A painted face makes a happy girl

With the Leaside Rotary Club Corn Roast more than half over as this was posted organizers will consider the 2014 edition of their annual event to have been a whole-hearted success. This morning left Trace Manes Park well-drenched and the forcecast suggests we may yet see another downpour by evening. But in between it has been lovely. Some were calling it the Rubber Boot Corn Roast as a few parents dressed their kids in wellies. Adults in regular shoes seemed to prefer to hop around the swampy spots with a style that can only be called Leasidian. The things that make kids happy, happy, happy were all there in abundance. Face paintng and highly responsive bouncy surfaces drew mobs of children and parents. Sarah Jordan along with sister Claire and their mom and day were present to do the good work of the food drive. A four-piece band with an infectious sound reminiscent of Don Messer and the Islanders entertained the older attendees. The Bulldog spotted political faces: John Burnside and his friend Charlene Kew were there. Mr. Burnside was dishing out the popular staple cotton candy.  John Carmichael was present as were David Sparrow and his wife Lise, both of whom were enjoying the down east sounds. Later in the afternoon, Premier Wynne was able to visit this event in her own riding and John Parker (Ward 26) visited accompanied by David Soknacki. (Sunday, September 21, 2014).  Pictures on Twitter

Jack Cooksey of Perth Australia was one of those all-night guys in order to buy an iPhone 6.  Poor Jack. What with the fuss of showing it to the happy television lady, Jack dropped his new phone all on live and as it happened.  Check the footage —  now posted on YouTube with more than four million views — and have a look at what happened, At first, the newscaster is trying to rip open Mr. Cooksey’s iPhone 6 for him. How come? As SKY News asks: Did she sleep on a sidewalk all night? No. She says: “It’s your phone, you open it” Then, with a final tug from Mr. Cooksey on the little box top down goes the phone onto the concrete. The TV lady look embarrassed and says: “I don’t quite know what to say right now.”

Mark Jordan writes to update The South Bayview Bulldog on the Seventh Annual Sarah’s Food Drive beginning September 27 and running until October 12, 2014.  Many in Leaside will know the story of the drive and a little girl’s curiosity about helping others. Soon the idea took flight and drew in many people, including Sarah’s mom and dad (Mark) and her younger sister Claire. For the 2014 drive Sarah and Claire have an ambitious goal of raising 70,000 pounds of food. Mark notes that last year’s drive raised over 60,000 pounds of food for the Daily Bread Food Bank.  Thirteen schools are helping out this year and that means about 6,000 students are on the job. Businesses are invited to get involved by mailing Sarah and the gang here. It should be a lovely evening when youth philanthropist awards are handed out at the ACC October 2, 2014. Sarah and her dad are nominated  by the Daily Bread Food Bank for the Association of Fundraising Professionals Young Philanthropist Award. They won and Sarah and Jordan will be accepting the award in person at the AFP Luncheon on November 26, 2014. On October 11, 2014, there will be a Thanksgiving hamper build and BBQ at McDowell’s valu-mart on Bayview. Of course  Sarah will be at the 21st annual Leaside Rotary corn roast tomorrow (Sunday, September 21, 2014) with bins to collect non-perishable food items.

When Gayle Boxer-Duncanson decided to re-name her dancerize and pilates practice at St. Cuthbert’s Church on Bayview Ave. she turned to what some might think was an unusual source for advice. Her clients. It’s the kind of involvement with the people who seek her help that has sustained Gayle Force Fitness as as essential part of life in South Bayview for some 32 years. Gayle Force is the name chosen on the suggestion of a client and then a popular vote.  The client won a whole year’s worth of free classes. Today Gayle animates and excites her classes personally as she has always done with more than 100 clients joining her each week in the spacious and brightly lit Lamb Hall extension to St. Cuthberts. It was Gayle who brought both dancersize and pilates to Toronto from New York, where she began her career as a fitness instructor. It was in New York in the early 80s that she became a registered pilates instructor.  Gayle’s biography tells us that she graduated from the National Ballet School and began her own dance school. In the language of previous chroniclers of her career “she proceeded to — not just blaze a trail through Toronto’s fitness community — but to actually light the match.” Gayle was among the first to teach fitness in the City. Gayle’s preoccupation with the body and muscles remain the key to her practice in a time of the ever-growing predominance of “exercise” and “jogging”. She is concerned about the amount if running and working out people do without stretching to protect the muscles. An important part of the Gayle Force practice is the family feeling created among clients. Gayle encourages it and even sponsors group outings to the ballet and other related activities. Gayle Force indeed.