It snowed two feet overnight. Hundreds of songbirds came up from the valley to feed at the ever-overflowing birdfeeders. (I had to wear snowshoes to make it to the feeders this morning!) The birds love the bowl-shaped feeders (made from hard-shelled gourds) on top of the fence. 
An excellent entertainment center for furry goofballs.
I've been quiet for weeks. Usually it's because I don't have anything interesting to say, but this time is a little different. Soon there will be some distillations into meaningful blog content, but just so you know, here are the things I'm immersed in:
I've got this big hairy book deadline so I'm sequestered until further notice. And since writing stresses the metabolism, eating is a frequent and carbohydrate-enabled event. (The best thing about January in Canada is that the grocery stores bring in tiny containers of fresh basil, so you can close your eyes and pretend you're in Livorno.)
ToolGirl.com and "A Repair to Remember" got a mention in an article on trends in DIY, featured in today's Wall Street Journal. And guess who else got a plug? Canadian entrepreneur Marissa McTasney, creator of Tomboy Trades - the company that brought you the cutting-edge line of pink,red,green and blue women's work boots!
Other mentions:
Gear
Tomboy Tools
Barbara K!
GirlGear
Books
Dare to Repair
Dare to Repair Your Car
Web Goddesses
Be Jane
Home Depot's new Project Store opens today in Richmond Hill and yesterday I got an official press tour from Regional VP Jeff Kinnaird and Frank Turco, the Home Depot's Decor and Colour Trends expert.
The store is pretty hot. Also, the donuts were good. It's important for journalists to carbohydrate load prior to a store tour.
By the way, the photo above is the huge new workshop area in the store. Plus there are electronic kiosks all over the place where you can print instructions for over 400 DIY projects, and there are even call boxes if you hit a spousal impasse when trying to choose carpet or siding, or if you're baffled about plumbing and need to summon a sales associate. 
Vast open spaces abound, especially in the design and decor areas. Parts of the store are hardly recognizable as the Home Depot, although the orange decorating theme helps to keep you oriented.
And the tool corral is no stuffy, closed off area for burly types; it's wide open and airy and every tool is lovingly displayed so you can get your hands on it and palpate its features.
TIP: This store even carries the hot new Ryobi Lithium Ion kit ($349), which is harder and harder to find as people scarf 'em up for Christmas.
The Home Depot Project Store, the first of its kind in North America, is located in Richmond Hill, Ontario at the corner of Elgin Mills and Leslie.
Any guy who can say this about himself...
"If Bob Vila and Larry the Cable Guy had a baby, it would be me."
...sounds like my kind of guy. And Saturday morning I get to be on his show.
Rick's House Radio Show was built to answer all of your home improvement questions. If you've got a question, Rick'll help you figure it out. I'm on board to help him with calls for a couple of hours tomorrow (8-10 Eastern time).
He says he'll learn me how to speak redneck. This is going to be the best day ever.
Rick’s House is heard throughout Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky, and Georgia. If you feel like tunin' in to see how we're gettin' along, you can listen live online. (Choose a username and sign in for access to Rick's show and 180 radio stations across the U.S.) Give us a call with your questions if you get the urge. Maybe you can help me learn Rick how to speak Canuck.
The Tree of Hope was officially lit on Thursday night and I got to sing with the gorgeous Kim Stockwood PLUS the Canadian Children's Opera Chorus AND The Argos (those are the big guys).
Please drop by the Toronto Hilton sometime before January 6 and drink some Lindt hot chocolate to help the Sick Kids Hospital fundraising effort!
I logged 5 more glorious hours in the cherry picker last night installing landscape fixtures at the top of the 50-foot Tree of Hope. When we tested the lights the tree was so bright (7000 bulbs) that Elpis, Goddess of Hope, looked a bit, er, hopeless, or at least invisible up there. Now her bug-screen dress shines, and you can just glimpse her chicken wire corset.
You're welcome to join us tonight (6-8:00p.m.)for the official tree-lighting at the Toronto Hilton. You can gorge on Lindt hot chocolate, be transported by the Canadian Children's Opera Chorus, hang out with some of the Toronto Argonauts and catch a musical performance by the glamorous and peripatetic Kim Stockwood. There's even a special kids' area inside the hotel lobby where young ones can draw their own vision of the Tree of Hope. The Toronto Hilton is at University and Richmond in downtown Toronto.
The Tree of Hope pays tribute to the staff and patients at the Hospital for Sick Children. Here's a sneak peek at the tree - lovely photo by professional photographer Barry Roden.
This is Elpis, Goddess of Hope. She looks substantial but weighs only 6 pounds. She's made of chicken wire and bug screen, with brass wire for hair. I'll tell you the story of her construction another day. But for now, if you click on the these photos you'll be able to see the chicken wire sticking out in various places!
The official lighting of the Tree of Hope is this coming Thursday - even the Sugar Plum Fairy from the National Ballet's Nutcracker will be there to help out.
Don't forget to visit Sick Kids online and make a donation this season! Thanks.
I spent all day Sunday on a crane decorating the Tree of Hope, a gorgeous, 50-foot tall black spruce that's being sponsored by Lindt and Hilton to raise funds for the Hospital for Sick Children. 
(<---That's Gord waving. He let me operate the crane. Once. I wasn't good at it.)
Seventy feet above the sidewalk is a long way up. You just want to hawk a logey on some innocent pedestrian down below. But you don't. That would be wrong. Fun. But wrong.
We needed two cranes working in tandem to attach 1100 silver mylar bows to the tree. The bows were all hand-tied in advance and attached to nylon fishing line by my relatives and friends in a quaint sweatshop atmosphere at my place.
The volunteers successfully tied more than 4000 linear feet of mylar, working until midnight the night before the installation. (That's my cousin Jan working on bow #899 --->)
The Tree of Hope has 266 strings of light on it to represent the 266 kids who are staying at Sick Kids on any given day. The nearly 7,000 clear white bulbs represent the full-time staff. The bows represent the 1,071 funded research projects taking place at the hospital.
And at the very top of the tree is a sculpture of Elpis, the goddess of hope. I made her out of chicken wire and bug screen. I know, sounds hideous. I'll post pictures of her dramatic installation tomorrow.
Mag Ruffman: How Hard Can It Be?
My book is now available all over the U.S. - full of ribaldry and cool projects. If you read this book, you'll wind up both inspired and fearless, or at least entertained.
