Toronto's Tapas Style Bar Raval Is An Artpiece In Wood And A Wonderful Tribute To Spanish Art Nouveau Design...

Wood, wood, glorious wood appearing that it's been formed from a liquid source is the predominate and beautiful feature in this Tapas styled bar in Canada's downtown Toronto. Celebrated Canadian chef Grant van Gameren and Mixologists Mike Webster and Robin Goodfellow wished to introduce Toronto's residents to the Pintxo Bar, which in Basque Country is a cornerstone of social and gastronomic culture. 

And to create an interactive art piece that would become an enduring Toronto institution.

Raval, conceived by the Partisans Design Group could well do that as it invites its clientele to enjoy an intimate relationship with the beautiful environment that honours the spirit of it's Spanish Pintxo counterparts...

Toronto's Good Food Mobile Market Provides Healthy Food Sharing For Less...

A cherished childhood memory is one of the local fruit and vegie man, Mr Mazzola arriving at our Eastbourne street in his wonderful converted van with shelves and baskets brimming with fresh edible delights. Those were the days.
Now Canada's enlightened city of Toronto have set up a scheme where neighbourhoods that find it difficult  and too expensive to travel to get the fresh fruit and vegetables so vital for good health can do so with this new new Good Food Mobile Market coming to their areas.
A city that cares for its people.
An idea worth spreading...

The Grotto. A Beautiful Curvaceous Wooden Sauna On The Shores Of Lake Huron...

On the eastern edge of the lovely Lake Huron is the Canadian province of Ontario and on the west, the American state of Michigan.
Georgian Bay is at the north of the lake and that's where this simply beautiful prefabricated, yes, prefabricated wooden sauna is located.
And that's the geography lesson over.
The interior of The Grotto is a simply stunning piece of work by the Partisans Design Group for a private Canadian client. There's more about it here and here and when you're done there and worked up a good head of steam, may I suggest a quick dip in the lake...

Breaking News. A Child Fell Out Of A Tree And Broke It's Leg. Trees Are Dangerous Said The Bureaucrats At Regina Beach. We Must Cut The Trees Down...

Is it me or does this story prove that the world really has gone stark raving mad.
A child fell out of a tree and broke their leg at Regina Beach in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan.
Hardly a big deal. The child and its parents will cope with the minor accident without counselling or psychiatric help. The child will probably grow up and have kids of its own who will climb trees.
If there's any trees left.
There are children in the Middle East and other war zones having their heads and limbs blown off by mortar shells. But that's another matter.
The trees are dangerous. We must protect our children said the Sasketchewan Ministry of Parks, obviously more nervous of being sued than the happiness of the Regina Beach Residents.
We've done a risk assessment and this tree in particular is a safety hazard said the bureaucrats.
As you might well imagine, this ridiculous situation went down like a ton of bricks with the locals and they gathered in numbers and prepared to stand by their beloved trees around the clock to prevent them being cut down.
The Parks people are re-assessing
the situation...

Free Beer For Canadians In Europe...

It's always been a good time to be a Canadian but now if you're a Canadian in Europe and you like Molson beer, it's even better.
To boost national pride, the Canadian beer company Molson has placed these bright red beer fridges all over Europe.
You can get a free beer.
But only if you're a Canadian.
To access a beer you need to scan your passport and then hey presto,  the fridge opens and you take your beer.
There's more to know about free beer here.
So for all those Americans who sew a Maple Leaf on their backpacks.
Sorry, your cover is blown.
Just keep wishing you were Canadian...

In Canada's Ontario, Nestle Pays $3.71 For One Million Litres Of Water And Then Tries To Retail It For More Than $3.71 Per Litre...

In Ontario, Nestle, the giant Swiss food company pays 0.00000371 cents per litre for water and expects the customer to pay more than $3.71 per litre bottle at non discounting retailers.
Nestle has been getting its 1.13 million litres of water a day from Guelph in Wellington County but they want to increase it to 3.6 million litres a day at a time the area is subject to water restrictions due to drought.
As you'd expect the local residents, conservationists and environmentalists are up in arms and seeking a review to the situation.
There's more to know here.
But back to the million percent profit margin. Sure there are costs involved in getting that litre of water to the marketplace including the bottle, labeling, packaging, shipping and handling but that's an amazing potential mark up at the point of purchase isn't it... 

To Bee Or Not To Bee...

To bee or not to bee may well be the question but for me the answer is absolutely and positively No.
Be that as it may, Marenda Schipper on the left and Patrick Boelsterli were taking part in the annual Clovermead Adventure Farm's Bee Beard Competition held in Aylmer, Ontario.
Brazilian born Marenda, aged twenty won the contest with a beard weighing 2.2 kilograms, nearly five pounds.
Her winning beard contained around twenty thousand seemingly passive bees.
In the bottom photo you can just see her cute nose poking out of the swarm.
A fashion statement or just the bees knees...

Gnomadik. It's A Very Cute And Innovative Micro Cottage On Wheels...

It's name is Gnomadik or if you don't get that, try Nomadic. It featured here recently on Tiny House Listings and I thought it worth sharing.
At the moment it's located in Courtenay in Canada's British Columbia but it could easily be moved almost anywhere.
I'm sorry there's no photos of the bedroom in the loft but I'm sure it follows the delightful theme. 
I do like the materials used here, the corrugated iron and the wonderful warm wood.
Gnomadik is something a little different and at seventy five square feet it's certainly little.
Some simply big ideas in tiny living...

Prince Anders Of Sweden Wins The Medieval Jousting Tournament At Ahipara Beach...

It was thirty degrees celsius in the shade and far too hot yesterday to be jousting on the beach in full body armour.
But that's just what these medieval jousters from England, Canada, Sweden and New Zealand did, and the winner was the handsome blond haired Prince Anders of Sweden.
Naturally he won the hand of the beautiful Princess Annalea and they will of course live happily ever after.
Prince Anders, he's not really a prince, I was just jesting, and his gorgeous damsel travel the world and take part in perhaps fifteen jousts a year.
No wonder he's so good.
And a couple of hundred beachgoers couldn't believe their luck enjoying a couple of hours of unexpected and very unusual entertainment.
Medieval jousting is not something one sees every day, even in New Zealand's surprising and beautiful Far North...

Dean McLellan And The Amazing Age Old Art of Dry Stone Building...

Dean McLellan is a dry stone waller and mason. That should be said with some sort of fanfare at least.
The man's a master when it comes to the inspirational art of building with dry stone, an art that's been practiced for centuries.
He's artisan who's always on the lookout for creative and interesting projects.
And always ready to promote the age old craft of dry stone walling and construction.
Especially in Canada where he lives.
There's many other wonderful examples of the age old art here...