Funny Picture

The @HondaIndy race track is ringed by snow right now but in a few short months the double header IZOD IndyCar race will fill Exhibition Place with the roar of finely tuned racing machines. I love the way it starts with construction crews bringing the tonnes of concrete barriers and kilometres of safety fence and setting them in place along the track. Off track will have stacks of steel piping and wooden sheets that go into building the many viewing stands. Getting the cars ready to race with warm-ups and qualification runs will be compressed as headline races will take place on both Saturday and Sunday. That means there will be a lot less prep time and more pressure as the starting flag drops twice on the course in the July 12-14, 2013 weekend. The Dr Pepper crew take their time with a tire change during practice in the photo at top.
Qualifications start on Free Friday with three rounds of eliminations which will produce the Firestone Fast Six drivers for the standing start Saturday race. New qualifications on Saturday will then be used for placement during Sunday's rolling start race.

I don't want winter to go away - just warm up a whole bunch and stop with the white flakes that are all slippery like on the ground. Yeah, if you could just make winter so that it is more like spring, yeah that would be good. Spring flowers can soon be found in the 17th Annual Canada Blooms coming up March 15 to 24, 2013, considerably ahead of the April showers which will bring the real May flowers.
"Ah, Spring! The most awaited for season. After our long Canadian winters, we look forward to the warmth of the sun, and clear days. We shed our layers, feel active, and light hearted. With Spring comes revival, rejuvenation, romanticism, growth, hope, beauty, colour, and gardening, at last! Come explore and celebrate The Magic of Spring at Canada Blooms in March!" — Colomba Fuller, Canada Blooms Artistic Director.

Nothing better to make me forget about the winter outside is the Sportsmen's Show happening inside the Exhibition Place Direct Energy Centre. Plus the army is also inside, close by if Mayor Ford wants some taking care of snow business, plus they brought some heavy artillery! The show runs Feb 7-10, 2013.
This show had hunting, fishing, boating, vacations, raptors and owls, dogs, ATVs, snowmobiles and hot tubs. Part of the show was hard to see - because it was in camouflage. They even had frilly camo undies. With over 400 exhibitors under one roof you could get some tips, take advantage of the show specials, visit the climbing wall, kid's rafting, trout ponds, try fly fishing and see birds of prey from the Canadian Peregrine Foundation (CPF).
Saturday, February 9 was water safety day ('be wary of thin ice') with free backpack bags from Ontario Power Generation (OPG) who warn about the dangers of thin ice, especially around hydro dams. Meanwhile at the great outdoors seminar stage there was a full schedule on all days with instruction in all types of fishing styles including angling, fly fishing and trolling. There was also the Fish TV pro fishing seminar stage, the Hunting Hall seminar stage, the Izaak Walkton fly casting seminar stage and the Pro Plan all star dog show.
All types of bows and arrows were available for purchase and if you wanted to try one of the bows there was even an archery test range on site.


See more of the great outdoors, indoor, after the jump.

@HondaIndy #Toronto race owners and management company GSRP promoted some of their own promotions people - it was a clear case of promotion squared. The growing firm from Indianapolis, led by Kim Green and Kevin Savoree, own and operate not only the Honda Indy Toronto but also the Honda Grand Prix of St Petersburg, Mid-Ohio Sports car Course and the Mid-Ohio School. The company appointed Terry Angstadt as President who will continue to grow and look after the performance of the racing properties which feature such motorsports series as the IZOD IndyCAr, Firestone Indy Lights, NASCAR Nationwide Series, AMA Superbike, GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car series, Pirelli World Challenge.

It was a Forrest Gump of watercraft at the @TorontoBoatShow - canoe boats, sailboats, power boats, paddle boats, cruising boats, yacht boats.... You can catch the show and Captain Jack, pictured above at the Sunsail booth, until January 20 at the Direct Energy Centre in Exhibition Place "put some SUMMER in your winter!" Downtown was empty because everyone seemed to be at the boat show, buying boats from the looks of all the SOLD signs.
Diane Reid of One Girl's Ocean Challenge poses with her #175 6.5m open class mini sailboat in the background, above. She will be going on a solo adventure when she crosses the Atlantic Ocean with a race from France to Guadeloupe in October 2013 with seventy to one hundred other sailors.
The race takes over four weeks and takes a lot of courage, skill and the ability to fall asleep while tossing about all alone on the high seas.
Moving from solo sailboats to a high speed powerboat racer is Tammy Wolf, shown above with her red, mercury powered boat.

You could check out all the boats including the big ones - but you generally had to line up and take off your shoes to get onboard. Besides the gigantic showroom floor filled to the gunwhales and the World's largest indoor lake, other areas of the show included Cottage Country and Mariner's Marketplace.
The Marlies rink was waterproofed and filled with over a million gallons of Lake Ontario water and used for boat demonstrations and rides as well as an exciting wakeboarding competition. Rockstar helped to sponsor the Winter Wake Fest and there were a couple of Rockstar ladies in bright pink dresses.

The wakeboard professionals were pulled by an overhead cable system that powered them through the course. There were two jumps set up and one had a Rockstar target high in the air that the boarders would try to hit after going off the jump. They went high in the air and they came down hard with many a spill in the cold water their reward for a not quite so perfect jump.