Out and About - Weekend Edition Two

The sun was shining as we left the exhibition and we decided to take a drive up to the city suburbs and buy lunch at mom and dads favourite bakery which is right next to the city's Botanical Gardens. We bought pies and colddrinks and found a shady parking at the park. As we entered the park we became aware of a lady, mid-thirties, walking distractedly around, up and down paths calling someone's name. We realised that she was looking for someone and as we approached her we asked her what was wrong. "I can't find my daughter, she's only five, she's wearing a pink tutu!" I told her to go to the exit and that we would look out for her as we were walking in the other direction to her. As soon as she hurried off, I thrust the pies at my mom and said to my brother "Lets spread out and look for her". He and I rushed off and I took an adjoining path just behind some other walkers. I asked these people if they had seen this little girl and they said they had just passed her further down the path that Greg was taking by the duck pond. They stood and pointed her out as they could still see her from where they were standing. I called to Greg to fetch the child and went to find her mom. The mom was still by the entrance/exit calling hysterically for her daughter. I called out and her son, a boy of about 8 came running over to me. I sent him off to his sister and as mom came up to me I could see she was very broken by this trauma. She had tears and mascara streaming down her face. I hugged her and told her that we had found her child. In the meantime Greg and mom had taken the opportunity to give the little girl a pep talk about running away from her mother. It was definitely a wake up call for mom to not rely on her daughter to keep close to her but to watch her all the time. Children can go missing in the blink of an eye. Every mom's worst nightmare!

In the meantime dad had continued meandering down to his favourite bench overlooking the duck lake. He doesn't get involved in his family's doings, just continues on his way - the stable one! We ate our lunch while looking at a family of 9 ducklings with their mom as well as a family of young Egyptian geese and some Ibis being fed bits of bread by a young couple. On the other side of the lake was a wedding entourage, the wedding attendants clad brightly in orange which was clashing with the pink and yellow flowers which they were using for a photo backdrop. Two little flowergirls clad identically in frilly white dresses and Maryjane shoes were balancing precariously on the giant roots of a pondside tree and leaning over the water to try for a better view of the ducklings. I kept expecting one or both to fall in but luckily they lost interest.

Families picnicking and playing games, vivid and varied birdlife, young folks and old, a variety of locals who obviously use the park extensively as a break from city life. An oasis in the middle of the city. And all the while the sun shone, drying up the mud and rain from the morning. We sat for a while and then strolled through the indigenous plant house which also has an array of beadwork creatures such as ladybugs and lizards, which the kids take great pleasure in spotting amongst the greenery and then on to the orchid house which has been in existence since I was a child and every time that we have been there has has an array of colourful and exotic orchids, palms and ferns on display. They have a water feature with a waterfall and a pond holding fish and...freshwater crabs.

After that it was time to go after an enjoyable day out!

On our return to my folks place, I got a text from Dael asking "Are you going to stay away the whole day then?"

Sometimes its good for the parents to go out and the kids to stay home!