A Garden Stroll With a "Little" Fish & Chips

200+ missionaries and 100+ cars can generate a lot of work for senior missionary couples serving in the office.  This week was no exception, so we were happy to see P-day come along.  After doing a little cleaning and laundry, we were ready for a little R&R.  Fortunate for us, British Columbia is home of abundant lush parks and botanical gardens.  So many gardens, so little time...

 

This week, we headed East to the city of Surrey, home of Darts Hill Garden Park.  It seems that some time around 1920, newlyweds Francisca and Edwin Darts bought a wooded, sloped acreage, and proceeded with their own hands, to build their home and clear the land. 

Over the following 70+ years, they blasted stumps, tore out brush, graded land, installed meandering pathways, and planted and nursed some most unique and beautiful trees and perennials over the entire hillside.

In 1994, still alive, but too aged to manage the garden's demands, the Darts donated it to the city of Surrey, for preservation, enhancement, and development of a horticultural center,

for the preservation, enhancement, and development of the unique plants, to be open and free to the public.  Of course they do accept donations and volunteer work, and they do sell yearly memberships, starting at just $20, which buys you all sorts of garden perks.

So, for a small donation, which we were happy to give, we entered "free" and spent a couple of hours enjoying the work of Francisca, Edwin, and the Darts Hill Garden Conservancy Trust Society.

Then, we headed South to the harbor/beach community of White Rock for some of the best Fish and Chips we've ever had (British style).  Check out the size of those hunks of halibut.  A broad peninsula that juts out into Boundary Bay, between the US and BC, White Rock has a sort of Laguna Beach/Hippy feel with a long strip of shops and walk-up seafood restaurants along

the beach.  We stopped at Coney Island Restaurant, which came highly recommended by locals for its huge hunks of fish.  Also frequenting Coney Island were some interesting characters in interesting garb.  This guy, for instance, remains loyal to the Motherland.

Then we crossed the street onto the beach.  Tide was out, so all you get to see in this selfie is a few tide pools, as backdrop to this contented couple, happy to be alive and to be serving here in British Columbia.  The work is satisfying.  The cause is just and true.  The World needs it.  We are blessed.