A walk for mom's birthday

My mom celebrated her 65th birthday on Monday. Many of you know my mom and have seen her around. She has been my greatest supporter and help with everything I've ever done - and she has often jumped into participation too, like at orienteering events. She is most precious to me.

For her birthday we made a weekend of it having my uncle and aunt and friends here in Parys for the weekend. An extra blessing was having my younger cousin here (our fathers are brothers). Chloe was born in the Seychelles but has lived in the UK since she was about 6.

At 21-years young, Chloe is 20 years younger than me. I last saw her when she was 14 (and before that when she was about 4 years old). We are Facebook friends, which has helped me to peripherally to keep up with her as she has grown up. It is so much more magical to see her in person for a few days (we'll see her again at the end of her trip).

My mom's birthday weekend began with a group dinner on Friday night. Saturday morning saw us all at parkrun. Rusty set a new PB of 27:52, almost two minutes faster than her previous PB. She has now done 4 parkruns. Rusty runs beautifully and has been getting fitter. We only lose time when she stops to sniff - her focus is getting better so she is sniffing less. My uncle and aunt were keen volunteers. They have helped here before and are very good timekeepers.

Chloe and I hit the town on Saturday afternoon to cruise the quaint stores. We did a stop for tea and cake and in the evening we were all together again - plus Karen and Graeme - for a meal prepared by my aunt and uncle.

Me & Chloe @ Kiki's

On Sunday morning some of us headed out to my new local walking spot, Rietpoort.

Liz, Chloe, Kev, Rose

It really is a lovely area. The farm owner's dogs came along with us and both Rusty and my mom's Tansy loved being out there.

Tansy - little one-eyed dog. Short of leg, big in heart.

Lovely photo of Chloe and my mom

Rusty got into the little dam - my first time seeing her in water. Just up to her elbows - must have been freezing! I look forward to seeing whether she swims in summer.

There are interesting sculptures around - like this one.

There is a lovely forest section with a neat swing. We had a go.

Chloe showing us how it is done.

We wrapped with weekend with us all together for lunch at The Dog & Fig, our local brewery and restaurant.

Dog & Fig is dog friendly and very welcoming. They offer dogs bowls of clean water. Very sweet. I had a chat with the owner and he says that the dogs that people bring with them are usually all well socialised and well behaved. I guess people with badly behaved dogs don't take them places. Rusty and Tansy are very good in public places and a pleasure to take along everywhere. Dog-friendly venues rank high on my priority list.

On Monday, my mom's actual birthday, we headed out to Venterskroon to give Chloe a taste of the area. I always love going out to Venterskroon Inn, my start-finish venue for Forest Run. Toasted sandwiches completed the afternoon.

Chloe with one of the two miniature horses that roam the property. Rusty has a big fascination with this one.

The Girls at Venterskroon Inn

A good weekend in celebration of my mom's birthday. We dropped Chloe off in JHB today. Her dad arrives tomorrow with her half-sister from the Seychelles and then they head up to Zimbabwe so that he can show his girls where he grew up and for them to have an African experience. I'm sure they'll love it and I'm hoping that Chloe will go rafting on the mighty Zambezi. xxx