Maple Ridge

Hello world, the tardy blogger is back.  I arrived at friend Amy's place in Maple Ridge at 7pm Friday last and after 1 hr of trying to find her place, gave up and called her to come get me.  Turns out the address I had was a previous residence.  My fault for not reading the email.
Amy had prepared a lovely pasta dish with sausage and shrimp.  Yum!  As we do when we get together, we talked and talked and talked.  The next day we were up and out the door heading to Golden Ears provincial park, not far from M.R.
OMG, it was unbelievable, really.  It's a first growth rainforest, the old growth having been cut down long ago.  I wondered why James Cameron invented a new world when this one, magical and other wordly, was right here in Canada.

Amy standing next to the stump of an old growth tree.  Vive la difference!

This is my favourite.  Note how it's all coverd in moss. 

Tree and me!

We also visited the lower falls of Golden Ears park but the photograph was all misty from the falls so not too clear.  The next day we headed to Grant Narrows park, again not far from Maple Ridge (hope I got the name right).  Anyway, though both parks are close together, they were worlds apart as regards landscape.  The second park had a huge body of water with boat launches and an an 8km loop to walk around a separate pond system .  Shortly after starting, I spotted a fellow with a camera and started a conversation.  We (Amy, me, Marv (photographer), wife Mel and dog Max walked the 8km together.  Mel is the birder and does the spotting while Marv grabs the shot.  He's an amateur photographer, so he says, yet he's captured some amazing bird photographs.  He kept saying "this was a fluke, that was a lucky shot".  I slapped him on the arm (I know!  What am I doing slapping a stranger but it happens that some people are only strangers for a few seconds then it's like you've known each other forever) and said "stop saying that".  I told him he would annoy a lot of would be photogrpahers by chalking everything up to luck.  The 'photo gods' smile down generously on Marv the Photographer.    The guy has an eye for it.  Along the walk, he talked about his experiences in the park and showed me image after image of "flukey" shots.  One in particular of an owl that stands more than 2 feet high, looked like a Bateman painting.  He also has a gift for gab, not unlike myself, and the walk seemed like it took minutes.  Thanks for letting us join you on the walk about Marv and Mel and for the stories and really, Marv, you should get yourself a website, you're that good man!  When you do, let me know!

Marv, Mel and Max

In the afternoon, Amy and I headed in Coquitlam, (was it Coquitlam?  Let's pretend it was), not far from Maple Ridge to meet up with three of her friends from Vancouver for a game of bowling.  I was never good at bowling.  Someone told me years ago, when I joined a leaque, I wasn't taking it seriously enough.  I never went back.  I'm still amazed that it's a sport where an 'elite' few make a lot of money.  Anyway, I haven't improved but it was great fun despite the humiliation. Afterwards, we shared a meal at the Cactus Club and had a great laugh.  I really liked meeting you Holly (reminded me of myself when I was younger), Mala (means garland of flowers) and Sharon (who was intrigued to learn about my adventure).

On Monday with Amy off to work, I took her advise and made my way to Ford Langley.