The Junction Arts Festival, in it's 16th year and running through Sunday, showcased Junction native Justin Rutledge Friday night and welcomes multi award winner David Usher tonight. Galleries are set up in local businesses throughout the one kilometre stretch of Dundas between Keele and Quebec.

The arts programming features Canadians and Torontonians alike, and is worth a visit on its own. The festival, expanded to five days this year with art, music, movies and more, showcases a variety of homegrown - Junction - musicians.

Friday night's headliner Justin Rutledge drew both locals and loyal followers alike, and the free David Usher show tonight promises to bring an even fuller house.

Donning a chef coat and serving up great food six nights a week is no easy task, but mild-mannered chef Rocco Agostino, owner of Silver Spoon in Roncesvalles, does it with creativity and dedication. Chef Agostino, who is celebrating 8 years with Silver Spoon, loves being in the kitchen, using Ontario's finest ingredients and watching diners in his restaurant enjoy their meals.

With strong family roots in the far south of Italy, it's hard for the chef to keep Italy out of his food, but his French technique and worldly tastes make Silver Spoon a seasonal food restaurant more than anything else. His love of Italy, though, and its pizza, led him to help a friend open the new Pizzeria Libretto, where you can find some of the finest brick oven pizzas outside Napoli.

I joined Chef Agostino recently to talk about what makes good food, where he gets his inspiration and whether he'd like to have his own tv show.

Several hundred supporters at the Empire Lounge in Toronto cheered loudly last night, as Barack Obama delivered a powerful speech from Invesco Field in Denver. As 80,000 gathered around Obama, Democrats Abroad in Toronto joined countless thousands around the world to watch the speech live, cheering and applauding as if Obama could hear them.

Obama earned rousing cheers from the crowd repeatedly, perhaps none more loud than after blasting opponent John McCain for being out of touch with everyday Americans. "It's not because John McCain doesn't care," Obama said. "It's because John McCain doesn't get it."

In their effort to equip 100% of Toronto's buses with bike racks by 2010, the TTC has announced that beginning Sunday, 19 more bus routes will become bicycle friendly. This will bring the fleet of bike rack equipped buses to 43.

What started as a pilot project a couple years ago, with just a few select (mostly north-south) routes, is now expanding to be an option accessible to riders in many parts of the city, heading in any direction. Although bikes are allowed on all TTC vehicles, the bus bicycle racks are the only option during the rush periods.

Unless you've got a friend with a pickup willing to make a few trips or you're hiring professionals, come moving day it's time to turn to the rental truck. U-Haul, Budget, and Discount seem to have the personal moving market blanketed, but Penske and Ryder have locations too.

The appeal of do-it-yourself moving is purely economical; renting a truck is cheaper than hiring a moving company. And instead of using the fuel efficient four-wheeler to get the job done, a rental truck offers the opportunity to get the whole ordeal of moving over and done with. And the last time I checked, mattresses don't fit in cars.

I've come to the conclusion that the names Discount and Budget aren't really a reflection of pricing, but that at least U-Haul is honest with theirs: you will definitely do all the hauling.

A pillar of the Roncesvalles Polish community, Warmia Deli closed its doors Monday. This local gem is the latest family run Polish business in Roncesvalles to close up shop, and I doubt a Polish deli will replace it.

Although there are still plenty of options up and down the street to get pierogies, pickles or packzi, Warmia's offerings were particularly notable. For those who venture out of Roncesvalles for Polish, though, all is not lost.