Spring bouquet

Blooms from Linda's cousin's gorgeous Vancouver garden. 

This is usually one of my favourite times of year, when I can't photograph enough of the beautiful flowers popping out everywhere. The nearby streets of cherry blossoms are as pink as ever, and my magnolia trees in the front yard are in full bloom. But alas, I've been felled by the cold from hell for more than a week now, and haven't been doing my usual spring-blossom walks. So I was delighted when my friend Linda sent this photo of just-picked blooms from her cousin Susan's garden. Muscari, quince and cherry blossom -- a simple and perfect spring bouquet.

Coffee drought

Our favourite type of Galileo's coffee has been missing from the grocery store for so long that we were reduced to lesser types When it finally showed up again, I took advantage. And no, we are deliberately not showing the label on these nine packages of coffee. Just in case somebody else gets hoarding ideas. Photo by John Denniston

For months, well, many weeks anyway, I have made a regular detour during my rounds at Stong’s grocery store. One-quarter of the way along the tea and coffee aisle is the place where Galileo’s -- that stellar roaster of coffee beans in picturesque Britannia Beach -- should have our favourite type of coffee on display.

For a very long time, there has been a hole where that coffee should have been. Teasingly, Galileo’s other types have been there, but never ours.

We have theories about this. Somebody else who has also discovered the best coffee by the best coffee-roasting company sneaks in and buys every single package whenever they arrive. Maybe the snowy February  discouraged deliveries down the treacherous Sea-to-Sky Highway for the entire month.

At one point, we got so desperate that we made an emergency run to the only other store in Vancouver that sells our coffee and picked up three packages.

But earlier this week, when I did my usual detour at Stong’s, there it was. A whole row of our favourite coffee. I bought it all.