Stephen Harper in the closet

Hooray for Ireland and its vote on gay marriage! Not a surprise, given the kindness and generosity of the Irish. Though they've been under the thumb of the Catholic church for so long, it is incredible how fast they've freed themselves.

Waiting for some of my family to arrive. Sam's Mother's Day present to his sister and me is to take Eli off her hands and over to my house where he'll cook. So she gets a break and I get my grandson and dinner. Deal.

Visited Annie yesterday, the first of my close friends to downsize - she and her husband recently sold their family house and moved to a rented condo right on Queen East. It's lovely, bright and in the perfect location; we walked along the seawall surrounded by hundreds jogging, rollerblading, sunbathing, playing beach volleyball - like another Toronto entirely.

Saturday was Eli's actual birthday party, and once again, I take my hat off to my daughter, who's a lunatic but a wonderful one. By the time I left, exhausted, there were in her backyard at least 15 children under the age of ten and their parents - relatives, friends, neighbours, with ever more arriving. The kids were all busy with various activities, and Anna fed everyone. Eli was swimming in gifts and two birthday cakes. He is a lucky boy. Apparently, speaking of lucky, Anna's 3 best friends cleaned up.

Bruce just sent me this picture - me arriving in Rome last year. I'd flown from Paris to Rome and taken the subway from the airport into the city, to find him waiting on the platform. How happy I was to see him!

 

And - here's the best political cartoon of recent days. For those of you not in this country, our esteemed Prime Minister, when an armed gunman broke into Parliament, ran into a broom closet to hide. And now, in the run up to our national election, he has refused to participate in most debates.

That sums him up. Have any of you noticed I don't like him? Very perceptive of you.