Afternoon with Mom

Yesterday my Mother called to invite me out for lunch and as she was recently away on a one month cruise and as I missed her like CRAZY while she was gone, I quickly said, "You bet!" I couldn't imagine a better way to spend a gorgeous, warm and sunny Spring day than out and about with my Mom so we headed out with Hawkydog and Hunter to Fort Langley, the "birth place of British Columbia" and historical village- were a fur trading post was built in 1827.

One of my favorite stores in this little village is a coffee shop/restaurant and bookstore named Wendels... (home of a delectable desert square called the Bee Stinger: made of honey, almonds, custard and a light white sponge cake. Yum!)...

But before we settled in for lunch we took the dogs for a little walk across the street at this train station built in 1915....

Here is me pretending to hail a train (but then I remembered that you hail a cab not a train) and so I pretended to be a young woman during WWII waving farewell to her man as he headed off to war...And yes, as a matter of fact I am a total geek!.....

Here is Mom wearing a fleece jacket I tease her about because it is Barbie pink and you couldn't catch me dead wearing Barbie pink but Mom is tanned and blond and totally fabulous so she gets away with it...

Then we headed over and found a table outside where we could sit with the dogs. Hawky and Hunter discussed the lunch specials that were written on a chalk board at the front door...

They decided that I should most definetly try the Salmon Wrap and I agreed.

While we waited for the food Hawky took in the sites with an air of casual indifference, because that is just Hawkydog's style.....

While Hunter on the other hand, didnt quite get the 'chillin' in the sunshine' thing and nervously panted under the table. He's a sketchy wee one! Which is while I call him Preston on occasion (dont ask, I dont know why, it just fits). My favorite nickname for him is simply "Little". I love this dog...

(Oh yah, and FYI, that is my pasty pale white arm in the pic. I looked ridiculous sitting next to my golden goddess of a mother with her fresh South American tan.)

After lunch we decided to go for a little hike at a nearby park called The Houston Trail". It is one of Mom and my's favorite spots.

Having just finished lunch we weren't too interested in what the forest offered up as a complimentary snack....

And besides, you should NEVER eat wild mushrooms unless you are a trained expert! (My Mom was a Girl Guide, dont you know!)

But then there were these little plants which I think looked a bit like seahorses....

I think that these might be baby ferns that had yet to unfurl. I meant to snap a picture of some fiddelheads Mom said she saw nearby but I am not sure which of the pictures is which... I hear that fiddlehead soup is really quite tasty.... Are these Fidleheads?....

This trail is really beautiful as it winds its through the forest....

I asked Mom to walk ahead so I could get a picture of her and the dogs walking down the trail...

I like this pic because of the directional energy of it... or something artsy fartsy like that- it just says, "Go!" (which is what my Mom was saying at the time)...

The light in this forest is particularly pretty because in certain areas it has been thinned while in others it has been left dark and full of hidden crevices and old rotting stumps that act as a bed for new growth...

Hawk and Hunter had a blast running through, up and over the logs and brush, chasing squirrels and exploring the creeks and ditches along the trail...

Doesn't Hunter have the cutest bum? Here he is looking down at Hawk as he explores an old skeleton of car in a ravine...

One stump in particular stole Mom and I's attention....


Isnt it cool! When I went to name these pictures the best I could come up with was "Funky Lumpy Tree"... which I think works. Look at all the different textures in the bark....

Last year Mom and I were walking this trail when right about at this point....

....the setting sun cut through the trees in yellow beams, slicing through the cool green air and filling the forest with its light..... Mom and I walked through in quiet reverence of the beauty before us... Later that night I wrote this poem....

Yellow, golden dazzling light,
peering through, sparkling bright.
Between the branches and air it plays,
piercing the dark dense green- its' rays.

So low the sun does sit to rest
Last banners preening over the horizons crest
Its' light so odd to see
shining up rather than down on me.

Thank you for the great day, Mom! I am so happy to have you home.