The Manor Road United Church Pancake Breakfast was a happy and tasty event Saturday. The church is celebrating its renovation and re-opening this weekend. There is a Christmas concert and carolling Saturday night and worship celebration Sunday at 10.30 a.m. followed by an open house at 11.45 a.nm.
A woman drove into the rear of a taxi on the Gardiner at the Spadina ramp early Saturday morning. Police say they suspect impaired driving. The cab flipped over but the occupants all survived with minor injuries. And .two men in their 20s have non-life threatening injuries after a stabbing encounter on Pembroke Street at around 1:15 a.m.
The Toronto Police Service Divisional Policing Support Unit, in partnership with community group, Heroz 4 The Homeless, is holding a used/new clothing and footwear drive on Sunday in the south parking lot of Fairview Mall. Donations from the initiative will be distributed to shelters in Toronto for the homeless. Officers and community members will be collecting donations from 9 to 10:30 a.m. For information, contact Constable Patty Retsinas at 416-808-0126 or email patty.retsinas@torontopolice.on.ca.
The whimsical decision of two neighbours in 2013 to place a couple of 14-foot inflatable Santas on their front lawn has grown into a grand tradition for residents of Inglewood Drive in Moore Park. The Canadian Tire Santas ($250 each) line the lawns (with few houses not participating) from Mt. Pleasant Road to Rosedale Heights Drive. This weekend neighbours will have a street gathering with hot chocolate and such. Those attending are asked to bring a food donation for the Daily Bread food Bank. Organizer Amy Westin says the neighbors have a goal of 500 lbs of food.
Collision: Lawrence Ave E/ Leslie St.. vehicle has struck a deer. Deer is on the roadway blocking a lane. Units are otw. #2184541.^adc
— Toronto Police Operations (@TPSOperations) December 9, 2016
The Dollarama store at 732 Mt. Pleasant is buzzing with preparations for the opening on Tuesday, December 13, 2016.
This week brand new signs were installed that reflect new turn prohibitions that were recommended by Transportation Services in a Report for Action back in September. Area residents have been concerned about the safety of this intersection for years, let us all hope these new rules increase safety. (Photos below provided by Ian Smith)
The new signs:
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Saturday December 10 will see the re-opening of Manor Road United Church after its renovations. There is the annual pancake breakfast Saturday and special services Sunday. Also Saturday, horse drawn carriage rides will be operating on Bayview Ave. for shoppers and the kids. And the Winter Village is underway at Evergreen Brickworks.
LEASIDE MATTERS
The Leaside Community group Leaside Matters will be selling T-shirts outside of the LIT coffee shop on Bayview. The shirts show a map of the town and sell for $20. There are also maps and a cultural heritage of Leaside pamphlet to be had.
https://twitter.com/LeasideBIA/status/807281389339049985
Outgoing U.S. Vice President Joe Biden hailed Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and German Chancellor Angela Merkel as genuine leaders during a time when they are in short supply at a state dinner in his honor in Canada on Thursday night. Biden said he’s never since Europeans engaged in as much self-doubt as they are now and said there are more challenges to the liberal international order in any time since the end of World War II. “The world is going to spend a lot of time looking to you Mr. Prime Minister,” Biden told a crowd of Canadian dignitaries. “Viva la Canada because we need you very, very badly.”
PARK IMPEACHED
The South Korean parliament has voted to impeach President Park Geun-hye. It is a stunning and swift fall for the country’s first female leader amid protests that she had permitted a friend, Choi Soon-sil, to extort money from business. Soon-sil and two other former presidential aides were accused of bullying large companies into providing tens of millions of dollars and favours to foundations and businesses Choi controlled, and enabling Choi to interfere with state affairs.
RUSSIAN DOPING
And more than 1,000 Russian competitors across more than 30 sports were involved in an institutional conspiracy to conceal positive doping tests as Moscow ‘hijacked international sport’, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) SAYS. Canadian sports lawyer Richard McLaren provided exhaustive evidence of an elaborate state-sponsored doping scheme operated by Russia’s Sports Ministry.
Putin with discredited athletes
There will wine-tasting among fine cuts of meat at Grilltime Saturday when Mark Bolduc of the The Vine Agency visits between 12 and 4 p.m. Grilltime owner Andy Elder offers an invitation to all to enjoy some of his fresh cooked hors d’oeuvres to go along with the wine. Some of the vintages to be tasted are:
WINES
McManis Family Vineyards/Ripon, San Joaquin Valley 2015 Viognier, River Junction/Wine Enthusiast 88 Best Buy, Roccafiore/Todi, Umbria 2015 Rosato di Sangiovese, Tin Barn Vineyards/Sonoma, R8 by Mike Lancaster’ Cab Sauvignon, California / Rod Phillips 4 stars, Chateau Pesquie/Mormoiron, Ventoux Rhône 2014 Les Terrasses Rouge, Ventoux/Parker 91, Saviolidis 91, Tenuta Cocci Grifoni/San Savino di Ripatransone, Marche and 2011 ‘Le Torri’ Rosso Piceno Superiore (Sangiovese/Montepulciano)
GRILLTIME
Grilltime is at 72 Laird Drive (parking at rear) (416) 467-4745.
Mayor John Tory, Jeff Hohner and Jon Burnside at Guys Night Out and Toy Drive
There was good fellowship for Leaside guys and their friends from nearby at the Guys Night Out and Toy Drive Thursday night at the Leaside Pub. Mayor Tory, Councillor Burnside and many more joined the gathering. The idea, rendered annually, is to bring a toy for a child who might go without come Christmas. Andy Elder reports there was a big turnout. The mayor said a few words too. Says Andy: “It was a great night, well attended, well executed. So many including Jeff (Hohner, pub owner) put in lots of effort to make it happen.” Andy, owner of specialty meat shop Grilltime, Dave Illiatovitch-Owen of seafood retailer De La Mer and Trae Zammit of the Smokin’ Cigar combined to offer a private evening of oysters, steaks and cigars for eight at Andy’s Laird Drive Grilltime emporium. The night will include beer and wine. Says Andy: “It sold for $1800. I’m proud of that.”
