I woke this morning to sun beaming through the slats in the blinds, and it was marvelous and it took me by surprise – the previous million days have been relentlessly rainy and dark. Today was warm and dry and I remembered how much I love it here.

Until yesterday, I was tossing around the idea of Toronto, and of running away, even though it snows there. The idea might come back on Monday when I have to go back to work, but for now: Vancouver, I love you. James said I want too much anyway, and that I should be happier with what I have.

Today I met Tracy and Miss Rosa at Notte’s Bon Ton, a bakery on Broadway where you can get cups of tea, small bites of sweet things, and your fortune told. James, the tarot card reader, was entertaining, and surprisingly insightful, even to those of us who doubt everything we can’t see and most of what we can.

The tea was nice, and the sausage rolls were teasingly tiny, and I had to have four. The cream puffs were my favourite part, as big as baseballs and filled – FILLED – with whipped cream, and Tracy and Rosa enjoyed the buttery little cakes. It’s not a place I’d go every weekend – it’s a treat. Which is perfect, because I feel like it’s something I can look forward to.

It was cheap, too. Ten dollars for the tarot reading, five dollars for tea and a sandwich. A dollar and a bit per little treat, and two dollars or so for the cream puff. It’s the kind of place you’d take your grandmother to, and which she’d be delighted by. You can buy cakes and cookies to go, and they make wedding cakes, which I imagine would be delicious, and swathed in shiny butter cream.

If you’re in the city and you want a nice little morning in a pleasant little tea room, Notte’s Bon Ton is probably the way to go. And don’t pass up the chance to talk to James. Even if you don’t buy the whole fortune-telling thing, he’s got an arsenal of interesting stories and fables that go tremendously well with pastries.