Coming home: late August in my childhood city, Vancouver….biking, blackberries, railroad tracks, veggie gardens, mountains and sea.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

View of the Lions ( mountains) and Burrard Inlet from Arbutus Greenway

Cypress Mountain

Bkackberries

Howe Sound mountains

Arbutus Greenway cyclists

Walkers, young and old

Scarecrow; Vancouver has a huge crow populatiion!

Vegetable gardens

Wildflowers to encourage the bees and pollination

Went for a bikeride down Arbutus Greenway yesterday evening; took some photos, nibbled on sweet blackberries, chatted with folk along the way….prior to last year, the recently paved route with lanes for pedestrians and cyclists had been a railroad track….

As children in the 1960’s, my brothers and I would chase the trains that came along this track. We’d hear the whistle blow when it was at 6th Ave; we’d jump on our bicycles and roar down the lanes just north of 16th Ave until we came to East Boulevard where the railroad track ran….we’d ride as fast as we could…..the train would come from behind, we’d be alongside for a while, laughing and peddling furiously, and then it always got away from us…..usually after we’d crossed King Edward and sped along Maple Street; we often gave up before the steep hills by 33rd Ave, but my brother Peter remembers we occasionally went up the hills above the tracks and could look down on the train passing the pretty houses of Quilchena.

We’d return home slowly, hearts a- pounding, huffing and puffing, happy!

Summer holidays fun – John, Jenny and Peter 🙂

These days, I’m having fun again on my bike in Vancouver….after having lived in New Westminster, North Burnaby, Ladner and Richmond, as well as ten years in Malaysia, we moved into the Marpole area of Vancouver early in February this year.

However, it wasn’t until the beautiful warm April day when I rode my bicycle back to Marpole from where it had been stored in our former Richmond dwelling over the extra long winter of 2016/17, that I had the deep experience of “coming home”.

The strong emotion caught me by surprise because I have loved my semi- nomadic life, and have especially felt “at home” in Malaysia…

Perhaps being on my bicycle on the childhood familiar streets, along with the blossom scents and bird song of Vancouver springtime (our memory centre and olfactory centres are side by side in the brain), triggered those happy memories of childhood and a very deep and good feeling of coming home. No bridges, tunnels or highways separating me from my boys, my brothers and co, friends – old and new – and our folkdance community….closer to the mountains and the beaches…and just the deep familiarity.

Vancouver, I’m home!

This was the day, April 21, 2017; the day i felt i came back home. Springtime in Marpole, in the little park just across the street from our rental apartment!

 

Many meetings and much good eating – as we share life with Lawas friends.

Catching up on each others’ lives….there have been joys and sorrows and health challenges, sad losses of loved ones and happy additions…marriages and grandchildren….some people newly retired from work and some starting new careers and ministries.

We “rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep”. – Romans 12:15

And our prayer for all of us on the journey of life – also from Apostle Paul’s letter to the early Roman believers….

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” – Romans 15:13

 

Thankful thoughts on a rainy day “hari hujan”

Firstly, thankful for the rain!!

It hadn’t rained here in a month and was extremely hot and humid – some schools’ water tanks were empty, and we heard that the logging roads, which is also the road to the distant villages, had become very dusty and dangerous.

Everyone was complaining of the intense heat; even I, who usually don’t mind the heat, had had a headache for the past two days.

Thankful for the wooden guesthouse we are staying in ( rather than brick and cement) and thankful that the Bible College, being close to the hills, does cool off comfortably at night, even in intense heat.

Last night it rained off and on, and the frog chorus struck up and performed through the early morning hours; a familiar relaxing background noise. We sleep well when it rains.

In the morning, Greg and I returned to the Bible College by boat from town, where we had “cha kueh” (Chinese doughnuts) and noodles for breakfast and bought some fresh favourite veggies at the market.

Shortly after we returned, the sky began to darken, then began thunder and lightening and a full afternoon of heavy cooling rain.

Lunch and afternoon visiting plans were postponed to next day; Gary, tired after teaching for 4 hours straight, and Greg, enjoying his holiday pace, had long naps.

I sat at the table and slowly prepared the vegetables to the sound of rain on the tin roof, my thoughts drifting through memories from years gone by….

Thankful for the years we spent in Lawas and the ongoing friendships….

Thankful for a gentle, non-rushed, small town Borneo pace atmosphere and culture in which to rear our boys during their early years….

Thankful for the good fresh food we could obtain here….fragrant village rice, fresh vegetables and fruits, fresh fish ( ocean and river fish) and chicken….

Thankful for the kind neighbours, shopowners, nurses, doctors, teachers, church members, our househelper, who helped us adjust, taught me how to market, keep house, prepare food and cook and generally live in this small tropical town with a curving brown river surrounded by jungle and villages….

Thankful for the neighbourhood children who came spontaneously to play with ours, and their mothers who followed up and became our good, good friends….til today….

Thankful that our NGO had given us a full year in Indonesia to learn language well enough to get started here….

Thankful for the ready smiles and welcoming attitudes, the modeling of generosity and hospitality that this culture extended to us in our early days and throughout our time here….til today….

Thankful for the mix of cultures we and our children were exposed to….the several local indigenous tribes, the Chinese culture and the Malay Muslim….

Thankful for the relationship – oriented inclusive culture; for the small restaurants in town where we enjoyed a variety of different foods and drinks, along with fellowship…so affordable….

Thankful for the Bible College and the mix of teachers and students from many Borneo tribes learning together….

Thankful for local church, indigenous tribes and Chinese, worshipping Jesus…a foretaste of the Kingdom of heaven on earth….

“After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.” Revelation 7:9

Greg awoke hungry, and prepared papaya. I stir- fried the veggies, and we ate.

A gentle-paced, quiet rainy day – THANKFUL🙂