Spring forward

This is us in Toronto, today, on the first day of spring - it's minus 3 with fresh snow and more expected. Sigh. Luckily, we're Canadian and ready for whatever they throw at us. Including coyotes. Big issue at city council today - how to deal with the coyotes who live in downtown Toronto.

To those of you who think I spend my life listening to CBC radio and sobbing - I have not cried once today. Well, a bit, but that was because my eyes are red and irritated, I think by the wind. The pharmacist at Shopper's recommended drops called Refresh. I thought of that great button on the computer - how in life, sometimes, we want to hit the Refresh button and start again. Can't do it with life. But at least I will try to refresh my poor eyes. Or ... is this just aging? Something else dropping through the floor?

Speaking of CBC - Jian did an extraordinary interview yesterday with two sisters, the granddaughters of the head of the Westboro Baptist Church in the States, which is famous as being the most hateful - literally, full of hate - of any of the fundamentalist American churches. One of the girls was searching for Jews to convert on-line - having been taught that God hates Jews and they need to repent - and encountered the founder of the website Jewlicious. They began a dialogue; the Jew did not take offence at what was said to him, on the contrary, he responded with humour and gravitas, and eventually, this young girl had an amazing revelation - if the Bible and Jesus speak about forgiveness and love, why was the church run by her parents and grandparents preaching hatred and death? (Again, literally - the death penalty for fags, as they put it.) And she and her sister took themselves out of the church, leaving behind their entire lives. The friendship with Mr. Jewlicious continues.

What courage. What one sweet man with a sense of humour can do on Twitter. And then an article in the Star today - the singer Michelle Shocked has become born-again, and recently shocked crowds at a concert with a rant against homosexuality. Apparently she said that gay marriage would end the world and "God hates fags," a line taken directly from the Westboro Baptist Church. Funny - they lost two of their own but gained Michelle Shocked.

Oh for Jon Stewart and his team's take on this. On the new Pope. On Obama in Israel and everything. Going through serious, painful Jon withdrawal. When, O Lord, will we get him back?

PS Just looked it up. He's back March 25. There is a god. And she LOVES Jews.