All The Very Latest Transfer Gossip, With The Transfer Window Opening In Just 12 hours

It's New Years Eve, at least here in the UK right now, and the temperature is rising rapidly in the world of football - as speculation on where some footballers might be plying their trade in 2010 will come to light from tomorrow onwards, as a month of transfer activity officially begins!

Arsenal, Liverpool, Bayern Munich, Tottenham, Manchester City, Crystal Palace, Inter Milan, Barcelona, Wigan, Bari, Stoke, Real Madrid, Everton, Sporting Gijon, Aston Villa, Borussia Monchengladbach, Chelsea, Atletico Madrid, Manchester United, Moucron, Fiorentina, West Ham, Sporting Lisbon, Lyon, Auxerre, Portsmouth, Valencia, Wolves, Blackburn, Besiktas, Derby, Forest, Birmingham, Middlesbrough, Lorient, Newcastle, Leeds, Burnley, QPR, Ipswich, Sheffield United, West Brom and Swindon are all caught up in the transfer gossip as we speak.

Is your club involved?

Here is a round up:

Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini will move for Liverpool trio Fernando Torres, Javier Mascherano and Steven Gerrard if the Reds finish outside the top four in the Premier League this season and are forced to sell their superstars - The Sun

City boss Roberto Mancini is close to making Inter Milan defender Ivan Cordoba his first signing at Eastlands - Daily Telegraph

Chelsea are set to smash the British transfer record with a £40m swoop for Valencia striker David Villa - Daily Express

Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness has rejected claims a deal has already been struck to sell Franck Ribery to Real Madrid in the summer for a fee of around £49m - German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung

Liverpool have held preliminary talks with Crystal Palace about signing highly-rated teenager Victor Moses - Daily Star

Ruud van Nistelrooy's wages have scared off Blackburn but Liverpool can just about run to the £87,500 a week he wants to leave Real Madrid - The Guardian

Everton manager David Moyes hopes to sign 17-year-old midfielder Maxime Lestienne from Belgian side Moucron - Daily Mail

Manchester United will move to bring in a goalkeeper with Lyon's Hugo Lloris their target, but not at the current £20m asking price - The Guardian

Manchester City have made an enquiry about signing £6m-rated Bari defender Leonardo Bonucci - Daily Mail

Aston Villa have joined Liverpool and Tottenham in the chase for West Ham midfielder Scott Parker, who could be available for around £8m - The Guardian

Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez wants to take Argentina winger Maxi Rodriguez on loan from Atletico Madrid, while out-of-favour Reds forward Ryan Babel is set to reject moves to Fiorentina and Besiktas - Daily Mail

Birmingham are ready to rival Wolves in the £3million chase for Aston Villa defender Craig Gardner - Express & Star

Leeds striker Jermaine Beckford has put a £2m move to Newcastle on hold so he can help his side try to upset Manchester United in the FA Cup on Sunday - Daily Mirror

Wigan have confirmed they have agreed a loan deal for Sporting Lisbon goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic - Sky Sports

Middlesbrough boss Gordon Strachan is planning a £3m bid for Leeds striker Robert Snodgrass - The Sun

Portsmouth have invited Manchester City to make an offer for their £8m-rated defender Younes Kaboul - Daily Mirror

Sporting Gijon have no plans to sell highly-rated midfielder Michel during the January transfer window. The 24-year-old has been strongly linked with a New Year switch, with in-form Premier League outfit Birmingham City reported to be interested - Sky Sports

Wolves are weighing up a £1.5m bid for Derby County winger Kris Commons - Express & Star

Mick McCarthy wants Sheffield United contract rebel Matthew Kilgallon to come to Molineux but faces a test in prising him away from the Blades - Express & Star

Arsenal are monitoring QPR's 15-year-old "wonderkid" Raheem Sterling and Arsene Wenger will do his best to stop Jack Wilshere joining Burnley on loan, following injuries to Cesc Fábregas and Denilson - The Guardian

Everton manager David Moyes hopes to sign 17-year-old midfielder Maxime Lestienne from Belgian side Moucron - Daily Mail

Wigan have made a shock move to sign Ivory Coast centre half Steve Gohouri from German side Borussia Monchengladbach - Daily Mirror

West Brom have struck an agreement with Auxerre with Auxerre to bring in defender Gabriel Tamas on loan. The Championship side were linked with a move for the Romanian in the summer and are now set to recruit him on a deal until the end of the season - Sky Sports

Sheffield United striker Jamie Ward is set to sign a new deal despite interest from West Brom - Daily Mirror

Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini has admitted that he would welcome the opportunity to bring Inter Milan defender Maicon to Eastlands - Sky Sports

Derby, Nottingham Forest and Ipswich are all chasing in-form Swindon striker Charlie Austin - Daily Mirror

Burnley, meanwhile, are close to agreeing terms with Algeria's captain, Yazid Mansouri. A bid of £1m should persuade Lorient to let the midfielder strut his stuff Turf Moor - The Guardian

2009 Retrospective from Powell River Books

2009 was a great year for Wayne, me, and Powell River Books. Here are a few exciting moments:

January - After the holidays at our beloved float cabin on Powell Lake, we returned to Los Angeles to finally sell our condo and pull up stakes. Driving a rented U-Haul we took our remaining possessions north.

February - February 11 was the first anniversary of our Canadian permanent residency. We may be Americans by birth, but we're Canadians by choice. An extended visit with my mom in Bellingham included some fun flying trips in 997.

March - March brought some pretty rough storms with the CCGC Cape Caution on full alert. Our float cabin was highlighted on Kent Griswold's Tiny House Blog and we shared the "Top 10 Reasons to Visit Powell River" in the spring.

April - Spring is a good time to go quad riding and for garden planting. My most popular blog post was about planting potatoes in a barrel. Wayne is in "Nirvana" playing with his new remote control sailboat.

May - Plants, animals and insects are reveling in the warming weather. Small brown bats arrive to live under our roof. We move our Bayliner from it's winter lake home to raft up in Lund for the cruising season. Wayne's first science fiction book Echo of a Distant Planet is released.

June - My floating garden starts to produce lots of tasty veggies. John and Mr. Hat come to visit us and we share the "Top 10 Reasons to Visit Powell River" in the summer. We take the Bayliner for a cruise and back in the States we go airplane camping on Orcas Island.

July - Mom joins us to enjoy the warm summer sun at our cabin. Wayne helps with Aerospace Camp, we host a Star Party and PRB has a booth at the Texada Airport Fly-in. Wayne and I embark on our first Canadian trip since discovering Powell River in 2000.

August - Our camping by airliner trip takes us by rental car from Montreal through New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and by ferry to Newfoundland. Back home I try canning for the first time, we host a Star Party and move the Bayliner back up the lake for a cruise to the Head.

September - We stuff our woodshed while everything is dry. Wayne helps John with his new cabin and lets everyone know the "Top 10 Reasons to Visit Powell River" in the fall. Coastal BC Stories are ready for Kindle and science fiction Inbound to Earth is released.

October - Our tin boat gets a much needed replacement engine. It's bread baking time and I try canning spiced apples. We're both going to get fat if I'm not careful. Fall colours make Powell Lake beautiful and Wayne continues to help John with his new cabin.

November - Off to Oregon for USC football. The wood stove is going and we get ready to install our new thermoelectric generator. Heavy winds make us appreciate our chimney cap and anchor cable shock absorbers. PRB is again honoured at the Horizon Business Awards in the tourism category.

December - The "Top 10 Reasons to Visit Powell River" in winter was aimed at Olympics visitors, but I hope my favourite sign along the Sunshine Coast wasn't a victim to the "say nothing negative" campaign. Mom joined us for the holidays and we got to spend some cherished time up the lake.

The PRB blog had over 27,500 visitors this year. Thank you for being one of them. It's been great and I've had fun sharing it with you. Wayne and I wish you and your family a happy new year. May it bring you peace, love and contentment. -- Margy

Number 10 Barcelona Leonel Andres Messi

Leonel Andres Messi

Number 8 Barcelona Xavi Hernandez

Xavi Hernandez

Goal celebration with matador team mate

Oh Christmas Tree!

By Laurie Todd, Education Specialist

Christmas trees go a long way in the Interpretive Center! Two fresh, new trees provided weeks of enrichment to the wide array of animal ambassadors in the Education Department. Snakes, turtles, tortoises, and lizards love to rub and smell the new scents that pine trees provide.

Our parrots and hawks love to rip the branches apart and hide in the trees. Even the Bobcat and African serval enjoy rubbing and marking on the trees. They also provide great enrichment to the Zoo keepers in the area because now the Interpretive Center smells like Christmas!

As a bonus, here is a parrot in a pumpkin!

Number 10 Inter Milan Wesley Sneijder

Wesley Sneijder wearing number 10 T-shirt in Inter Milan

Sneijder celebrating his goal

Sneijder on Netherland national team

Sneijder celebrating with elcapitano Zanetti

Jubilant Sneijder for his goal

Santa's Beard?

On Christmas Day, Wayne and I went for a quad ride. Our destination was the nearby Blue Trail. Along the way, I saw something very unusual. Periodically, along the side of the trail, I saw what looked like the most amazingly white, fine moss. From the seat of my bike, it looked like pieces of Santa's beard strewn across the forest floor. It was growing on small sticks by the side of the trail and on larger fallen trunks further into the bush. I stopped to take some pictures.

Wayne came up to see what I was doing. He touched the "moss" and said, "Silly, that's just snow." I touched it, and sure enough it was cold and crumbled instantly. It didn't look or feel like snow, what could it be?

When we went to our friends Dave and Marg's house for Christmas dinner, I asked them. They said it was frost and it was found typically on alder sticks and trunks, especially ones that had fallen earlier in the year. Of course, I Googled it when I got home and here is what I found.

I wasn't too far off thinking it looked like Santa's beard. It's called a frost beard. That's a form of a frost flower. Dave told us how water gets under the bark of fallen alder trees and branches. It is then squeezed through the pores in the stick and bark into long thin strings of ice that make it look uncannily like a white beard. Dave says he's only seen in on alder in our area. Here's an interesting video by Country Scientist on YouTube of how frost flowers and beards are formed. I'm just glad it wasn't the result of reindeer gone wild! -- Margy

Boats, Floats and Mountain Goats

Last week Wayne, John and I celebrated the break in rainy weather and the lengthening days with a boat trip to the Head of Powell Lake.

Powell Lake is a glacial carved fjord that filled with fresh water after the end of the ice age, trapping salt water from the ancient ocean at the bottom. It's a big lake that's 51 kilometres (32 miles) long with 480 kilometres (300 miles) of shoreline.

Like all fjords, the rocky walls are steep. While most are covered with trees, there are some bare outcroppings. These areas are home to Mountain Goats. From a distance they stand out as small white dots on the moss covered rocks. This time of year they are easier to see. The snow level has pushed them lower on the cliffs, just about 120 metres (400 feet) above the water level.

This trip we saw a group of four followed by a single goat in a separate location.

The days are short, so we had to leave the Head after lunch and a quick hike along the logging road. Then we skirted around the empty logging booms on our way down the lake.

We would have liked more time to explore, but the short winter day made us hurry on our way. -- Margy

Rafael van der Vaart Photo Gallery

Rafael van der Vaart Photo Gallery

Rafael Ferdinand van der Vaart, he was born 11 February 1983. He is a Dutch footballer who currently plays for La Liga club Real Madrid and the Netherlands national team. His preferred position is central midfield as playmaker but is capable of operating on both sides of the midfield. Van der Vaart began his career at Ajax's famous youth academy and worked his way into the first team debuting as a 17-year-old. He switched to Bundesliga side Hamburg before moving on to La Liga giants Real Madrid. (wikipedia)

Eco-Tuning: Tommy Kaira Spruces Up 2010 Toyota Prius Hybrid

Just in time for next month's Tokyo Auto Salon 2010, Japanese tuning house Tommy Kaira has finalized its aero and performance offerings for the latest generation Toyota Prius hybrid. We've been following the development of Tommy Kaira's sports package since September when the company released a set computer enhanced images, but now we've got the real deal.

Exterior appointments come in the form of new alloy wheels in sizes 16- and 18-inches, and an aggressive aero kit with parts that are available in carbon fiber, painted in the same color as the car or in a matte black finish.

The bodykit includes a front spoiler, grille trim, decorative trim for the front bumper, side skirts, roof spoiler and a rear apron with an integrated diffuser that houses four tail pipes.

Tires and alloys aside, performance mods are limited to a new brake system, a sports suspension that brings the car a few centimeters closer to the ground and a sports exhaust system.

Other available upgrades include illuminated Toyota logos, a sports steering wheel, specific floor mats, and HID and LED lights.