Month: May 2015

The search is over and he is married. That’s the word for Barbara Tatge who was chronicled on television news as she hunted for the man she kissed during her running of the Boston Marathon. She was obviously enchanted by the moment (he is said to have kissed her twice) but as might be expected — word came back from the gentleman’s wife, not from him. Ms Tatge was dared by her daughter to kiss a random, good-looking man as she legged it through the town of Wellesley, where the women of Wellesley College traditionally offer kisses to runners. Later her daughter took to social media to try to find the man, who clearly left an impression on her mom. Ms. Tatge now reports that The Wellesley Townsman, a Boston-area news outlet, passed on a letter addressed to her Sunday after the campaign generated nationwide attention. The unidentified man’s wife said the attention was fun but that the couple wanted to remain anonymous. “When this story aired on the news we were pretty surprised,” the mystery man’s wife wrote in a portion of the letter quoted by The Townsman. “For me, I’m not mad. Believe me, our friends have gotten a lot of mileage out of this story and I have thoroughly enjoyed watching them give my husband grief!” The wife continued: “While this may not be the ending that you had hoped for, that spontaneous, silly moment in Wellesley captured the fun, energy and spirit of the Boston Marathon. I greatly admire your spunk and courage and wish you many happy races in the future. Congratulations on your Boston finish!” Tatge says she wrote back to the wife Monday, thanking her for her graciousness and good humor. “The letter was so kind and good-hearted,” she said. “She’s a great sport, and he’s fortunate to be married to someone like her.” Tatge also apologized for any embarrassment the search may have caused. “I just wanted her to know that the media firestorm stemmed from my loving daughter’s good-hearted dare,” she said. “I didn’t want to cause any discomfort to him or his family.” Tatge said she’s been touched by the support she’s received but is happy to move on. She also hopes to run the Boston Marathon again but with one important caveat: “Moving forward, I’m going to revert to only kissing single men.”

Jon Burnside (Ward 26) was slinging compost (so to speak) at Leaside arena today as many residents, including seniors, came to get the gardening essential on Leaside’s free compost day. Well done Councillor Jon.

Mr. Brown is interviewed by the CBC after his win at the Congress Centre. He is a self-declared outsider who seems to have won the leadership by collecting memberships from previously unsought or disaffected minorities. Thus he has limited support from the so-called old guard, members of the PC caucus. Just what kind of a party repair job this will represent is not clear. The Globe and Mail said Brown, 36, “thoroughly out-hustled” 60-year-old Christine Elliott. Mr. Brown won by a decisive margin, with 62 per cent of the vote. His made a pitch to what the Globe called non-traditional Tories. In the end, he sold some 40,000 memberships.  He got endorsements from Wayne Gretzky and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, certainly an out-of-the-box tactic. Of potential concern to moderate urban Progressive Conservatives is a vote Brown cast in Ottawa to re-open the abortion debate while in Ottawa. As is seen above, Mr. Brown is saying these things will not be part of a PC platform under his leadership.

 CBC

Candidates hear the final result.

CTV

Sister and brother get favorite faces

Sister and brother Daisy and Hayden were in adjoining chairs at the face-painting concession at Mt. Pleasant Rd. and Belsize Drive Saturday. It was Kid’s Fun Day again at the Mt. Pleasant Village BIA and it surely seemed to be well named as kids did everything from build Leggo to skateboard.

Such is the desperation of people to get out of North Africa

A  border guard thought the young woman with the wheelie suitcase looked nervous and he was right. When the suitcase was placed in the luggage x-ray at the border crossing from Morocco into a Spanish enclave, a young boy was seen stuffed inside. The boy, 8, is from the  Ivory Coast. It is not clear how the 19-year-old woman is related to him. A few hours later, the boy’s father was arrested while passing through customs. A native of the Ivory Coast, he lives in the Spanish Canary Islands and wanted to smuggle in his son to join him Earlier this week, a 23-year-old Moroccan migrant was found dehydrated in a container in the port of Melilla, another Spanish enclave in Morocco. He had spent four days trapped without water and without food.

That “excuse me” shower about 8.30 today (Saturday, May 9, 2015) should be a one-off according to the forecasters. because there is so much to do today. Mayfair rolls out at Rosedale Park and Kid’s Fun Day takes over in Mt. Pleasant Village. The Royal LePage Garage Sale for Shelter has its annual stand at the corner of McRae Dr. and Bayview Ave. A nice smaller event is set for Charlotte Maher Park just off Roehampton where Josh Matlow (Ward 22) will open the new playground at 11 a.m. Enjoy

New medical building started life as an A&P store

The re-built structure at 418 Eglinton Ave. W at Elmsthorpe Ave has been topped off and appears to be nearing completion. It will serve as a medical building in keeping with increased traffic and access flowing from the LRT, when it is built. The building dates from 1936 (same as the Eglinton Theatre building) and its first incarnation was as an A&P store. In recent memory it served notably as the home of Paul Slavens Real Estate in the 1990s and most recently as home of the upscale decor and clothing store Liv.