Spot the Difference

O.k. we’re going to play a game here.  If you’re reading this on some teeny mobile device, you might want to check it out on something bigger. Ready?

1. Spot the difference in these two photos.

If you said anything about flowers, trees, greenery of any kind, give yourself one point.

2. Spot the difference in these two photos.

If you said, one is a much-vandalized wall at Main St. and Stephenson and one is a brand new beautiful mural depicting that corner from years gone by, give yourself 5 points.

3. Last one.  Spot the difference.

If you said the picture on the left is Ashbridge’s Bay beach and the picture on the right is the fabulous East Lynn Farmers’ Market, give yourself 10 points and go buy DECA board member, Tak Bui’s, new book, Spot The Difference, in which these two puzzle pictures appear along with many others.

Tak is actually responsible for all of the above achievements. With some help from DECA, he successfully lobbied the City to improve the landscaping at Main and Stephenson. Working with a few young artists, Tak painted the fantastic new mural at the same spot to try and deter vandals (it was tagged the first day, but Tak has since fixed it). He’s also been creating three community gardens in the same area that have fostered community involvement and made that space less inviting for criminals and more inviting for other community members. In his free time, he lead a team of DECA board members to create some fabulous DECA t-shirts (available at the farmers’ market) and paint an incredible whale mural on the wading pool at Stephenson Park playground.

Now count up your points.  You win!

Vivacious Veggies

A guy walks into the doctor’s office. A banana stuck in one of his ears, a broccoli stem in the other ear, and a carrot stuck in one nostril. The man says, “Doc, this is terrible. What’s wrong with me?” The doctor says, “Well, first of all, you need to eat more sensibly.” 

If you also need to eat more sensibly, you’re in luck. The East Lynn Farmers’ Market opens Thursday, June 7 from 3-7 p.m.  A sure sign that the market is near is when you start seeing your favourite fruit and vegetables loitering around at the subway station.

The Earl Haig Community Festival

Come one, come all Thursday, May 31st, 3:30-7 p.m. rain or shine. There will be BBQ items, baked goods, cake walk, spy-catching (don’t tell CSIS), crafts, silent auction and other delicious and creative items. Earl Haig is just south of Danforth and Coxwell with a nice big green space (how do they keep their grass so green?) and a great playground.
 Gledhill Neighbourhood Tree Tour

Join LEAF for a closer look at the trees surrounding Gledhill school and residential neighbourhood. You’ll learn about the special benefits of trees in schools, biodiversity, tree identification and care. You will never look at trees the same way again.  Meet in front of Gledhill Junior Public School at 2 Gledhill Ave. (east of Woodbine, north of Danforth). Saturday, June 16, 3:00 – 4:30 p.m. $5 donation please.


Error Alert.  The VSVSVS Free School is actually Sunday, instead of Saturday.  (Apologies if you went today!)

It should be:

SUNDAY, MAY 26, 2012:

VSVSVS – The Free School!
Inside 1238  Danforth Ave – Cosmic Janitorial Services (1 PM – 3 PM)
Going head to head with 2000 + years of pedagogy, VSVSVS have established the Free School – your one stop shop for learning all manner of useful (and not so useful) things. It all starts at 1 PM (TOMORROW, SUNDAY, MAY 27th), with David Hanes  who’ll teach you how to Rock Short Shorts (in addition to Post-Internert theory).
Then, (still on Sunday, May 27) Ryan Clayton will teach you how to make, complete, and maintain an Elastic Band Ball.
Finally at Sunday, May 27, 5:00 pm, Anna Kovler  give you A Lesson in Denial, as well as  A Lesson in Scissor Use and because she’s nice, A Lesson in Positive Visualization and Materialization.

Art of the Danforth This Weekend!

There’s lots going on as part of Art of the Danforth this weekend. See below or visit the site at www.artofthedanforth.com

SATURDAY MAY 26

noon – 3 pm:     Traffic Jam Danforth/Coxwell Public Library, 1675 Danforth

1 – 1:30 pm:        Graffiti Removal Removal Tours (GRR Tours) Leaves from 1238 Danforth

1 – 2 pm:              These are the people in your neighborhood. Meet outside Woodbine TTC Station

1 – 3 pm:              Stories You Haven’t Heard NE Corner of Woodmount & Danforth Aves

1 – 3 pm:              Yarn Bombing workshop at the Danforth/Coxwell Public Library, 1675 Danforth
1 – 5:30 pm:        VSVSVS Free School, 1238 Danforth

1 & 4 pm:             Art Amble Meet at LucSculpture School & Studios (663 Greenwood)
8 pm                      Feast in the East #2 at Danny Greens, 1218 Danforth Ave

SUNDAY MAY 27
1 pm:                     Danforth Bike Line. Meet at SW corner of Greenwood and Danforth (The Beer Store)
1 & 4 pm:             Art Amble. Meet at LucSculpture School & Studios, 663 Greenwood
3 pm – 4 pm:      Storytelling in front of  “Integration” at 2013 Danforth

DAILY

All day:                 Art installations and exhibits
8:50 – 9:30pm:   Intersection performance @ Glebemount & Danforth (Intersection)

DECA’s Doings

The Danforth East Arts Fair is accepting applications for the fourth annual event. Our popular, juried arts and crafts fair will host up to 60 artists this year along with food vendors, musicians, children’s crafts and much more. For more information and to get your application form, visit the website or contact deca.arts@gmail.com

Thank you!

DECA would like to thank Paola Girotti, owner of Sugar Moon for her very generous donation to DECA. We charge $10/family/year and frankly not that many of you cough up the cash. We don’t need much money to do what we do. We mostly run on good wishes and happy thoughts, but it does take a little bit of money for permits etc. We are extraordinarily grateful to Paola for her kind donation to the cause.

What do you want to see on the Danforth?

We have this nasty little habit at DECA of stealing great ideas from other communities and making them our own. The latest is one we’ve stolen from a community in New Orleans. They put signs up on empty storefronts and wrote “I wish I was a….”. We’re doing something similar. We’re trying to get feedback from you about what you want to see on the Danforth. You can write your suggestions on the boards around the neighbourhood or post them here on the blog.

Maybe you think this area needs a new Thai restaurant?  If so, it looks like you’re in luck.  This is an application for a liquor license at the former Western Country Restaurant on the southwest corner of Woodbine and Danforth.

The next DECA board meeting is Tuesday, May 29th. E-mail natasha.granatstein(at)gmail.com for the details if you would like to attend.

Bananas For Broccoli

Have you spent the last few months awake at night worrying about how to make the perfect broccoli costume?

Didn’t think so. DECA’s Kat Senyk has.

She tossed over the duvet fabric she bought at Value Village. Would it be too abstract?

She opted instead for new fabric, sewing the florets by hand using pillow stuffing, buying dense batting for the structure, and searching supermarkets for organic broccoli stickers to copy, scan, enlarge, modify and print onto an iron-on heat transfer. (In the end, she torqued an organic banana sticker )

She even made her own bias binding tape, which if you know about this stuff, is a big deal.

“It was fun. It will be fun to see it. I don’t want to make anymore,” Kat told me when I picked up the fabulous costume from her house last week. Her 1.5 year old son Rayner was upstairs sleeping. Her husband, Tim, was all-but passed out on the couch from another long day working at the pool company they own together.  “If I hear one more word about broccoli….” he mumbled.

Why would anyone slave over a broccoli costume for DECA? For our farmers’ market, of course. You might have seen one of us dressed as a pea or carrot or apple outside the subway station with market flyers in hand last year?  We needed to boost our supply.

“We moved to the east end 1.5 year ago, and found both farmers markets were a walkable distance from our home,” Kat says. “I love going there with Rayner. We’ve met some good friends there this year.”

A secret: While Kat now works as a project manager for a local engineer firm, she was in the fashion industry for ten years, even running her own label, biokat, for a time. (http://www.biokatonline.com/Home.html). She is case-in-point of the talent we have in this hood.

Check out her work on your way next week. One of us will be wearing it outside your subway station handing out flyers.

Thanks so much Kat!

If you would like to help promote the market this year, we need you!  You can hand out post cards (in boring old regular clothes or in fabulous veggie wear). Let us know at natasha.granatastein(at)gmail.com

The 5th fabulous year of the East Lynn Farmers’ Market starts Thursday, June 7th. 3-7 p.m. at East Lynn Park, on Danforth west of Woodbine.

(This post cheerfully brought to you by Catherine Porter)