My Uncle Wendell, and our last remaining elder on my side of the family, turned 90 today. We were fortunate to have a small celebration for him this Sunday past in Hunter River and published a short notice in the Guardian – a notice in the Guardian seems to be of particular importance to his generation.

I didn’t have a particularly hard youth, but summers working on his farm, throwing bales of hay in blazing heat high up in a loft, taught me the privilege of choosing a different less arduous path. A staunch Liberal since birth, his biggest thrill today was no doubt a call from Ottawa from his MLA.