Angela VanWell

Author | Reader | Traveler | Tea and Coffee Drinker

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I stood at the edge of the cliff, waiting for the World to end in 2012

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We left our home in Balikpapan, Indonesia, when they transferred my husband to Jakarta. My husband worked offshore, so he was rarely home while he was on shift. And the idea of moving from Balikpapan, on Borneo Island, to the bustling city of Jakarta, on Java Island, was too much for me. I would miss my friends and our outdoor adventures, as it is not as easy to bike around Jakarta. We decided our daughter and I would explore New Zealand and Australia. We lived close enough together that he could fly to see us, while I found a new homeland to explore, from its geography, culture, to seasons.

The best part of moving because you want to, not for a job or family, is you are free to explore until you find a place you want to stay for a while. So we bought a car and headed off on our new adventure. We travelled around, camping, hiking, visiting museums, trying to determine which place felt most like home. It took us a month, but we finally reached Napier, in Hawke’s Bay.

Napier, New Zealand

A wonderful place to explore Art Deco Architecture, vineyards, bike trails, and fresh produce. Our home base for six months.

We stayed across from the palm tree-lined promenade, looking over the black rock beaches and the blue of the Pacific Ocean reaching out into the clouds. There was no land insight, and the Maori name for the country, Aotearoa, “The Land of the Long White Cloud” is suiting. Surrounded by apple, pear, and stone fruit, and grape orchards, it was the ideal place to live. It was the center of the second-largest wine region in New Zealand, a utopia for me who loved fresh produce and great wine. We purchased two bikes and a bike trailer for our daughter and moved in. The year was 2012.

Although we did not have the snowy Christmas’s of Canada, (We were used to it living in Indonesia), we loved camping over the Christmas holidays. For the week between Christmas and New Year, we camped and hiked to our heart’s content. The sun shone down on us and flowers perfumed the air. Like I said, perfect. Yet this New Year celebration was filled with mystery and unease. The Mayan calendar ended in December. What would become of the world? What did it mean?

Mayan Calendar

This is not the long form calendar, but it provides a beautiful example of the artistry of the Mayan calendar system.

The cycle of the ancient Mayan Long Count Calendar began August 11th, 3114 BCE, and ended, the winter solstice, December 21st, 2012. They built their calendar understanding that time was cyclical, not linear. That when one cycle of the calendar ends, another begins. If you would like to learn more about the Mayan Calendars, check it out here. Time, itself, was a deity, and as such, had no end. Yet, they did not predict the world’s end, but rebirth.

The ancient Maya predicted the world would continue, that 7,000 years from now, things would be exactly like this

William Saturno

But I was in New Zealand, one of the first lands to pass through to the New Year. And if I exist in the land that faces the New Year first, why wouldn’t I watch for its arrival? So we did. As expected, the world continued to turn, and we all turned a day older. But that took me back to the Mayan idea of rebirth. The stillness at the moment, the quiet away from civilization, alone with the stars. I was one with nature. I use Earth Hour to reach that same level of stillness each year. To consider the rebirth of Earth, my home, and what I can do to make it better.

I managed the environmental department and initiatives in the public sector for years, so considering the environmental impact was intrinsic in my decision making. But after my New Year with the stars, I also considered the cultural, social, and mindful decisions I made. I explored culture more alongside the environment. It is one of the many reasons I collect folklore today.

So as tomorrow is Earth Hour, I urge you to take the hour of quiet and consider what is important in your lives. What will you spend more time with, what is it time to let go of? No matter where we are from or what we believe, there is always something new to explore in our futures. I find creation stories to be a beautiful way to see our world with fresh eyes.

Earth Hour: Saturday, March 27, 2021 at 8:30pm local time (20:30)

As I have spent time back in Canada, I am reading more of North American creation stories. Let me leave you with the creation story of the Cree as recorded by David Thompson:

At the beginning of time, the Creator made the animals and the people. The Creator told Wisakedjak (a trickster figure) to teach the people how to live good, peaceful lives, and to take care of them. Wisakedjak did not listen to the Creator, and soon, the people were fighting and hurting one another. The Creator was disappointed and threatened Wisakedjak with a life of misery if he did not obey. Still Wisakedjak did not listen, and still the people continued to be violent with one another. The Creator decided to flood the lands, washing out everyone and everything. Only Wisakedjak, Otter, Beaver and Muskrat survived. Stranded on open water, Wisakedjak had an idea — if the animals could help him dive down and collect some of the old earth, he could expand it and start a new land. This was not an easy task; Otter and Beaver tried many times to get to the earth below, but both failed, almost dying in the process. Muskrat was the last to try. He stayed underwater for a long time, but when he resurfaced, he had wet earth in his paw. From this mud is where the earth as we know it today came.

Here is another version of the Creation story told by Norm Wesley, shared by Stan Wesley.

Happy Reading

A Hammock For A Bed

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A hammock has always been my dream bed. It can fit anywhere and turn any place into a home. As long as I have a hot drink and a hammock, I have a home. It all started in Central America. I was studying Howler Monkeys in Belize and took a trip to explore Mayan ruins. I love the history and beauty of the area. Lodging was not always where we preferred to stay, so I bought my first hammock.

My favourite space was a small cabana campground outside of Tik’al. Tik’al was a major ceremonial centre with pyramids and temples smattered across the grounds. The temples might be familiar for many as the Star Wars IV, A New Hope. Up close, they were amazing. The air was heavy with humidity and the temples stood out high above us. The steps, you can see up the middle in the picture below, were steep and difficult to climb.

The Great Pyramid as seen in Star Wars and up close in Tik’al. I climbed Temple IV, and it had an amazing view. Fortunately, they had a nice staircase on the back of the temple so there was no need to climb the steep steps.

I travelled to Tik’al during the rainy season which turned out great. Midday, rain fell in buckets from the sky. Straight down and turned the ground from soft grass to mud. We took off our shoes and walked around until we found a temple to climb into where we sat and ate our lunch. As quickly as they rain came, it left. When we could walk around again, we were the only people left. It was beautiful and silent. I hope one day to take my family there. To show them the amazing place.

The cabana I stayed in behind Tik’al. It was beautiful and shockingly, there were no bugs!

That was the beginning. When I carried my bed with me wherever I travelled. It became an addiction. Whenever I saw a beautiful hammock, I had to buy it. It took me back to Guatemala while allowing me to create fresh memories in the current place. Most of my hammocks are from warm countries, which makes sense. But a few are from Canada. We have summer too!

My original set of hammocks, I think we now have over a dozen, all require trees or poles to hang them. Most are simple woven hammocks. Colourful, playful, and packable. But then Canada upped its game. Enter, the hanging hammock with a mosquito net and rain cover. In Canada in the spring, the mosquitoes try to pick me up and carry me away. The last time they tried was last spring when I quarantined at my Grandma’s homestead.

It was me, a car filled with clothes, kitchen goods, bedding, camping gear, and a hammock. The knives and the hammock turned out to be the most important items in the car. I love to cook so I always need a sharp knife. I also need a change of scenery. Usually, I could go to a cafe, a museum, for a bike ride, but this time I needed to stay on the farm for two weeks by myself. The hammock became my place to read and nap.

Be a loner. That gives you time to wonder, to search for the truth. Have holy curiosity. Make your life worth living.

Albert Einstein

After quarantine, I travelled to see my family with my daughter who was spending the summer with family. We lived outside of Canada for most of her life so it was a wonderful change for her to spend time with her cousins, aunts and uncles, and grandparents. We became a part of their bubble. There was no need to put up my hammock there as we had bedrooms to spare.

We tried to take the hammock out while we were travelling through the Rocky Mountains, but the mosquitoes and rain kept it tucked safely in the car. The bug tent and tent were home while we explored the mountain trails and waterfalls. Once we were back to our own house, I tucked away the hammock for the winter. I would need a hammock sleeping bag to nap when it is below freezing. It will be on my Christmas list for next year!

This Christmas we ended up back with my husband for Christmas. We hadn’t been together as a family for seven months since his work kept him in Texas and we were hoping the pandemic mitigation would be in place. Sadly, the borders remain closed. So once again, we were in quarantine. This time we returned to Texas so we could be together as a family. And here we stay.

The hammcocks are self standing, but I can lay outside as the bug population is kept low by the birds. We do explore many parks or museums, there are no mountains to climb, but we have each other. I keep a hammock out at all times. A place to read, to dream, and to hope. I hope the vaccinations roll out well and we are able to travel again. There are so many places to explore and so many people to see. But for now, I will lay in a hammock and remember where I found them. Happy Reading, happy travelling through your memories. What helps you remember the places you have seen?

A Bike Ride Through the Woods

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Our last family bike ride was in 2019 and three countries ago. There wasn’t anything particularly special I remember about the trip. We might have been taking in the recycling, grabbing groceries, maybe dropping my daughter off at school. Through the woods, along a road, on a bike path, we roade everywhere. In the Netherlands, we rode our bikes daily, biking was our family transportation. Moving to Europe provided my daughter to grow up on her bike. I didn’t bother buying a car in either Germany or The Netherlands. Why would I went biking was so convenient and less costly? If I had a car and wanted to part it downtown, parking for a day was 28 euros. If I took my bike, I could find paid parking for 5 euros, but most of the parking was free. And at the door of the shop. It was a simple decision to make. Well, unless there were 40 Km winds and rain. Then we looked to public transportation. Still, and easy choice.

My Daughter’s Miss Grace, Gazelle.

Once we knew we were moving to Houston, we packed everything up and headed this way. We arrived in Houston right before New Year’s 2020. They provided our family with an apartment and a car until our shipment arrived. For me, driving in the traffic of Houston after riding on the bike paths of The Hague was jarring.

Parking was not an issue outside of the core, and it was free! There was always lots of space and I could park as far from the door as I liked. Yes, this is the opposite of how I shopped in The Netherlands. But there, I only purchased enough groceries for a few days. Here, here there was an entire trunk I could fill while I was setting up my new home! We were still in the loaner apartment though, so I didn’t go too crazy. Just wonderful things like a vacuum, pans, plates, cups, and bedding. The basics I have a hard time living without.

A sign from one of my many trips biking around The Netherlands. Please brake for frogs. They use the bike paths too. I found few frogs; it was really the geese and the ducks who wanted their space.

It took three months for our shipment, including our bikes, to arrive. Pretty good in a world unaware of what was to come. We found a house and moved in with what little we owned. It was the week before my daughter’s spring break at school. As with all our past shipments, they filled the house with boxes I tore my way through in 3 days. That’s right. It took me three days to empty all the boxes for an entire house. It was not so much my choice as my decision. If I didn’t get it done, then the movers were out of the picture and I had to recycle the boxes myself. I returned my loaner car. All I had left was my bike. Which was not a complete bike yet. The movers dismantled them for transport and I had yet to find the parts or the toolbox. One day after our goods were in our house, we left for spring break to visit our family in Canada. Lucky for me, I had us bring out laptops and basic supplies because Covid 19, not named, only barely understood, was crossing borders. Our family was not reconnected in Houston, with our bikes, until December 2020. It was a long year.

December we arrived, back at our house that we barely knew, and settled in. It was not until January we reassembled our bikes. There were pedals and wheels fitted on the wrong bikes. The movers tried to help, but without luck. January in Houston is mild. It can be a little cool, but there is no snow on the ground and we had a lot of sun. I love the mild winters where we can still access the outdoors. It is even more important this year where were are all isolated. The need for sun and fresh air is even more important to me. It is my happy place. I love to explore. So explore we did!

We found bike paths and natural areas. The signs for wildlife contrasted mightily. Instead of notice to yield to frogs, we are to leave the alligators alone. No problem. Take all the space you need alligators.

The signage is different, the woods used to be open with plenty of places to explore. The new woods are unfamiliar and we still need to learn what to watch out for. The bike path use appears for leisure and family time, but was is most important is that we were back on our bikes again. Enjoying family time outside of our house, exploring our new environment. Usually one year after moving, I am knowledgeable about the area. But this year was a crazy one. We did not know what was coming. We still don’t But now we have our bikes back and pathways to explore. I am thankful.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

Robert Frost, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Below are a few more pictures from our ride. The last picture is from Germany when our cat decided she wanted to take a ride with me. I forgot to take a picture of when my husband’s pedal fell off. So the ride turned into a walk for the last few kilometers. But it was still a nice day out with a high of 20 degrees (celsius).

I am riding the same commuter bike I have been riding for the last 6 years. Where do you like to explore? I love hiking as much as biking. It is nice to have different perspectives of the same place.

Winter Solstice and Why I Appreciate the Changing Seasons

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I grew up north of the equator and have since lived south of it and on it. I found living north and south of the equator to have more similarities than differences seasonally. The winters were chilled and the summers hot. Autumn and Spring a gentle mixture of both. And honestly, my favourite two seasons. At times the air was humid, leaving wet kisses of sweat on my cheeks, at other times the cold nipped at my nose. Every season was special, unique, and appreciated. I did not think I would miss the icy winters and the steamy summers. When I lived in Indonesia, I learned how important the changing seasons was to me. To live near the equator was to lose the seasonal rhythm of my life. It was something I didn’t realize I relied on until it was gone.

We used to joke there was the rainy season or the rainy season when I lived on Borneo Island, the Indonesian side. The temperature above 30 degrees celsius during the day with a humidity higher than 90%. The evenings were ideal, with a low around 25. The perfect time to go for a walk to a friend’s house. To see the twinkling stars or appreciate the sheet lightening dancing in the storms. The nights were my favourites. The days I forced myself out of bed and explored my world by foot or bike. I lived in a place of beauty and scars of a turbulent history. But it was the never-ending heat that made the years hard.

I missed the changing of the seasons. It was more difficult to get through the truly sweltering days without knowing to embrace them because all too soon they would be gone. I would soon be complaining about the freezing days, where my car was wrapped in ice and wish for a hot day under the sun. On Borneo it was always hot and at night softened to toasty. Cool was a dream. Snow and frost were fantasies I showed my students in pictures. Refrigeration was not a need in Indonesia. Most food was bought and prepared daily. Fridges cost money and needed electricity, both of which many people didn’t have. Everything was fresh or dried for later. Our house was equipped with a fridge but even I knew better than to hold the door open and spend a moment in the cool air. By the time the door was open, the cool air was gone. The fridge was the same temperature as the house.

So when I left Indonesia, I embraced the seasons again. And did for years until, almost a decade later, I had been away from the winters of the Canadian Prairies and seduced by the European temperate winter. Visiting Canada in March ended up longer than intended as the borders closed and we decided to sit tight and see how everything worked out. As we all know, it still hasn’t worked out. So we headed back home for the winter holidays. We had been separated as a family since April, my husband had to to back to work, and we decided to end the year together. So once again, I am away from Canada and its cold winter air. But I appreciate it and remember how important it is to me. To recognize the passage of time.

Below are some quotes that remind me why winter is important to me and to others. Enjoy.