The rain has arrived here in Van. I'd been warned that the beautiful weather wouldn't last forever and yesterday afternoon it turned cool and in the night the rain began. Such is the way of the seasons, at least I got to the UBC Apple Festival yesterday.

Photos courtesy of Niki Boyd...photographer and partner in crime extraordinaire

It was so much fun. Why has it taken me so long to visit the UBC Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research? There is so much more there than apples as you will see from some of the following photos. It was very cool to discover that they donate the fresh produce to help the homeless. At the farmers market I picked up some great preserves, mini dill pickles, pickled garlic (YUM) and sliced dills. It was so hard to choose just three..I'm regretting not getting myself a jar of the Maritime Chow Chow...it was so good.