Two walks, heron stopover, Metasequoia

As I left for a walk with Black Jack this morning, I told Bill it was going to be a short one.  I returned home about two and a half hours later, after taking a wrong trail in the endowment lands, and going much further than intended.  Black Jack really enjoyed herself, but limped a bit just at the end of the walk.  Her luxated patella condition is seeming to bother her more lately, and I'm trying to decide whether or not to talk to a vet about it.  The first vet she saw, in North Vancouver, said that she had the condition in both back knees,but that it wasn't very advanced, and might possibly never become any worse.  She is hopping on three legs more often recently when the knee pops out of the socket, but it doesn't seem to upset her or cause pain.  I have a fear of surgery, but may have to consider it.

As I walked through the woods, I decided to focus my attention on geometric shapes and interesting patterns.

On the way home, we saw this cat hanging out in a lane.
I came home, rearranged the afternoon plan with Bill to accommodate my lateness (Thank you, Bill), and biked to Stanley Park.  This was my best heron shot, I think.
My flight shots were terrible, but made me think quite a bit about the process of building a nest.  This heron was coming in for a landing, but the feet were tucked up and under.  I've noticed that they often fly to a nearby tree to get their twigs.  Sometimes, invading other herons' twig territory causes fights.  I wonder if they sometimes go down on the ground to get twigs, but they definitely do not do that anywhere near the heronry.  When they bring a twig back, the pair work together, with amazing cooperation, it seems to me, to weave it into the nest.  It seems to be a fascinatingly slow and painstaking process.
Landing gear down in this one.
After some time bird watching, I cycled over to North Vancouver to meet Bill and our friend, Dianne, at Bridgman Park.  This picture of Bill at the end of a long, pink leash made me smile. 
Black Jack marching out, in beautiful form.
She seems to enjoy being near the water, but doesn't go in.  
This dog, on the other hand, was having a great time in the water.  He went in after his ball, and then threw it back to his human.  Clever move.  I love it when Black Jack, too, occasionally throws the ball back to us.   
This crow was calling, I think, to its mate, but the picture makes me laugh, because the crow seems to be displeased with its reflection. 
Black Jack met lots of dogs.  It's rare to find her the largest in a group.
We headed over to JJBean with Dianne and her dog, Haley, for some treats.  My latte seemed unusually beautiful, and I took a picture of it. Bill's peanutbutter-oatmeal cookie snuck into the picture too.  He said it was good, but I wonder if he was a bit disappointed that they were all out of raspberry crisps.  The latte led to an interesting bit of knowledge.  As I was taking the picture, the man at the next table came to admire the pattern.  He said it looked like a fossil, naming it Metasequoia, and adding that he was a geologist.  He said that the fossil could be seen in Kamloops.  I googled it when I came home, and found lots of information, including that the live version of the tree can be found in China.  I enjoyed this blog post that came up by googling the fossil.  If you scroll down a bit, there is a picture of a real fossil from Kamloops that the blogger was given.  Bill and I both thought it was pure serendipity that a latte and a geologist would connect at the perfect moment to bring us information that we would otherwise never have known in a million years.  Perfect, Bill thought, for a Trivial Pursuit game.
Here is Dianne with Haley.  Haley went through about a thousand adorable poses to convince me to part with more dog treats, but she was so close to the camera, I couldn't get a passable photo of her cuteness.  Then Dianne had a little conversation with her about keeping her paws off the table.  Haley is doing her best to convince Dianne that she is taking her seriously.
Bill and I visited Dianne's beautiful home.  Her friend Doran collects stones.  I love, love, love these colors!
Doran also collects interesting objects that travel across the ocean.  The ones in this bowl come from Newfoundland.  There were also many beautiful balls from Japan.  It's amazing to me that they could travel such a distance without breaking.   
On the way home, I took one picture through the truck window of some beautiful cherry blossoms.  They were on a street in Kitsilano, near Greens and Gourmet, where we had supper.
Neither Dianne nor I are big fans of having our picture taken, but Bill took his camera along today, and I knew better than to argue, since he allows me to take so many of him.  Here I am at Bridgman.  
And here we are at JJBean.  We are both finding the picture taking process a bit challenging, but our smiles reflect a fun time together with friends on a perfect day.  Even the geologist can be seen (with sunglasses on his head) in the background. Thanks, Bill, for recording the moment, for driving to North Van, for bringing Black Jack, and for accommodating your day to my pleasure, as you so often do.