Traffic Gridlock – A Grip on Gridlock

If you’ve ever tried to take Highway 400 out of the city on a long weekend, you might have noticed that the Greater Golden Horseshoe is growing fast. With an exploding population that is expected to reach over 11 million by 2031, we really need to look forward in planning development for the fastest growing area in Canada. Accommodating new growth with the sprawling low-density developments that are rampant throughout this area will only mean bad things for our quality of life and our environment.

Luckily, Ontario has a Greenbelt, created in response to the uncontrolled sprawl Ontario has seen over the last decade.

In numbers, the Greenbelt is very impressive: it is the largest in the world, protecting over 720,000 hectares of countryside, including agricultural land, wetlands and green space. Read more

Have a Little Faith

When asked where you were on 9-11, your answer will be ready on the tip of your tongue. The memory, no doubt, still swims in your mind, pulsing and stubbornly vivid. But what if you’re asked where God was on the day the Twin Towers fell? Where was goodness? Where was peace? Where was he on the battlegrounds of the world wars, or in the concentration camps of 70 years ago? Is he there in the ghettos that line the dirt roads of Third World countries, or in the home of an abused child? Few know the answers to these questions. The concept of God, of a Higher Power – a symbol of eternal peace, happiness, and fulfillment – contrasts so strikingly with the broken world in which we live in that it’s becoming a terrible challenge to keep faith in our grasp. For many, the idea of having faith seems pointless if you’re serving a faceless God, a God who never seems to appear when he’s needed most. Confronted by the differing faces of religion, many become overwhelmed and surrender to the seemingly Read more

Giro 2012

The crowds are wild. The sky brims blue, and Milan’s rigid, snow-capped mountains are reduced to mere blurs as bicyclist Ryder Hesjedal zooms over the finish line of Giro d’Italia, becoming the first Canadian to ever win the prestigious race.

Across the pond, a pursuit is pulling Vaughan’s citizens to the streets. The air buzzes with excitement as jersey-clad riders make their way to Villa Charities’ fourth annual Giro cycling event. While the crowds aren’t in the millions, and the prize isn’t a swirling golden trophy, community members beam with generous hearts.

Like Hesjedal, it was Nick Sanci’s first time reaching the finish line, and like his fellow Canadian champion, Sanci’s race began long before May 27. Sanci, who belongs to Team Rosehaven, began collecting donations weeks prior to hitting the track, striving to meet Read more

Paralympic Super Athlete – Golden Moments

The buzzer sounds and for three and a half minutes Victoria Nolan pulls on her paddles with all her might, feeling the tension of the water through her arms. A year of intense training has led up to this crucial moment, and soon she’ll have her victory.

“To come out and win gold, you realize that this is what it takes, and it was all worth it,” she says of her and her team’s triumph in the adaptive rowing event at the 2010 World Rowing Championships in New Zealand. She has maintained this philosophy of hard work while training for this year’s adaptive rowing event at the London Paralympics. Dedication and perseverance are common words in Nolan’s vocabulary. Diagnosed with an eye disease at 18, she discovered that she had been gradually losing her eyesight for years. With the birth of her two children accelerating her condition, Nolan was left with three per cent of her vision. As a result, she became Read more

Fears and Phobias – In Fear and Trembling

Sprawled out on a lakeside dock, you revel in the sun as it warms your body. A tall glass of lemonade with crackling ice cubes sits next to you, beckoning another refreshing sip. With a page-turning book in hand, you absorb the words found beyond the lines of everyday life in a faraway land called cottage country. Slightly sensationalized perhaps, but we can all relate to that idyllic sense of escapism that can’t possibly be marred by anything. Right?

For most, this is true, but for some, this seemingly perfect scenario can be curtailed by one itsy bitsy encounter. For the latter group, an eight-legged creature can creep through the cracks and kill the entire experience. In fact, it can go further than that, preventing you from ever putting yourself in situations where the presence of spiders is probable.
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Neece Electrolysis & Lasar Studio

As the summer heat intensifies, so does our desire to look and feel our best. Covering all areas of hair removal and esthetics for over 20 years, Neece Electrolysis founder Angela Martino provides innovative beauty solutions that deliver transformative results. Her newest services include EpilFree, a leading permanent hair reduction treatment that delivers effective results for both men and women. While a combination of natural ingredients work together to effectively inhibit the growth of hair follicles, visible results are experienced after just one session. An alternative depilation procedure, EpilFree gives you the freedom that comes from removing unwanted hair in the summer. “This alternative approach to permanent hair reduction is great for any skin colour and hair types and does not cause skin damage,” says Martino, a certified laser technician and licensed electrologist. “While laser and electrolysis Read more

Picasso at the AGO – The Big Picture of Picasso

The exhibit begins with a small hallway of photographs. Some may bypass the section, but if you stop to look you’ll see Picasso, the man himself. The photographs of the artist featured in the exhibit show an ordinary chap enjoying a day at the beach and a drink with some friends. But it’s the art – the paintings, sculptures, prints and drawings – that reveal the extraordinary talent that was Pablo Picasso.

On May 1st, 2012, Picasso: Masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso, Paris debuted at the AGO in Toronto, the only Canadian venue to receive the touring exhibit, which includes 141 masterpieces from the French museum’s 5,000-piece collection. As the first major Picasso display to land in Toronto since 1964, visitors from across the city have been flocking to the exhibit before it makes its exit on Aug. 26. Read more

Frankie Flowers Gardening Tips – Time to Talk Tomatoes with Frankie Flowers

The taste of a juicy tomato freshly plucked from the garden is one of my favourite summer-gardening moments. Undoubtedly the world’s most popular fruit grown in the vegetable garden, tomatoes come in all shapes, colours, sizes and flavours. From cherry tomatoes, slicers and plum tomatoes, to colours of red, yellow and purple – believe it or not, all require the same growing conditions. Here are some quick tips to get your perfect tomato garden growing this summer.

Make Them Feel Hot, Hot, Hot
Tomatoes like it hot and sunny, requiring at least six (but ideally eight) hours of direct sunlight – preferably in the afternoon – for optimum growth. The hottest summers produce the best tomatoes.

Feed Your Soil
Whether planted in the ground or in a pot, tomatoes require rich and
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King Brewery – Bottoms-Up

Nothing beats a cold beer on a hot summer day. The thin layer of foam capping a frosty mug; the refreshing, hoppy taste kissing your lips and fighting off the relentless heat – it’s a welcome relief from the sweltering midday sun. Indeed, beer is the go-to drink for many Canadians, especially when the summer hits. But while we’re quick to grab a two-four from the big -name brands, a little exploration cracks open a world of novel beers and rarely experienced flavours, courtesy of local craft breweries.

Phil DiFonzo, brew master at Nobelton’s King Brewery, feels the palate of Canadian beer drinkers is evolving towards flavour-forward blends that deliver more than just inebriation. “There’s a beer drinker out there that thinks the best beer is the cheapest beer,” he says, explaining how many shop with an as-many-beer-for-as-cheap-as-possible attitude. However, that breed is dying. “We’re now getting
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Butcher Shop – A Job Well Done

John Zagaria nods towards a black and white photo hanging by the register in his Vaughan butcher shop, Dolce Lucano. “That’s my father, Rocco,” he says, pointing to a youthful face standing behind a slain cow. He’s surrounded by a handful of beaming family members posing in a dilapidated, old-world setting – conditions that simply wouldn’t cut it by today’s strict sanitation standards. “That’s as crude as it gets,” Zagaria adds as he gazes fondly at the roots of his craft.

Much has certainly changed since Zagaria’s father first learned how to wield the weighty cleaver that was once a standard tool of the butcher’s trade. That cumbersome blade – one only the brawny, dexterous hands of a master could brandish – is proudly displayed as Zagaria’s business logo. It’s both a nostalgic mark of the art’s evolution, and the time-honoured traditions that made butchers such integral parts of the community.
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