having a grand time.  I am!  And to prove it I have more pictures :)

Just for the record, it was a very windy day.  Some of the pics are blurry because I was being buffeted so badly that I couldn't keep still.  No joke.  I might have been blown away.

Rainy Day + some others