The town of Fort Langley

Photo: CNR caboose stands at the old Fort Langley train station.

The town of Fort Langley, in some ways the birthplace of British Columbia, has lovely old buildings and amazing spring gardens. I'd be willing to bet that Fort Langley properties have more magnolias, rhododendrons and azaleas per square metre than any other municipality in BC, except possibly Victoria.

The now disused train station is visible from the windows and balcony of Wendell's, the Fort's popular bookstore-cum-restaurant. Built in the typical CNR/CPR style, it is one of numerous similar station buildings along the rail lines that across Canada. Like the wooden grain elevators, these souvenirs of our history are going.

In the beginning, it was the railroad that made the great sprawling nation of Canada possible. The rails tied the early provinces and territories together and made it feasible to ship the wheat and other farm products of the prairies to the the St. Lawrence and the Atlantic on one coast, and the Pacific on the other.

The Hudson's Bay Company fort on our doorstep

Photos: Left, the door in the palisade wall. The picture on the right was taken through the small hole that can be seen in the left  picture.

Each spring, I like to visit Fort Langley. It reminds me of various aspects of the nation's history.

The old town still has the historic railroad station, and of course, the fort itself, which overlooks the Fraser river.

Before the railroad, the river was the trade route. The wooden palisade surrounds what was a small village back in the day. There's a kitchen garden, a smithy, the Factor's house and simpler homes of those lesser mortals, the traders.

The old tools are still in evidence, as are the trade goods. Barrels of dried fish and cranberries, and white woolen Hudson's Bay blankets with their distinctive red, green and yellow stripes and the matching threads that indicate the weight of the wool.

The fur press is a simple device. A wooden lever turns a screw that was used to squash the beaver furs into flat bales that could be packed easily and wouldn't take too much space on the ships that carried them back to Europe, where they were made into fashionable felt hats for wealthy men.

The Bay is no longer a Canadian company, though it was once the oldest in the country, and predated the nation by a couple of hundred years. It came into existence over 300 years ago when the British government granted it a charter with fur trading rights over all the land drained by the rivers that flowed into Hudson's Bay.

After Confederation, the new nation bought a huge tract of land from the Company.

Buskers keeping on

The other day when I rode the escalator down to the concourse in Commercial Broadway Station, I heard the rich music of a saxophone. It was great to see a busker; I hadn't seen one in a train station for a long time.

True, I haven't been riding the train much lately, but I don't think that's the reason. The 2010 Olympics put a bit of a damper on the local street music scene when the authorities hit buskers with some new bureaucracy. They were asked to audition and pay licensing fees if they wanted to play in train stations during the games.

I ranted about that in this blog at the time, and got an immediate response from Saw Lady, a fabulous musician who plays the subway in New York City and also was being hassled by bureaucracy. Her name is Natalia Paruz and she is still going strong.

In view of all that history, I was glad to see another street musician taking his chances at the bottom of the Broadway escalator.

Buskers are a breed apart. Willing to stand out in all weather and play music for anyone who comes by, they deserve whatever breaks society can give them. They shouldn't have to pay for licenses and they shouldn't be taxed on their tips.

The cure for missing Mexico

Life has a way of evolving into regular routines, and we miss the usual patterns when they change.

Our family has been fortunate to enjoy regular vacation visits to Puerto Vallarta in winter or early spring. This year we didn't go, and I found myself missing the beach, the atmosphere and the tropical fruits we so enjoy.

A few days ago, I saw some of the huge papayas that are common there but rare here. These were imported from Central America and had been shipped green.

I bought one and before it ripened, I found Mexican key limes. Yesterday, I cut into the creamy orange flesh of the fruit and squeezed lime juice over it. All I had to do then was close my eyes, and I was back on a shady balcony in Puerto Vallarta, gazing down at the palm-fringed blue Pacific.

Wildflowers grace East Vancouver sidewalks

At the foot of a garden wall on East Broadway, these dandelions -- weeds -- bloom among the authorized plants that gardeners have placed there.

Though gardeners may vilify them, these are cheerful and lovely at the peak of their spring bloom.

When contemporary urban people look at dandelions, they see lawn invaders. But these tough, thick-rooted plants are very useful.

People in earlier times and more rural societies recognized the value of the spring leaves as vitamin-rich greens, and used the roots to make a drink resembling coffee. They also made Dandelion wine.

Cavalia exploits bond between horse and human

Last night our family witnessed Cavalia, an astonishing spectacle celebrating the ancient connection between human and horse.

The cast of horses includes a number of well-known breeds: Arabian, Quarter Horse, Appaloosa, and Paint.

Some of the more obscure ones are the Iberian Lusitano, the Oldenburg from Friesia, and the Comtois from Eastern France.

The show, which originated in Shawinigan, Quebec, also displays the skills of a breed I had not previously heard of: the Canadian.

Each breed brings its special skills to the tasks it must perform, from Dressage to Team work in harness to Trick riding.

The spectacle was conceived by Montrealer Normand Latourelle. One of the original visionaries who brought Cirque du Soleil to the world, he has assembled a veritable army of acrobats, artists, craftspeople and horses to inspire as well as entertain.

Indeed, this show had everything including its own orchestra and solo musicians. The moods kept changing as the performers presented a hint of fairy tale romance, a wealth of astonishingly athletic trick riding and a soupcon of that unmistakeable Cirque-style fun.

The skill and showmanship of the performers, human and equine, was superb. The audience kept bursting into spontaneous applause.

The backdrops portrayed a variety of scenes including ancient cave paintings of horses, terracotta warrior horses from Xian, the Roman Coliseum. One of my favourites was an arrangement of sheer curtains and projected scenes that gave the illusion of watching a string of riders on a forest trail.

We left the show knowing that no matter how urban and high-tech our lives have become, the ancient bond between human and horse is decidedly intact. The popularity of Latourelle's show reveals that many -- nearly two million in North America and Europe -- have made a profound connection to this travelling spectacle.

In his own words, he has brought forward his vision as "An ode to beauty, a freedom fantasy, a hymn to harmony, one step toward a new complicity."

Evolution of car amenities follows social norms

Photo courtesy of www.free-images.org.uk

I once had a 1954 Austen A40 Coupe de Ville like this one. No cup holder, seat belts, lighter or cell phone charger. Just grey leather seats and a leaky soft top.

To drop the top, I'd just reach back and pull one chrome handle. Then at a traffic light, I'd reach across the back seat and pull the other chrome handle. The top dropped by itself.

Early cars had few comforts. At first, the windshield, if there was one, was about the size of a rolled-up newspaper. Roofs and doors were for sissies. For car trips, travellers wore motoring gear: caps, mufflers (scarves) and goggles.

Then car makers noticed that many drivers were smoking and cars got ashtrays, then cigarette lighters. In the new Mazda 3, the built-in space that would formerly have housed the ashtray has a No Smoking sign and the former "lighter" socket is a place to plug in a cell phone charger.

Of course the first cars had no radios. But soon car radios became the norm, followed by tape decks, then cd players. Now automobiles also have i-pod plug-ins and programmable devices that make it possible to talk hands free on your cell phone while driving.

Cup holders are also standard equipment in today's cars. But back in the days when laws and society were more lenient about drinking and driving, respectable people would never be seen drinking from bottles in cars; they drank from water fountains, or from the tap at home. When disreputable people or rebellious teens openly brandished beer bottles in cars (no drink cans yet), the police pulled them over.

Fifty years ago, nobody drank coffee while driving. Coffee, like food, meant enjoying a break. Even those who went to the new drive-in restaurants like Vancouver's White Spot paused long enough to finish the food and drink that was served on long trays fitted between car windows.

Now cars are ubiquitous, traffic is heavy and commutes are long. Accordingly, cars today are more comfortable and well-equipped than the summer cottages at the lake enjoyed by people of the past. For some, a car is now like a second home.