Folksblogen

Folks Blogging from their Volkswagen

Home for the Holidays

by Leave a Comment

Happy new year friends! Can you believe it’s twenty-nineteen?! In May it will be five years since we began writing this blog. Five years of research and design. Five years of living, exploring, rolling with it, making mistakes, finding joy, reinventing, seeking inspiration, learning, crying, trying, loving, creating, changing. After all, life is so much more than just mere pleasure, right?! Even our old VW changed – colour!

van with ornaments 2018

We folks have blogged from campgrounds and Airbnb rentals, houses and apartments, even an artist residency. Living the dream. A dream. Our dream. Or… just plain living. All we really want is to live a meaningful, creative, vital and generous life where curiosity, growth, inspiration and community are the cornerstones. Sounds simple enough, huh?! It’s a daily effort. Our goals and dreams change, after all.

How were your holidays? What holidays do you celebrate? Do you mark them the same way every year or do you change it up? We celebrated Christmas and the new year here in Amherstburg. It was the first time in five years that we have been in Ontario and celebrated with our family. We attended tree lightings, holiday light festivals, a parade, a turn-of-the-century historical celebration, cut down a tree and decorated it, baked cookies, hosted an open house, cooked Christmas dinner and Boxing Day brunch. We spent quality time with loved ones.

The apartment we’ve rented here in Amherstburg was ground zero for all celebrations. It is also smack dab in the centre of the downtown River Lights Festival so it was impossibly cheerful from November 17thuntil January 6th. The next best thing to being at the North Pole, but without snow. And because the apartment overlooks the Detroit River we were witnesses to more than one fireworks display from our US neighbours.

aburg xmas brunch 2018

Like most people we celebrated the holidays more or less the same way each year. That changed after we sold our home in 2014.

We’ve celebrated Christmas with friends in Palm Springs, California;

with family and friends in Victoria, BC;

on our own in a campground on the Gulf Coast of Florida;

in a rental house on the Atlantic Coast of Florida with MacDuff.

We’ve toasted the new year in pouring rain holed up in the van in a campground in Arizona;

in a motel in Billings, Montana;

with friends at their condo in Naples, FL;

and on a beach in Jupiter, FL. We’ve celebrated other holidays like Thanksgiving eating bean burritos at Okefenokee Swamp or Easter in a campground outside of Savannah, Georgia. We whole-heartedly enjoyed the familiar traditions of the holidays for so many years. We have both happy and sad memories. Now what matters most is spending meaningful time with our family and friends while enjoying good food and spirits. And most importantly, it doesn’t have to be during designated holidays!

We sure would love to see you, catch up, break bread (baked in our InstaPot) in 2019! Also, for as long as we rent this apartment in Amherstburg, you are invited to visit! Assuming we are here, of course.

If you’d like to read a copy of our holiday missive the pdf follows. We we’re inspired by the fact that we are currently living in a building that was formerly home to the Amherstburg Echo. It brought out the small town newspaper reporter, editor, design department, photo editor and printer in us. download a copy here

 

 

Our journey toward home

by Leave a Comment

Our endless and impossible journey toward home is in fact our home.

—David Foster Wallace

Hiking through the Andes in Peru with Apus Peru, 2013

A dream, however uncertain it may be, deserves to be fulfilled. And so we explore, observe and document, learn and interpret, invent. Travel is just one way we fulfill our dreams. Of course, it sparks more dreams too!

This is a maquette of a project we envision recreating life size: Nature Seeker by Brave New Wild.

We have not been travelling for the past two months. Not unless you include visits to Julie’s dad in Amherstburg, our son in Guelph or our friends near Collingwood.

We are living (while trying to make it look as though we are not) in Toronto, in the apartment that we are trying to sell which we constantly stage for a stream of strangers who make appointments to look through our apartment while we aren’t here. When not vacating the apartment it is our workplace. We are spending time with friends and family.

Christian in our apartment (for sale) on Bloor St W in Toronto.

We’re dealing with a host of mechanical problems on the van and getting it ready for our next foray into the unknown.

Add to that, a bunch of boring tasks like visits to the dentist and doctor and filing our taxes; not so boring birthday celebrations; and something we’ve become unintentionally good at… moving from one house to another – this time, son, Elia and his wife, Margot, moved and we helped.

Recently we were included in an article in Toronto Life Magazine’s May issue about Torontonians who sold up (or moved out of their parent’s homes) and moved into vans.

We’re anxious for this apartment to sell (fingers crossed it is soon!) though we don’t know what we are going to do when it does. Have you ever felt trapped or cornered? That is how we feel these days. Plus frustrated and impatient. We are ready to move on and start fresh again. Ideally in a place we love! So….we are dreaming, planning and scheming various options. Ideally we’d buy a small house somewhere in southwestern Ontario (not too far from those we love in Toronto, Guelph or Windsor) with a little yard for us and MacDuff. Not just anywhere. It must have a vibrant, creative community! We have not found our utopia yet. We have been looking at houses and lots in Prince Edward County, Collingwood and Grey County, Windsor and Essex County and one of Toronto’s latest ‘suburbs,’ Hamilton, and …. NOTHING appeals to us. This is absolutely déjà vu! We have looked at pre-fabs, Airstreams, tiny houses and are even considering moving out of the Volkswagen and into some sort of van conversion that is suitable for four seasons and includes a workspace and a bathroom. The van conversion plan would have us downsizing to practically nothing. We’re close to that now. The problem with that is that we don’t envision it as a long-term solution. That said, we didn’t envision living out of the Volkswagen for more than six months to a year! We feel like it could work for us for the next few years but it wouldn’t be an investment like real estate.

We’re struggling with these decisions because we want to be able to afford a future filled with travel, creativity and (fingers crossed) good health and not be property poor which was the situation when we last owned a home. This was our goal last year too, when we bought this apartment. We thought we had found a solution that would work for a while anyway, a longer while than a year! Looking back on the last five years we sometimes can’t fathom just how much we have seen, learned and experienced. We’d like to continue on that path but a home base, landing pad, crash pad – whatever you want to call it – also appeals. A place we can work from, receive mail, entertain, enjoy community. Of course, in an ideal world this home base would be in Corsica! However, it always comes back to proximity to family and friends. So, this is your invitation! Let’s all move to Corsica! We are ready.

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

An apparently never-ending living experiment

by 2 Comments

 

A friend of ours, we’ll call him Bob, sent us a message in response to one of our blog posts in December. Incidentally we first met Bob a few years before we left our formerly comfortable and hard-working life in Toronto but really got to know him when we journeyed west in Canada back in the summer of 2015. He and his amazing wife hosted us in their fine city where we laughed, laughed and laughed and then laughed some more. He regularly sends witty and insightful messages in response to our blog posts and Instagram photos but the one in December made us pause. We’d like to share it with you. Hoping Bob won’t mind!

Life. Much better than death but not without its downside. Following your life the past years since you visited with us has been so interesting. Life is interesting…’interesting’ is the word I use to describe and understand human experience. Joy, sadness, pain, pleasure, knowing, unknowing are all ‘interesting’. They are interesting to me because all those states of being are temporary and a result of internal (existential) realities or external (experience) realities.

Your journey has been so interesting, inspirational, and instructional. On one level it is this great story about two fine people making a transformative decision to live in the duality of living in the tension between the misery of security and the misery of insecurity. A living experiment about the difference between the concepts of ‘place’ and ‘places’…staying put or searching out…and more…reporting on the experience.

For me it started as an adventure story…the van…homeless…courageous…fun…but has evolved into a human journey story. Elements of the story that I have been drawn to are of course how nature itself has healing qualities, how cities have injurious qualities, the power of fidelity with the support of Julie’s father, what it means to love an animal/pet, how living in a wrong decision can be soul destroying at points (renovation and being in the wrong place), the rightness of moving back onto the road (with all the adventure and insecurity that means). All so interesting.

So…
This is my dreary Bon Voyage message and thank-you card. Travel well, love each other (as much as possible), show the dog a good time, and enjoy the people and places along the way.     – Bob

We can’t disagree with a single word Bob. Except maybe the inspirational part! 😉 We are so grateful for your friendship. We really need to see you both again and soon! Thank you for following our journey which is really just our life. The last four years have lead to more questions than answers, partly because the questions keep changing. Our idea of home is much more broad than ever before (hard to pin down). Our appreciation of comfort is fleeting. We enjoy it while we have it but become bored by our reliance on comforts and old habits. Our idea of community has also changed. It has really grown and we cherish it. We still struggle with balancing our own desires and dreams with being there for those we love.  That’s probably true for all of us. We continue to learn and grow and remain open to change. Life throws curve balls at all of us, all the time, whether we live in a bricks and mortar house surrounded by friends and family or a nomadic lifestyle in an old van. There are always challenges.

our old house

From the house above to a Volkswagen campervan. This is the van before and after it became our home:

We quickly adapted to our new paradigm:

To good and bad campsites (more of the former):

We drove from BC to Ontario in January to move Julie’s dad into a Memory Care Unit (against his will):

Westfalia in Montana

And his best friend, MacDuff, too:

memory care

While stationary, we had the van painted:

vanagon restoration

Our creativity was reignited during our residency at Spark Box Studio in Picton, Ontario. Below are a few photos of our Shangri-La installation:

Though we’ve continued to take on design projects we were reminded that we missed ‘making’; having a dedicated studio space; and a supportive creative community. Our old studio below:

letterpress studio

And so we hastily purchased a small co-op apartment in Toronto which checked a few boxes for us:

We renovated over a period of three months:

The Lows – Yes, we’ve had some mechanical problems with the van; even been towed a few times; our van was hit and run just after having been painted; nearly bought a mobile coffee truck last year while renovating the apartment; and after just 5 months in the apartment inherited Julie’s dad’s very sick dog (in a building that does not allow dogs):

The Highs – We were at Cornell to see our niece Mackenzie begin University and she is now about  to graduate; Margot and Elia got married and are now moving into a new home; Annie and Declan had their second child, George, and they too moved into a new home; we enjoyed holidays in Florida with Julie’s dad, Aunt Barb and Uncle Marvin two years in a row; and our nephew Jakob graduated from high school. These are but a few of the wonderful things that have happened in the past four years.

And so the apartment we were renovating a year ago, in a city that has been our home for all of our adult lives, is for sale. We have no idea where we’ll settle or even if we’ll settle in one spot again soon. We hope so. We think. Luckily we still have a bright green van that is as much home as any house or apartment we have ever lived. Some people tell us we are living the dream, but we’re with Bob we think we are living the experiment.

Freedom isn’t just a word

by 5 Comments

Folksblogen is stopped, stalled, parked. The point is we are not moving.

We are back in Amherstburg. Still in Amherstburg. Not sure when we are leaving.

We are not reporting on a new place but rather on something more important and central to this journey: the concept of freedom. Specifically, the state of being free or at liberty rather than in confinement or under physical restraint; in a word, independent.

Freedom is something a lot of us take for granted. Us included.

When you are appointed executor and power of attorney in a will you should be very clear about the responsibilities attached to this title. Julie’s father appointed her executor / power of attorney of his will. He was assessed as having early Alzheimer’s Disease and it was recommended by two doctors and a provincial assessor that he be moved into assisted living by March 2016. Because of these recommendations we made the quick trip back to Ontario from BC in the middle of winter to make this happen. We moved him into a Memory Care unit in a Retirement Home on February 6th only because the Retirement Home deemed him to be unsuitable for regular assisted retirement living. We rejected the idea of his moving here at first because he is still very aware of everything that is going on, has very good communication and language, and can charm the pants off anyone. In our minds he should still be living independently. The problem with places like this is that it always comes down to liability. The new management doesn’t want to take a chance on him. So, instead he is a unit which houses 23 residents in varying stages of Dementia or Alzheimer’s Disease, most of them middle to late. Dad’s cognitive abilities are the highest in the unit. Most of the residents, and some are endearingly sweet and funny, are at least 10 years older, pushing walkers and incapable of carrying on a conversation. Dad finds this very upsetting. It is also a locked unit. Residents must be chaperoned to leave.

Imagine living independently for most of your life, working, providing for your family, serving your town, first as a councilor, then as deputy reeve and finally as mayor for 14 years. At the age of 76 your driver’s license is taken away quickly followed by being moved against your will into a locked Memory Care unit at a Retirement Residence. Who in their right mind would be okay with that? Neither of us would. Regardless of why. Dad’s position is that he would rather die than live out his days in this prison. We understand and empathize completely. Yet, we cannot come up with an alternative that works for everyone. It is painful for all involved.

This situation got us to thinking about what is most important, to us, what we would find hardest to live without. Aside from losing a loved one we agree loss of independence or freedom would be the ultimate desolation. We find it hard to imagine not being able to choose where to live, how to spend our time, who we can spend it with, what time we might like to eat, what we would like to eat, where we can go and for how long, not being able to just take our dog out for a walk anytime without a chaperone. Heck, we get it…that is prison. Imagine becoming a prisoner when you have done nothing wrong. Your brain simply begins to stop functioning the way it once did or should. Your short term memory is practically non-existent. And you are being punished for something completely out of your control. It is not fair. Not even a little. And the only ones who have anything to gain from this situation are the corporations that own these retirement facilities. They eagerly take the hard earned money saved over a lifetime of scrimping from these unsuspecting recipients of a very cruel disease. Again, not fair. And we, the family, are told this is the only option for keeping our loved one safe. That is, unless we are willing to give ourselves over to their full time care! To stop living our lives. And this, we are selfishly unwilling to do.

We have spent a total of 5 months in the past year taking care of dad off and on and hired caregivers in our absence which enabled him to continue living at home. Unfortunately, it was not enough. And so, here we are. No one is happy. We try to console ourselves knowing dad is safe, well cared for by wonderful nurses, eating good and healthy meals three times a day, his diabetes is controlled and he has more human interaction and stimulation than he would have living at home. And the biggest consolation is that the retirement home made a huge exception allowing his beloved dog, MacDuff, to live there with him. In 3 weeks MacDuff has made such a difference to residents and staff throughout the building. As the only canine resident he is something of a celebrity. It is not an ideal living situation for him either. He is accustomed to being able to run around all day in his fenced yard whereas now he must always be on leash and walked by hurried nurses chaperoning dad. While we’re staying in Amherstburg we take him on more satisfying walks which he enjoys thoroughly. Despite the pros dad is unhappy. He is mourning the loss of his independence. We understand.

We clearly don’t have the answer as to how to improve the situation. We do know with every ounce of our beings that we need to live our lives to the fullest while we can and for as long as we are free and independent. We will no longer take freedom for granted.

 

 

 

Eastern Europe meets Western Canada in Regina

by 6 Comments

As we have been making our way west in Canada I have been thinking about my great-grandparents and grandparents and their journey from Serbia to Saskatchewan. After winding our way through Canada, the United States and Mexico these past fourteen months we have finally made it to Regina.

Apparently back in the early 1900s the Canadian government offered incentives to emigrate here from other countries like Serbia, Poland, the Ukraine and Germany. The idea was to lure them to landscapes and occupations similar to the countries in which they were leaving. In this case flat, prairie, farmland similar to that of their native province of Banat in Serbia. I think it went something like this: my great-grandfather, Misha Yakovlev, came first and then his wife Dorinka and their two daughters (my grandmother, Julka and her sister Blanche) followed. I try to imagine the journey from Serbia to here and it just amazes me. My uncle told me that they first farmed land in North Battleford and then when the Dust Bowl hit and they lost all their crops they moved to the city of Regina. It is here that my great-grandfather helped found the first Serbian Orthodox Church in Canada in 1916. It is in this church that my grandmother and grandfather, Julka and Vladamir Nedin married and where they held the funeral for their first daughter, Ruth.

Today Christian and I visited this church, met the priest V. Rev. Radovan Maric and his daughter; Zoran (son of the former priest) and the rest of the congregation. They accepted us into the church with open arms and invited us to join them for lunch. They were so happy to meet a descendant of one of the founders of the church. We also visited the Serbian Club and the Regina Cemetery where my aunt Ruth is buried.

The congregation of Holy Trinity Church has invited us and all our family to the 100 year anniversary next year on June 18 and 19, 2016.

 

Little Camper

by Leave a Comment

After picking up and moving Harriet’s new big girl bed on Sunday (with Annie and Harriet) Harriet spent some time exploring Van Morrison and Gibb. She quickly made herself comfortable (once the van was parked and not moving!) by sitting on a pillow and covering herself with an alpaca blanket. Afterwards she looked through all the cabinets and fridge quite thoroughly, reorganizing as she saw fit. She was especially fond of the fridge – putting things in, taking things out; not all of these things normally reside in a fridge ie. socks. She did some sweeping, pretended to drink tea from a tin mug, bossed her Grampy around, entertained us to no end.

 

annie-and-harriet comfy-harriet harriet-drinking harriet-investigating

On Leaving (Home)

by 1 Comment

 

Now that we are essentially without a fixed address (well, we do have bedrooms at Tina and Mark’s house in Toronto and at Dad’s house in Amherstburg, ON!) we are questioning / interrogating the idea of home. We will be documenting / blogging about the trials and tribulations and successes of living in a home on wheels without the comforts and conventions of ‘a home’ such as we have come to depend on such as a bathroom with a toilet and shower, a kitchen with appliances that we use everyday, laundry, neighbours that are a constant, a garden, a driveway, cable television and space (under a roof).

Recent Posts

%d bloggers like this: