1972 Harvester Travelall

Privately-owned and very nice too, this 1972 International Harvester recalls the pre-SUV era when window trucks like this were the option to cushy-springed station wagons. International Harvester was the maker mainly of farm equipment. Ford and Chevrolet also had popular big trucks like this for the large family or a baseball. team.

The remains of a sailing vessel believed to be as much 180 years old was lifted from the mud of Toronto Harbour today (Thursday, June 4, 2015). The 19th-century schooner has found a new home at Fort York where it will be preserved and displayed outside the historical site’s visitor centre. The ship was discovered by an archeological firm working at the Queen’s Wharf site in early May. It is thought to date back to the 1830s.

Malcolm Hamilton

An area man, Malcolm Hamilton, has written an alternative view of how well Canadians are preparing themselves for retirement. Mr. Hamilton is a Senior Fellow of the Fraser Institute and was previously a partner for many years at Mercer, the pension specialist firm. He disagrees with forecasters who say people do not save enough and concludes that these gloomy analysts are looking at the facts in the wrong way. He says that many more young people are buying a home rather than just putting a few dollars into an RRSP Mortgages show up in most surveys as consumer debt. But paying off the mortgage builds equity. It is among the most effective method of saving known. As to retiring Boomers, Hamilton says too many analysts miscalculate what it costs to live in retirement, adding in expenses like the cost of kids, mortgage payments and work expenses,  These costs typically don’t apply to retirees. Hamilton says these two interpretations are giving a false reading on savings rates. He says most Canadians will have a comfortable future with a combination of pensions, savings and Old Age Security (OAS). Report 

Josh Matlow (Ward 22) has announced in his newsletter Thursday morning that he will support the removal of the eastern portion of the Gardiner Expressway. This is  a change from his previous inclination, he says, to support the so-called hybrid plan that would maintain the section of the elevated road leading to Scarborough. In his quite detailed explanation, Mr. Matlow notes that the eastern portion is not heavily used and that in the distant future, when the work is completed, the delay for vehicles along the new surface-level boulevard will be an estimated average 52 seconds greater than over the retained section of the Gardiner to Scarborough.  Most people will know that the fruits of such construction are many years distant and in the interim, there will be construction to deal with. Here in South Bayview we are fortunate to have ready access to the Don Valley north via Don Mills and again at Eglinton Ave E and to the Gardiner westbound by way of the Bayview extension to the downtown ramps. Newsletter

Brother and sister goat kids are a sensation in patterned pajamas as seen at their home at Sunflower Farm Creamery in Maine. It is said by the owners that the siblings are headed for a future as milking goats on the farm. Winifred and Monty are Nigerian Dwarf Goats and look comfy in the management’s goat pajamas during a spell of rainy cold weather. They don’t leave then barn even though they could. So far nearly 230,000 have looked at the video.

Thursday, June 4, 2015 will mark the opening of what organizers are calling the Thorncliffe and Flemingdon Park Field of Dreams. The new Go Green multisport facility officially opens for community use at 2:30 p.m.  Activities start with a Grand Match on the Home Ground between the Toronto Police Cricket Club and the Go Green Youth Coaches Team at the site in the back yard of Valley Park Middle School (VPMS), 130 Overlea Blvd. “This is a very special event for Go Green and VPMS. Although we must still raise funds to erect our LED sports lights, we are very excited to open after so much collective effort went into raising $1.75 million dollars, since the dream began in 2010,” says VPMS principal and Go Green Co-Chair Nickolas Stefanoff. June 4 opening of Go Green Cricket Field 

May figures from the Toronto Real Estate Board reveal a full-fledged sales boom in Toronto, with detached homes hitting on average $1.15 million. It is a staggering realization for many, despite all the amazing increases which have gone before. The average selling prices of houses and condos combined climbed 11 per cent last month, year over year, to $649,599. That’s up from $584,946 just a year ago. The MLS Home Price Index Composite Benchmark was up just 8.9 per cent reflecting the increased sales of high-end homes from a year ago, skewing average sales prices upward.

Building lots “gobsmacking”

It is supply and demand on steroids. Listings are said to be way behind potential buyers. Bidding wars and bully offers are exceeding asking  prices. Sales are up 18.2 per cent in the last year. In Leaside and Davisville Village builders are in ferocious bidding wars to get access to mud under an old house. According to a real estate source, the gobsmacking price of $1 million+ is the norm for a lot in Leaside. “Bidding wars and bully offers have been rampant in the “South Bayview” area this spring!  Not enough supply.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONF1qbD-tnY?start=12

The Scarlet Strawberry is a hybrid fruit, like the Honeycrisp apple. It is now being grown in small numbers on farms near Rutgers University in New Jersey where it was developed. The berries are expected to be in commercial distribution next summer and, like the Wisconsin Honeycrisp, may be grown in Ontario.