It’s about time Don Straathof made an appearance on this blog. He first got in touch years ago, when he wrote for more information about a Helen Andersen lithograph that he had purchased. The colourful Dutchman has a good eye as well as a sense of humour.
The snapshots arrived in today’s email. Apparently Don has found someplace sandy and warm to spend the winter. His message about the coconut hazard:

“They tried to warn me. But I thought, what are the chances of them falling on me? Wooden shoes, wooden head, wouldn’t listen!”

After lunch at Occasions, Bill Byres and I went to see what’s up at GAS. Above, Bill prepares for a better look at one of his favourite finds; a painted wood wall sculpture by Cy Williams.

Compare with regular security in the post below.

Safely frozen into place, the bike awaits riding weather.
Why the conventional U-lock, too? It’s just there for the few transitional hours between Toronto Winter and Toronto Summer. That’s a way off, still.

Danica and I went over to the Flying Pony Café today, to join the friendly, talkative crowd attending the opening of Gilles Arsenault’s art show. See more here. Pony proprietor Andrew Horne, a talented artist himself, has an eye for other talents, too.
I seem to be mentioning Andrew quite a bit, lately. The more I learn about the creator of my favourite café, the more there is to show. For example…

Andrew came to Canada from Australia. If you look in the credits, there he is, as director. This is one of many, many animated claymation shorts based on the works of celebrated Australian cartoonist Michael Leunig … all designed and directed by Andrew Horne. Great stuff! Here, have another.

There’s a lot more see at andrewhorne.ca.

Mystified by the Harper Government’s building of more federal prisons even though the crime rate has been falling year after year? As we learn how our domestic spy agencies are breaking the law, the need for a lot of jails to house them becomes clear.
Canada’s Action Plan. It all makes sense.

This guy was kind enough to interrupt his duties in the Al Premium superstore to let me snap his picture. Then he was quickly back on his rounds, delivering gifts of lucky New Year candy to browsing shoppers.

Danica, a Year of the Horse person, was introducing me to the hugely diverse selection of products near Eglinton and Birchmount. In fact, she treated me to lunch there … a delicious, garlicky chicken shawarma.
Then we drove off to buy more mat board for the Helen framing project. More about that soon. Kung Hei Fat Choi!

Worth 3 minutes to build your computer literacy, no?

The comparison between numbers of lines of code in Linux versus lines of writing in literature is utterly absurd, but Linux is making a powerful impact in its own way.

I just learned that the Toronto Public Library is in negotiations with digital media streaming service Hoopla. Soon, I expect that library card holders will have free online access to 10,000 movies.
One more reason why I won’t need Netflix. apparently Hoopla offerings will often be releases that came out a few years ago, but oldies are goodies and I have probably missed seeing many of them. I’ll be able to check them out with a simple login and watch them on my home screen.
Victoria, Edmonton and Hamilton are already ahead of Toronto, so I’m glad we are catching up.

This grrrrreat photo was on the birthday card I got from my Windsor family, the Drcas. Not too sure what the old lion is doing. Maybe yawning before a big nap? Sounds right. Anyway, he looks happy about it. That’s the main thing.
Thank you for the tasty gift, Kathy, Paul, Kristie, Nicole and Mollie. I promise to enjoy it unwisely.