The South Bayview Bulldog

Blasted off from Kazakhstan early Monday

David Saint-Jacques is an engineer, an astrophysicist and a physician

Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques is on his way to the International Space Station (ISS) in the Russian Soyuz rocket blasted with Russian and Us colleagues Oleg Kononenko and American astronaut Anne McClain. Saint-Jacques, 48, will spend six-and-a-half months in space. The liftoff was at 6:31 a.m. ET Monday and can be seen at length in this video.  Among those present to watch was Governor General Julie Payette. The Soyuz MS-11 spacecraft entered a designated orbit just under nine minutes after the launch and was set to dock at the space outpost in about six hours after making four orbits of the Earth.

• Gigantic Unexplored Cave Found in Canada May Never Have Been Seen by Human Eyes

Police get details from relatives/Global News capture

Scene outside laundromat/Global News capture

A two-month old infant has been found safe after a 2005 Toyota minivan was stolen from outside a laundromat at the Italian Gardens Plaza on Islington Ave. and Satterly Rd. on Sunday evening. Police have tweeted that the baby is safe and sound. Officers were seen at the laundromat speaking with apparently tearful relatives of the infant shortly after the theft was reported as seen in video captures above from Global News. Police thanked the public for helping. There was no information at post time on where the vehicle was found or whether it had been left open with the engine running.

Starting today LCBO stores, The Beer Store, authorized grocery stores and off-site winery retail stores can now sell alcohol between 9 a.m. and 11 p.m., seven days a week. This is about improved choice, access and convenience for consumers. Enjoy responsibly! #onpoli pic.twitter.com/2xtqECRk6E

— Michael Tibollo (@MichaelTibollo) December 2, 2018

The Ontario government has announced that as of Sunday LCBO and Beer stores as well as grocery stores and winery retail stores can remain open until 11 p.m. seven days a week. The intention to do something like this was in the PC government’s Fall Economic Statement last month.

John and Daniela visit New York

Ring on way home to England

John and Daniela returned to England thinking that the engagement ring John let slip into a grated sewer on Times Square was gone forever. But it isn’t. The ring was found by police specialists the day after it disappeared into the muck, was cleaned by the NYPD and sent on its way to the couple. Police didn’t have their address but John and Daniela came forward again after a police appeal was seen and retweeted by thousands in the hope of identifying them. An earlier story of how the ring was lost is here.

Hey Lava Cake

Andrew Howard and Robert Nigro

Trees at Trace Manes

Jessica of Milk and Honey Pies at Briton House Winterfest

Ladies Night

Pancake Breakfast at MRUC

Guys Night Toy Drive

Recent days in South Bayview have seen a visit by Lava Cake (upper left) to Room 115 at Davisville Public School. Lava Cake is a guinea pig looking for a nice home. He met the kids with his friend Mrs. Casey of the Toronto Humane Society. Upper right are friends and brothers-in-education Andrew Howard and Robert Nigro at the Maurice Cody Winter Fair Saturday. As always, it was a tumultuous event. Mr. Howard is a TDSB superintendent and former principal at Cody while Mr. Nigro is principal at present. Centre right is a reminder that the 69th Leaside Scouts are selling Christmas trees at Trace Manes Park this weekend and next (Dec 8-9). At bottom left is Jessica of the Milk and Honey Pie Company helping to make things fun at the Briton House Winterfest on Saturday. Nice event. Then some posters, starting with a Ladies’ Night event posted on Ann Brown’s Leaside Chit Chat. And a reminder of the Manor Road United Church Pancake Breakfast December 8 and the Leaside Guys Night Out at the Leaside Pub December 6.  All coming events are at the  South Bayview Bulldog Bulletin Board.

There was no winning ticket for the $5 million jackpot in Saturday night’s Lotto 649 draw. The guaranteed $1 million prize was claimed by a ticket holder in Quebec. The jackpot for the next Lotto 649 draw on Dec. 5 will be approximately $7 million.

.@43_Kadri with the winner over the Wild.#LeafsForever https://t.co/vbMARl4XPH

— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) December 2, 2018

Scott Moir and Tess Virtue

George Herbert Walker Bush

“Say, what’s in this drink?”

Olympic medallists Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, movie star Seth Rogen with his writing partner Evan Goldberg and retired astronaut Chris Hadfield were among those who received a star on the Walk of Fame in Toronto’s entertainment district Saturday night. Then, former prime minister Brian Mulroney will be one of the speakers at the funeral of George Herbert Walker Bush. Below that, a radio station in Cleveland has been cowed into banning the 1944 song Baby, It’s Cold Outside. Take a look at Esther Williams and Ricardo Montalbán debuting it in that year. Finally, police and animal services staff have removed a plastic jug from the head of a deer on Long Island. Good work men.

William Nylander, 22, has signed with the Maple Leafs and will play with the team this season and for five more seasons as well.  His six-year deal is worth nearly $7 million a year and totals $41.4 million. The Hockey News

Brampton MP Raj Grewal has admitted that he borrowed and lost millions playing high-stakes blackjack at Gatineau’s Casino du Lac Leamy across the Ottawa River from Parliament. He says in a statement Friday that he has paid it all back but he does not say how nor from whom he borrowed these fantastic amounts in the first place. Remarkably, he also said on Facebook that he is thinking of staying on as an MP for Brampton East. Sources have told the Canadian Press that they expect Mr. Grewal to be expelled from the Liberal caucus if he does not resign. Grewal is saying that his gambling folly became too big to keep secret in November even though he insists that his wife did not know what he was doing. Nor does he say just how he accomplished the repayment of such sums in such a short time.

No one claimed the $60 million jackpot in Friday night’s Lotto Max draw. But 11 of the 35 Maxmillions prizes of $1 million each that were up for grabs were won. The jackpot for the next Lotto Max draw on Dec. 7 will remain at approximately $60 million, but the number of Maxmillions prizes offered will increase to 42.

Good morning. Events of interest Saturday include the Briton House Winter Fest, the Maurice Cody Winterfest and a book signing and presentation by Alan Redway at Walter Stewart Library in East York. Details on the South Bayview Bulldog Bulletin Board.