Back to Mill Lake

We had Chris, Julie and kids over for dinner Monday so are really enjoying being in the same town. Today's walk took me back to Mill Lake, stocked with rainbow trout right in the middle of the city. I talked to an old guy in his wheelchair one day 'just dangling his fishing rod in the water', likes the fresh air. It's beautiful with babies feeding ducks, mountains in the background, a huge eagles/osprey? nest in the tree, swimming pool and water park at one end.
In 1903, the Tretheway brothers bought the Abbotsford Lumber Company on the north shore and soon the mill site and area became Milltown, due to the mill buildings, company housing and general store. Due to employment at the mill, many newcomers and immigrants were drawn to the area. The Lumber Company donated lumber to build the Gur Sikh Temple in town and bath houses for the Japanese workers. By 1930, the Great Depression shut the mill down and today only the pilings remain at the edge of the lake.

Come to the ARC

That is Abbotsford Recreational Center - it has everything. As I walked in, for my Sunday swim, a little girl and dad were leaving, both with their hockey sticks. There's a small skating area for beginners and there is even speed skating and a local hockey team.
The pool is very nice with a climbing wall and fun equipment for the Family Fun Swim, a TV to watch while you're in the hot tub, all sorts of lessons.
There are 4 different areas with fitness equipment, always in use, seniors center, weekly movies, crib tournaments, indoor walking track and many many more activities. A picture in the senior's center say 'Dance like no one's watching, sing like no one's listening.' It's just a 10 minute walk from the house.

Clayburn Village

One of my daily walks took me through this tiny area. The info center states that Clayburn Village is located at the foot of Sumas Mountain in Abbotsford, and was designated as a Heritage Site in 1996. Clayburn was the first "company town" in British Columbia, a town built by the Clayburn Company to provide employee housing and services. It supported three stores, a bank, a school and a church.
The discovery of high grade clay throughout Sumas Mountain and the demand for bricks brought Clayburn Village into being. The Village and brick plant were built more than a century ago, in 1905, by Charles Maclure, son of John Maclure, a former Royal Engineer and B.C. pioneer. By 1920, the bricks were shipped as far as Mexico and Hawaii. Because of fall off in demand, the brickplant, after operating for a quarter century, was dismantled in 1931. Scaled back operations were moved to the sister "Kilgard" site located further up Sumas Mountain. Although only the foundations of the Clayburn plant now remain, one half of the original homes, a store, the church and the schoolhouse have survived and continue to showcase the village atmosphere. Most prestigious of the remaining buildings are the Clayburn Church built in 1912 and the Clayburn Schoolhouse built in 1907, both still in use today. The school was built from the standard plans of the time, with many windows for natural light and wall space for blackboards. It was the cultural hub in early day and is still used for gatherings and a museum.
Clayburn offers its abundant visitors a unique view of an important part of Abbotsford's past. Through a century, Clayburn remains as a secluded little village, reminiscent of the turn-of-the-century English village atmosphere of the times, with brick buildings with neat gardens, surrounded by white picket fences.
Samuel Maclure, brother of Charles, designed most of the brick buildings and was to become an architect of note designing many outstanding buildings in the Vancouver and Victoria area.

Circle Farm Tour and Granny and Grumpa's Antiques

I am really enjoying Abbotsford. It is a very pleasant place to live and has all the amenities and attractions of a modern urban core (5th largest city in B.C.) - right in the middle of one of the most beautiful and bountiful agricultural areas in Canada. 90% of it's land area is dedicated to growing or production of a range from free-range poultry, red peppers, cool-climate wine, goat cheese, their world famous berries, pumpkins and more. They are known as the raspberry capital of Canada with 58% of the land used for this purpose and even have a huge sculpture of that. There is much culinary creativity, Locavores (one who strives eat locally grown foods) love it her. There are more than 285 days of sunshine per year.
There is a self guided Circle Farm Tour of 16 farms, trout hatchery, winery, markets and soap works. I stopped at Granny and Grumpa's Antiques and it is believed they have the largest private collection in the entire province and I agree. I were blown away by the huge collection of vintage items that the Schweigerts have amassed in their retirement. Every barn and out building now houses antiques...

Birchwood Diary

Yesterday I did my walk out at this diary farm. They have 210 acres of land with 180 cows and about 150 young stock. They grow all their own hay and silage to ensure happy cows which produce delicious milk. They enrich their milk with selenium which keeps cell membranes healthy. They have an onsite processing plant producing gourmet ice cream, #1 in local contests and their newest item "cheddar curd". We must go back for lunch one day and watch the cows being milked, all 180.
Cow Facts: A calf weighs about 150 lbs and must be hand fed for the first week. A cow weighs about 1500 lbs, drinks 30 gallons of water a day, produces up to 64 quarts of milk daily, spends 6-7 hours a day eating, and doesn't bite the grass that feeds her: she curls her tongue around it. It takes 340 squirts of milk to fill an average milk pail.

My Trip Home

I'm becoming a veteran local traveler. Suzanne drove me to the ferry where I was reminded on the trip across, what a busy working coast we have.
My next leg was taking the Horseshoe Bay Express to downtown. I then caught the Canada Line out to Brighouse by the RiverRock Casino in Richmond and jumped on the bus to White Rock. I met Ron at McDonald's after his cardio exercise, so after ferry, bus, train, bus, we drove by car to Abbotsford. 4 modes of transportation in one day, much less expensive than driving. It's an even more beautiful trip on a sunny day.

Busy Weekend

I'm having fun with the kids. Hana, a friend and I did the recycling yesterday and today is housecleaning day. Next is the Sally Ann run to donate what's been cleared out. Lexi painted this picture recently, very complex for a 7 year old I think.
Suzanne has written 3 Gluten Free Recipe books she's published on Amazon on Kindle books. She's using Suzanne Leonard (her dad) as her pen name. They are currently #2, #3 and #4 on fast and easy Gluten Free recipes.
Hana shortened her curtains, replacing the bottom frill so she could turn her bedroom heater on.