Cabrio in the snow

Yesterday I drove the smart cabriolet at the smart fortwo winter drive promotion at Ontario Place in Toronto which was great fun. The closed course was set out on ice and snow and the car handled well in the tricky conditions.
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Last Days in Africville

This novel by Dorothy Perkyns, set in the black community of Africville in Halifax during the 1960s, is a Silver Birch Award nominee for 2005. Selina Palmer faces many difficulties both at home and at school, but somehow we get the impression that she has the strength and courage to overcome the obstacles.

Church Chaos

The scene from the book that I would like to be in the movie is the one where Winn-Dixie starts howling and Opal and the preacher have no choice but to bring him to the Open Arms Baptist Church with them. They tie him up outside but he starts howling and interrupting the service. They bring him into the church but then Winn-Dixie sees a mouse and chases it around the church. He catches the mouse in his mouth and carefully puts it down in front of the preacher. When the mouse tries to escape, Winn-Dixie quickly puts his paw on the mouse's tail. The preacher prays that the mouse lands on a soft spot of grass and the he throws it out of the church.

Ancient Greek Design by A.P. too! 

Ancient Greek Design by A.P. 

Matthew Marsh is back with A-Ha Racing Porsche

Matthew Marsh will defend his Porsche Infineon Carrera Cup Asia title in 2005 driving once again for A-Ha Racing. Champion Marsh said "Obviously it's great to be back in the region's premier racing series," ahead of this weekend's official test sessions in Sepang, Malaysia.

Matthew Marsh in the coffee-coloured A-Ha Porsche takes the lead off the startline in Macau in 2004. Photo: Pete Webber.

Last year Matthew took four victories and won the championship by three points. "It was very close! I enjoyed the pressure actually; it's nice to be so focussed on something. I can only imagine 2005 will be much harder. Rizal Ramli had some bad luck last year which cost him points; Johnny Cocker is coming over from the UK to give us a hard time; Darryl O'Young has just returned from racing in some Carrera Cup races in New Zealand. And this is without considering Nattavude who is always, always, a serious contender."
"It's also fabulous to stay with A-Ha. The racing was very successful in 2004 but more importantly Uni-President made great strides in establishing the coffee brand across China. I think we can do even better this year."

Toronto Star Mind Map by K.C.G. 

Because of Winn Dixie Poetry

Winn-Dixie

Funny, Sad

Expecting, Exciting, Explaining

Good Book With Laughing

Chasing, Looking, Helping

Happy, Animals

Opal

By N.S. 2


Winn Dixie
Interesting
Never Sad
Friendly

Dog
Likes littmus lozenges
Exciting
Likes peanut butter
Smiles so hard he sneezes

By N.S.1

Winn-Dixie

intelligent, interesting

sneezing, licking, playing

Stop barking at me!

jumping, scratching, exploring

furry, young

dog

By S.K.

Lone Star for the Kinkster

Kinky Friedman announces run for governor of Texas. Why the hell not?
My favourite quote is Kinky saying of his old band, Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys, thank god we didn't have any hits - "We'd be playing Disneyland with the Pips."
After fronting a country band and writing a bunch of detective novels the governor's mansion should be a breeze.

Urban sundown

We've had the early morning snow shot so here is an early evening one taken an hour or so ago here in Toronto.

More Sark

I'm not always in agreement with Simon Jenkins at The Times but three cheers to this on the Cutty Sark. In the words of William Least Heat-Moon "Beware the government-sponsored tourist site." His comments about the National Trust as a producer-driven organisation also struck a chord.

Three is a crowd

There has been talk in the papers here of the dire consequences of having a TV in the bedroom - do you want Peter Mansbridge in your bedroom cried one pundit?
For those not in-the-know PM reads the nightly news on CBC and is the acknowledged frontman of Canadian TV.



This reminded me that he posed for his photograph with yours truly at a CBC gig in Toronto back in 2002. The camera never lies.

Ten things We Know About Winn-Dixie, by C.W.R.

1. He was found in a grocery store called Winn-Dixie.
2. He likes to eat peanut butter and Littmus Lozenges.
3. He likes to smile at people a lot.
4. He has brown eyes and brown fur with bald spots.
5. He likes to lie down and listen to stories
6. He is afraid of thunderstorms.
7. He doesn't like baths.
8. He goes to church with Opal.
9. He makes friends easily
10. He likes to sleep on a bed and sit on a couch like people do.