DOG DAZE

CLUB (MONACO) SANDWICHES

Dropped by the grand opening of the CM (as in Club Monaco) Market at the flagship shop at 157 Bloor St. at Avenue Road, which will be open seven days a week through September 3. It’s a farmer’s market so you can load up on local coffee, flowers, artisanal baked goods, ice cream and salads -- preferably after you have fondled the clothing and accessories inside so you don’t drip gooey stuff over the white linens.

A selection of the yummy sandwiches courtesy of Delica Kitchen.

Theatre producer/p.r. Grant Ramsay, my plus one, who is as handsome as any model/mannequin and still has a good head on his shoulders.

 As my dermatologist keeps reiterating, the cheapest no-brainer items for great, youthful skin are sunblock and a hat. Here is a wall of chapeau at Club Monaco.

Me and stylist Wendy Natale, who has just returned from a gig in the Yukon. I am decked out in a baseball jacket I bought at Topshop last year that easily passes for vintage. It is all about thrifting for me now. Gone are the halcyon days when I blew hundreds of bucks on a blouse; funny how perceptions and pocketbooks change. In fact, I balked at paying $59 for a new Diane Von Furstenberg T-shirt dress at my local Kind Exchange recently. Call me when it’s $10. Hey, I scored a pair of brand new black leather Gap jeans for $10 – and they were even lined. Gazinga!

Aside from Grant, the person with the best head of hair at the event had to be this lovely young creature with über dreds.

It was a white-out. There were innumerable installations of white apparel including a linen mini dress/tunic priced over $400. Say what? It makes me hyperventilate. In the first place, I cannot drop that kind of money on a white garment. Any red wine in the general vicinity would find its way all down the front of it immediately if not sooner. Imagine what it would look like after laundering – just another wrinkly schmatta. 

The back of a fabulous baseball jacket spotted on the stairs of Club Monaco. I was informed that it was from Zara. The stairs were previously lined with buckets of flowers free for the taking. Alas, I cannot have cut flowers at home. Our intrepid cat Sammy Davis Jr. Jr. snacks on them.

One of the casual onlookers outside the opening-party festivities displaying his own inimitable street style.

SHADES OF GREY COUNTY

Back to Grey County last weekend to catch up with my longtime/longsuffering pals Linda Reader, economic development and marketing consultant, and Janine Fawcett, an entertainment and consumer p.r. consultant specializing in media relations and owner of J9 Communications and Right Channel Speakers bureau. A lot of wine has flowed during our reunions. Linda has a farm in Flesherton, Janine lives in Owen Sound and no one operates heavy farm machinery.

Linda Reader shopping for flora for her window boxes at Maxwell Garden Center in Maxwell, Ontario, owned and operated by Mennonite couple Ezra and Esther Martin. The selection of plant life is exceptional. I even schlepped some home.

A display of greenery at Home Accents Emporium, an oasis of chic and cheerful home decor improbably located in the middle of nowhere at 115 Wellington Street in Feversham, Ontario which is literally a one-street town.

Home Accents, owned by two expats from Oakville, has a “Tippy Canoe” Canadiana gift shop section that is like Roots lodge, featuring such goodies as a moose pillow and raccoon hassock. Moose and squirrel are probably sequestered somewhere too.

Meanwhile down the highway in Nottawa there’s Dovetail Interiors at 21 Hurontario Street South, which was formerly a Hudson’s Bay trading post. Up in those rafters, they used to hang furs for auction. Now they hang cool merchandise, ranging from jewelry to rugs.

A shoe painting in the sale section at Dovetail. I lusted after it but have no available wall space left. Hmmm, I could always piggy back it.

I could have spent the entire afternoon at Hughes “loved again clothing consignment” shop at 231 Hurontario St. in Collingwood run by Jacqueline Hughes. The boutique has only been open four months but has ample and well-appointed stock, way better than many thrift shops in Toronto.

Jacqueline has a background in interior design and it shows in her displays. This  shelving for shoes is repurposed from old doors.

I had chick pea frites at Huron Club in Collingwood for lunch. Who knew they made frites out of chick peas? They looked like Captain Highliner’s fish sticks but were extremely yummy.

Vintage wedding head gear in an old-timey display case at the Owen Sound Artists Co-op Inc., which has relocated to a former department store.  

SIGNS OF THE TIMES

In my perambulations about town, I stumble across traffic-stopping signage. Here are four that caught my wandering eye:

The advert for a discount perfumery at Bloor and Main Street. Note that they stock everything from J.Lo to Verscae, not to be confused to Versace.

Now here’s what I call the breakfast of champions and/or death by carbs. At a fast-food emporium at Grace and Bloor, you can scarf down pizza, fries and Fat Coke for $5. No wonder we are breeding a generation of diabetics.

Kale is dead. Long live the new power vegetable, "Aragula".

Forget air guitar. They apparently don't use scissors in this long-standing Beach barber shop.