by Andrew Morrison | The next cool thing is the arbutus tree. Nothing says coastal BC to me more than the sight of a gnarled, peeling arbutus tree hanging out over a rocky shoreline. Not even the smell of weed and patchouli can compare. There’s just something about the colour of the shedding red-brown bark and the green flesh of the wood in high summer that whispers of how everything will be alright and that the fire is going strong and the food and the wine will turn out fine and the blanket is soft and the sound of the gentle waves rolling and receding up and down a hundred million perfect skipping pebbles is exactly how it should be if the sun is to go down and the stars are to come out. Though that’s primarily a Gulf Island feeling for me, I’ve seen big ones out at UBC just south of MacMillan Building, in McCleery Park at Marine and 49th, on West 5th between Macdonald and Bayswater, on West 4th Ave between Blanca and Tolmie, and a virtual forest of them close to the water out at Lighthouse Park in West Vancouver.

THE NEXT COOL THING