MakerKids gathering (Facebook @MKLeaside)

Snow and ice at Bayview and Manor

Now the news! (Twitter @JoshMatlow)

This pleasant gang (left) is a “family photo” of young and older people getting ready to open the MakerKids storefront at 1661 Bayview Ave. MakerKids is said to be a mixed concept of school and educational camping in which children learn coding, robotics and the Lego-style game Minecraft. It says online that MakerKids has “award-winning programs for kids from grade 1 to 8.” MakerKids indicates plans for a huge expansion in Ontario naming 30 communities in which it intends to open. At upper right, it has been three weeks since the 20-cm doomsday snowfall fouled City streets. As days go by, people are complaining about the huge piles of snow and ice that remain on many important streets like Bayview and Mt. Pleasant.  Don’t even ask about residential roads. They’ll get cleared courtesy of the sun in April. But if you go to Yonge and Dundas (for example) there is no snow or ice left on the streets. At bottom right, Councillor Josh Matlow and his daughter Molly crashed the CTV News set this week. Fun but maybe Molly’s allowance needs an increase. Below, events coming up soon. Also, The South Bayview Bulldog Bulletin Board

Starbucks most notable change since 2016

Buildings purchased by First Capital

Long-term lease?

Some 30 months ago, First Capital REIT, owners of Leaside Village (Longo’s) shopping centre on Laird Dr. announced plans to develop the northeast corner of Lawrence Ave. and Avenue Rd. The site included the Pusateri store and a Mac’s right on the corner. The Mac’s was kicked out (saving it from the ignominy of becoming a Circle K). But as 2019 plods along the most discernible change to the corner is the imminent arrival of a Starbucks at the former Mac’s location. Pusateri continues to operate, the apartments are rented, the car wash is running and since Starbucks usually leases for at least ten years, it seem unlikely FC has much in the way of plans for Avenue Rd. and Lawrence Ave. FC also owns the former CIBC building now the Local eatery at Laird and McRae. First Capital buys Pusateri site at Avenue and Lawrence

Sunnybrook Medical Sciences Centre physician Dr. Marjorie Dixon will be among many experts speaking at the Second Annual Canadian Fertility Show this weekend at the International Centre on Airport Road. Her topic is IVF 101, a primer of sorts for couples eager to improve their chances of starting a family. The show organizers say the gathering permits those who are researching multiple IVF clinics to submit their applications to a number all at once, quickly and with much less stress over the course of an afternoon. In addition to being the only assemblage of international fertility experts and trailblazers in Canada, the show will also feature representatives from surrogacy agencies, the Foster System and various adoption agencies. The show runs from 9.30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, February 23.  Schedule and other details 

Family on arrival in Canada. Abdullah, four months had not yet been born.

Halifax police and fire officials confirm that seven children of a Syrian refugee family died early Tuesday as their dad suffered serious burns trying to re-enter the flaming home. The fire broke out on Quartz Drive in the Spryfield area. The children range in age from three months to 17-years. The mother and father remained in hospital Tuesday afternoon, the man with life-threatening injuries. The woman was expected to survive her injuries. A woman who lives next door to the home said she fled her home about 12.30 a.m. with her four children. “The mother was on the grass, praying I guess, bowing her hands down, and pulling on my husband’s arm to call 911,” she said, becoming emotional. “She said the kids were inside and the dad was sitting on the steps. I think he had gone back in because he was really burnt. It was just awful.

Main store at 442 Summerhill Ave.

Prepared foods

Devilled eggs

Summerhill Market plans to expand its two-store operation to four stores this year, adding a store in the Annex and another on Eglinton Ave.West serving Forest Hill and Chaplin Estates. This part of Eglinton from Oriole Pkwy to Chaplin Crescent is the Eglinton Way BIA. Summerhill owner Brad McMullen says he hopes to see the Annex store, which is under construction, open in the late Spring or early Summer. The purchase of a property at 484 Eglinton W. awaits closing but may be subject to a property swap.

Gerald Butts, principal secretary to the Prime Minister, has resigned over accusations that it was he who applied pressure to then Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould to help the Montreal engineering firm SNC-Lavalin avoid a criminal case on corruption charges. But in quitting his office, Butts adamantly denies that he did any such thing. His resignation statement says the decision was taken because the allegation is distracting from the “vital work”  Justin Trudeau is doing. Butts is described as the most powerful person in Ottawa except for the PM himself. The two have been close friends since university.  “I categorically deny the accusation that I or anyone else in his office pressured Ms. Wilson-Raybould .At all times, I and those around me acted with integrity and singular focus on the best interests of all Canadians,” Butts said.

• Gerald Butts resigns as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s principal secretary
• Are these the ‘answers’ of a Prime Minister who’s done nothing wrong?

Truck convoys from the east and west will meet outside Ottawa later today or tomorrow and then head to Parliament Hill to protest federal petroleum policy They wish to cure the paralysis on pipeline construction, boost the economy and free Canadians from the need for foreign oil. CBC’s Olivia Stefanovich is the reporter.

Summerhill Market stores at 446 Summerhill Ave. and 1054 Mt. Pleasant Rd. are open Family Day from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Large grocery stores like Loblaws, Metro, Sobey’s and Longo’s are closed as are banks, liquor and beer stores and the libraries. Better call to see about restaurants. They present a very mixed pattern.

A cold Monday will keep new Family Day snow in place. Two to five cm fell on Toronto. There will be a significant warming towards midweek for those who would like to see some of it melt.

Leaside Jr. Wildcats won a chippy, penalty-filled game against the Bluewater Hawks at their Millwood Rd. home Sunday afternoon. The game featured 19 penalties including shared calls for double minor (head contact) roughing after the whistle and unsportsmanlike conduct (twice). Parents and relatives saw daughters in a large second-inning tussle by the Leaside net. The game was won by the last goal scored at 12.13 in the second period. Lilie Lacey tucked it past the Hawks goaler for the Cats with help from Maddie Briggs to make 4-3. The third period was scoreless despite a furious six on four attack by the Hawks in the closing moments.

PENALTY-FEST I

Leaside won another penalty-filled rock ’em sock ’em game Saturday against Barrie Jr. Sharks at East Bayfield Community Centre. The Provincial Women’s Hocky League boxscore shows 12 penalties, seven assessed to Barrie and five to Leaside. The game was won 4-3 just 29 seconds into overtime by Captain Marley Van Den Oetelaar. Both teams were shorthanded. Leaside entered the third period trailing 0-3  Quite a comeback. See PWHL boxscore of this curious game here.