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DECA’s Beaches East York Meet and Greet

Join DECA this Thursday at the East Lynn Farmers’ Market for our Beaches East York Candidates Meet and Greet.  Come out to visit your local provincial candidates.  Share an apple, share a chat.

If that’s not enough for you, check out these other Beaches East York debates…

Thursday, Sept 22

Neighbourhood Link Candidates Meeting, co-hosted with Beach United Church

140 Wineva Ave, 7 p.m. (focus on seniors issues)

Tuesday, Sept 27

Rogers Cable 10, 9-10 p.m.

Thursday, Sept 29

Beaches Metro/Centre 55 All Candidates Meeting, St John’s Norway Church

470 Woodbine Ave, 7:30 p.m.

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Street Parties

This weekend we had a block party on our street. For the second year, we’ve held it in the combined backyards of a few neighbours so there’s lots of room and we don’t have to go through the trouble of closing down our street. Last year, we had a dessert party on a Sunday afternoon. This year we had a potluck dinner on a Friday night.

It was such a wonderful night. The kids played and none of them wanted to leave. The adults laughed and left with hearty  “so great to finally meet you!”  My favourite moment was when two people met and discovered they had been admiring one another’s gardens for years.

It wasn’t hard to organize. We wrote up invitations, printed them and delivered them to the houses on our block.  We set up a few tables and laid out plates, cutlery and cups, a green and a garbage bin and chairs.   We had name tags because we all know there are people you’ve been saying hello to for years and you haven’t got a clue what their name is.

I’d be interested to know all the different kinds of street and/or neighbourhood gatherings that happen in our community. I know there are bouncy castles, tennis parties and movie nights out there.  Tell us what you do on your street.  Either post it here or send it to me and I’ll post it.

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News From The North

Thanks to Better Bulk! – Somehow, by some absolute failure on my part, I forgot to thank the fabulous Better Bulk boys for their ongoing popcorn support of the Peach Fest and Movie In The Park Night.  Better Bulk has been a great supporter of DECA and the Movie Night since the day they opened their doors and we want to thank them very much.

garbage pick-up

A few bits of news from Ward 31 City Councillor, Janet Davis, (north of Danforth)…

Garbage In Garbage Out – Starting the week of Tuesday, September 6, 2011, garbage day will change from Tuesdays to Fridays for residences between Coxwell and Victoria Park, from Danforth north to Massey Creek.  This permits the City to maximize the use of the new one-person, automated trucks.

Down With Downspouts – Starting Nov. 1, 2011, the City will require all property owners to disconnect their downspouts from the sewer system.

If your downspouts have not been disconnected, rainwater runs off your roof and flows through your eavestroughs into a downspout that carries it directly into the sewer system. During heavy rainfall, the sewers become overloaded, increasing the risk of basement flooding and releasing polluted rainwater into our local waterways.

You can disconnect your downspout(s) on your own. Or you can seek the advice and services of a City-licensed and experienced eavestrough contractor or other experienced professional. The City may also provide financial assistance to low-income property owners.

Pretty Parks – The City has made some improvements to local parks this summer.  Read more, here to see what happened in your neck of the woods.  Also, the City will be asking for public input on a five-year parks plan this fall. Stay tuned for more info on how to add your voice.

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DECA Learns – Canning Workshop

We still have a few spots remaining for the Peaches and Plums Canning Workshop on Wed. Aug. 17th at 7 p.m. in the basement of the Mennonite church, just east of Woodbine on the north side. The tomatoes canning workshop is now full but we have one more workshop in Oct. that has some space. Wed. Oct. 5th we will be hosting a cranberry, pumpkin, Thanksgiving theme canning workshop at 7 p.m. in the basement of the Mennonite church.

The cost of the workshops is $10 each, if you are interested please email Melanie at melaniej.thompson@yahoo.ca

 P.S. – We need volunteers for the market to sit at our DECA table and generally be helpful.  If you have a two hours on a Thursday and can help out, please please let Shelley know at shelleydarling(at)yahoo.ca.

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East Lynn Park News

How much do you love the East Lynn Park Wading Pool?  Enough to donate a few bucks to help us cover the cost of painting it?  You probably know that it was vandalized last year.  This year, DECA got together some great volunteers and bought ourselves some paint to paint the pool.  If you would like to help out and donate some dollars to help cover the cost, then check out our website at www.danfortheastcommunityassociation.com.  Please feel free to either drop your cash donations off at the weekly farmers’ market DECA table or by clicking the PayPal donation button on the DECA website. The City of Toronto doesn’t cover the cost of painting the pool, just maintaining the plumbing etc. Thanks!

 

Thursday, August 25th – MEGAMIND Movie In The Park  Councillor, Mary-Margaret McMahon and DECA are sponsoring Movie Night In The Park on Thursday, August 25th at 8:30 p.m.  This is always a fantastic night at the farmers’ market.  Families can bring their blankets and chairs and settle in on the hill for Megamind.  Watch the trailer, here. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJtot_f-snU].

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Dog Days

Last week’s corn fest and picnic at the East Lynn market was a great party that many of didn’t make it out to because of the heat.   Those who were there kept their toes in the wading pool and had a great time with the bands who braved the heat to play.  This week:

Kraft Korner

The korner will be set and ready to go with a slightly more mature craft especially for those budding fashionistas.  It’s a sea-tastic DIY gold shell necklace a la Marc Jacobs.  This craft has limited participants so please pre-register at decacrafts@gmail.com.  Materials will be supplied, but feel free to bring anything else you would like to add or replace to make your piece an original.  That’s a 3:30 p.m. on Thursday afternoon at East Lynn Park. 

 

Children’s Yoga with Svetlana

Svetlana Vlasic is well known to moms with babies in the Danforth East neighbourhood as a fixture in the Main Square Community Centre teaching “Mom and Tot” yoga classes.  She and her husband Slobodan teach many classes in community centres in the east end and from their home, to all ages and all levels of yogis and yoginis!  Svetlana will be at the market to give a free class for kids from 4:30 til 5:00 this Thursday.  If your kids are anything like my kids, they could probably use some zen.

Trees!

Aside from last night, we haven’t received much rain in July.  Just a reminder to give those trees on your boulevard a little drink – especially the younger ones.

Garbage!

Starting September 6, 2011, garbage day will change from Tuesdays to Fridays for residences between Coxwell and Victoria Park, from Danforth north to Massey Creek.