Monday, October 22, 2012

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The other day, I decided to go for a little walk, to catch some of the sun’s rays before evening set in.  And I am so glad that I did.
Otherwise, I would have missed seeing some beautiful cloud formations way up in the sky.

And I would have missed seeing more dogs … this is one of my favourite rewards on my walks.

Lovely happy dogs!  The first one, Mojo, was a rescue from the Mainland, Vanderhoof, I believe.  What a sweet gentle fellow he was!  I asked his doggy parents  if I could take a photo for my blog and they were happy to oblige.  He sat obediently when asked.  His trusting gaze looked up at me.  My heart melted.  I felt so happy that someone, somewhere, found him and others who were badly treated and enabled them to have this safe life.

And I thought again, for the zillionth time, how could people mistreat such loving animals.  Dogs, well treated, give their entire beings to people.  Actually, even if not treated well, they give their trust to those who care for them.  I’ve seen that, and wonder how this happens, but it does.

Dogs provide such true companionship.   I think back to the wonderful dogs that I have had the great fortune to have in my life and I’m extremely grateful for having them.  Such love.  Unconditional.   I miss them all.  Each one unique.  Each one wonderful beyond compare.

I truly believe that each dog comes into our life to teach us a specific lesson.  The main lesson, of course, is unconditional love.

And they give us a reason to go outside and discover the great outdoors and to have long interesting conversations with other doggy people.

Anyway, this all flashed through my mind as I left lovely Mojo and continued on my way.

I’d decided to walk along the path which led between the highway and the local allotment gardens.   I’ll have to go for another walk and take more photos.  This year I don’t expect them to flood, as there have been some repair done to the drainage systems  in this area.  Fingers crossed for the gardeners!

There were still gardeners happily working away.  Fetching loads of yummy oak leaf mulch to cover some areas.  Some were making sure that plastic coverings would be firmly attached to little greenhouses.   I felt that I should be at home, working away, but it was nice to just get out and walk.

Met another happy dog walker and stopped to chat about the pathway.  I normally don’t walk along this particular route and was surprised to discover such a winding walk just in our neighbourhood.  How lovely.

Anyway, now the path divided into two so I had to decide which one to take.  A decision to go left was made!  So I found myself in a lovely little cul-de-sac with a bit of a sidewalk that led up to the greenhouses on Glanford, near the corner of McKenzie !  In all the years I’d lived in this area, I realized now that I had never entered this particular neighbourhood.  Too busy driving to work or shopping.  Well, no more excuses.

So then I decided to go on this walk again yesterday.  And this time, I took the path that went to the right.  And I discovered another little neighbourhood tha led to the first one!  Gollee … see what happens when I venture out into our neighbourhood instead of walking across town.

I discovered one dead-end street that had quite a hill to walk down and then back up.  A good workout for my legs.  I marvelled at the tranquility of this neighbourhood.   And saw that little auto with the skeleton in it.  Now, this wasn’t real, ha ha . .it was for Halloween!  (At least I think it was!)
There was a lovely bit of marshland at the foot of this street, which added to the feeling of calm… and I hoped that there wouldn’t be townhouse developments built there to ruin their country atmosphere.

Anyway, I have begun my fall walks and, combined with renewed exercise sessions three times a week, I’ve begun to feel my old zest for life and energy returning.  Feels great.

Besides experiencing the beautiful outdoors, discovering new places in our neighbourhood, I’m also getting to meet the most lovely, happy dogs and this brings me great joy.

Mini-adventures available for free.  No tickets to buy.  No planning to make.

Lovely!