Yes, it has been hot in Toronto this week (over 37 degrees plus humidity) but that is true all over the continent except for the west coast, where we’ve scarcely had the opportunity to remove our winter jackets.

I went for a 20 minute stroll, not too fast. Here is what I found on the sidewalk – a traditional demonstration of the temperature.

Then last night we surprised Younger Brother at dinner with a birthday cake. Given the heat, we had earlier gone to an ice cream store and quickly reached unanimity on which one to buy.

To protect his privacy I won’t tell you what his name is.

In case you are wondering, like me*, who the Green Lantern is, apparently that is the shared alias of several comic book heroes, the first of which appeared in 1940. A 2011 movie has resurrected him for the umpteenth time. If you are otherwise inclined, intellectually, you might be interested in The Green Lantern Theory of Geopolitics.

How old is Younger Brother? Older brother and I had a slight disagreement on whether to put that on the cake. Suffice it to say that he was born AFTER the first Green Lantern, but he is old enough to drink the wine on the table. He was complaining about not receiving recognition on my blog, so here it is!

We found a package of sparklers among the birthday candles (of which there were not enough) and a good time was had by all.

* Grammar alert – This usage demonstrates last week’s discussion. The correct use would be “like I” with “am” unspoken at the end. However, Fowler allowed that the “like me” usage was generally sanctioned. The curious thing is that misguided people would probably say it correctly in the case of “like you and I” but incorrectly in “give it to John and I.”