There's a spot halfway between Castle Frank and Broadview Station on the Bloor-Danforth TTC line that takes my breath away. I'm guilty of being an east sider, so every time I pass over the Don River on the Bloor Street Viaduct, a little part of me freezes inside and prays for the train to stall. It's the same feeling I used to get on the Skyride floating up Grouse Mountain in Vancouver. I suppose what gets me is the way urban and natural vistas spread out before you and both the city and nature mix together like the organic ingredients of the best chocolate cake you've ever tasted.

It also happens to be the greatest and safest spot in Toronto to pick up a can and paint for all to see. Call it the largest, most trafficked canvas in the city.

With the sad deaths of Toronto DJ Martin Streek and former Member of Parliament Dave Batters in the news recently, there's certainly more room for an honest discussion about mental illness. Often, the only time we reveal our own true psychological well-being is during crisis, tragedy or emergency.

Whether you know it or not, an organized effort among consumer/survivors to eschew the stigma of mental illness is constantly ongoing. Like other medical conditions, there are advocates who push for better understanding and a stronger organized movement towards change and hope as core elements of health management.

That's where MAD! Pride comes in.

Shuttered restaurants and abandoned storefronts continue to transform as summer progresses. In Little Italy, the space formerly housing the disappointing Arthurs is finally showing signs of life. The recently unveiled liquor license application signage at 501 College Street portends the soon-to-be-debuting French-minded Les Fauves.

With summer officially here, a number of new businesses are clamoring to open while the weather is good. At the corner of Queen and Broadview, Sushi Bar takes over in the space formerly occupied by SOMA Restaurant and Lounge. It seems that in a matter of months Riverside has gone sushi-mad as Sushi Bar joins the almost open Sushi District as the new competition in the 'hood challenging the much loved Sushi Marche.

Shh...quick, need to fill a condo? Honours for the newest deadpool entry go to yet another shop likely crushed by the massive glut of prices in housing. Despite the Ontario government offering last week a new provincial tax break for homes under $400,000, that's not likely going to affect any business on the cusp of closing nor probably foster any sort of change in the mindset of older business owners pondering closing up and moving on.

Local furniture importer Rumah at 668 Queen Street West is pulling up roots after 30 years in Toronto under owner Judy Stevens.