This was only my second year being involved with the Expo. Now that I live in London, and with the Show Director, I’m steeped in it. But I’m sure I only know a fraction of what it actually takes to arrange more than 100 exhibitors, 170 custom bike owners, and all of the details that go into filling the Agriplex and Arena with entertainment for three straight days. …
Many organization experts claim there is no need to collect all that stuff we lovingly call “junk.” For them, it’s a black-and-white issue. They reason that if you have everything in its place, you don’t need to keep a collection of stuff that doesn’t belong together. And they have zero tolerance for anything that resembles a junk drawer. We’re all familiar with that unrelated stuff: a night-light bulb, a fork left over from a flatware collection you no longer have, bits of plastic that have come off something you’ll discover the minute you toss them away and an assortment of flotsam that to the naked eye seems practically worthless. …
It happens. It sucks, but it happens. …
It’s not just a European phenomenon after all. …
Who would have thought that my trip to Europe would leave me coveting a couple of commercial bathroom gizmos that haven’t been seen in real-life operation in this part of the world? At least, they’ve never been seen by me or any of the envious friends with whom I’ve shared stories of these washroom wonders. There’s real disappointment in knowing I can’t have them for my own home – at least not yet. …
As my beloved and I merged our households into one, I encountered the precious space of an entire kitchen shelf stacked full of gift mugs. Each of them bore a saying that spoke to the heart of his gear-headed, M&M-loving, coffee-addicted personality, but they had sat and hung virtually unused, apparently for years. And so it goes with so many of the little tokens we give each other. …
House Proud: Gifts People Actually Use – Toronto SunRead More »
Before “green” became the watchword to signify environmental friendliness it was simply a colour. Kermit the Frog crooned, “It’s not easy being green,” and if the famous Muppet had ever wound his spindly fingers around a paintbrush, he would have experienced the true brilliance of his song. In my completely unscientific and purely anecdotal experience, there have been more troubles with painting greens than any other hue. …
During a torrential rainstorm, I ventured outside to investigate the cause of our overflowing rain gutter. I discovered that a very small but mighty tree had sprouted up and was creating a blockage that sent a waterfall over the side of the house, where it was making a small lake on the lawn. …
When I was a little kid, I was all about the colour purple. Sure, now they’re showing purple as the hot hue for fall fashions, but there was a long time, perhaps decades, when purple wasn’t so cool. Back in the day, my babysitter Kathy was a Donny Osmond fan (to put it mildly); Donny loved purple, which begat Kathy’s puppy love for purple, which in turn begat mine. …
House Proud: Kids Are Decorators Too – Nov. 7, 2008Read More »