Seasons Greetings,

Here we are again. This time coffee has been on my mind. I'm looking forward to a cup of steamy, rich tasting coffee surrounded by the garden. Dirty hands, dirty knees and a big mug to sink into.

My Mother has a big garden, back in the wilds of Canada. It's way more than she can look after herself but as we grew up and moved away it just kept growing in spite of her. A couple of years ago she joined a local gardening group for peony growers.

I always had a few patches of that garden. My favourites are the early spring wildflowers and perennials. Tulips, violas and trilliums are right up there in the top ten. Trilliums are the flower of Ontario. No one down here in the midwest, US, has heard of them. I searched online and found they just don't grow this far south. For a Canadian gardener that's a nice switch. Usually the flowers/ plants we want to grow only grow farther south and if they survive up here at all they are tender perennials.

Back to the whole coffee thing. I'm not sure what it is about coffee really. I remember the first time I ever tried it. I tasted from my Mom's cup. It was so bitter and strong. I wondered how anyone would find pleasure in drinking that stuff. I think coffee drinking is an addiction, like smoking you develop the addiction through peer pressure. Forever after that you comb the environment for that good cup of coffee. For me its something smooth and rich, like French Vanilla. I used to get Mocha from the Second Cup in Toronto but they couldn't get the beans any more so I was out of luck. Now my favourite coffee shop is Timothy's or Williams if I can find one.

Tonight I'm going to be brewing some new kind which is smooth, but not that perfect blend of rich and smooth, they called it caramel in the store. My Mother thinks flavoured beans are a sickness, she's a purist.