VanDusen: Autumn is the New Spring

I had to turn the heat on in my apartment last night which can only mean one thing: summer is over. Oh sure, I may be able to wear my flip flops once or twice more before the autumn rains take full control of the city, but I know it's time to pull out my woolies, dig up my video store membership card and plug in the tea kettle. I will mourn many cold-weather victims over the next few weeks. Wreck Beach is but a memory now, the Trout Lake Farmer's Market will soon be a thing of the past, and no longer will the birds regale me with song in the wee hours of the morning. None of these losses can compare to the pain I will feel when daylight begins to fade at the ungodly hour of five'o'clock. I' haven't even finished pretending to work by then...C'mon!

There are however two events that make the autumn months somewhat bearable: Halloween is one. Costumes, candy, being legally within my rights to frighten little children? Could there be a better day? The other annual autumn event that I look forward to occurs in a place were "Burnt Sienna" and "Vandyke Brown" really mean something, a place where the Monkey Puzzle Tree really has a place to grow, that place is VanDusen Botanical Garden. All I need is a scarf, some tea and my tunes and I'm off to the races. Well not really, I'm off to Van Dusen Botanical Garden. "Off to the races," that's just a figure of speech.

If anyone is interested in volunteer work available at VanDusen, there will be an info session on Saturday, September 16th. Check out the website for contact info.

(photo:www.digitalgallery.ca)