Well, this has been an odd–yet interesting, week, to say the least–and it’s not quite over.
Perhaps the strangest yet most remarkable event occurred Tuesday afternoon while sitting in a chair on my deck behind my house, reading the latest Funny Times (of course—what else!!??)
All of a sudden, out of nowhere, a bird–I’m guessing a full-grown sparrow–landed on my lap, but stayed only about two or three seconds before flying away. It flew only about 15 feet though, landing on the patio behind the back wall of my kitchen breakfast nook.
Another companion bird was nearby–perhaps a sort of “caretaker.” I’m guessing the bird that landed on me may have been sickly, as it did not seem to have much strength. My newly-introduced feathered friend did not appear to be injured, however, as it could fly, but not for any distance or height. I walked over to the bird and it quickly flew away into nearby bushes, with its “guardian” nearby.
To say I was startled with the bird’s soft landing would be an understatement, as I let out an audible gasp. A couple of people, upon subsequently hearing the story, said it might be an omen. Well, I hope a good omen.
Yesterday evening I again did my peace shtick at East Ninth Street and Carnegie Avenue, greeting drivers and pedestrians going to the Indians-Angels game at Progressive Field, wearing my U.S. Army dress uniform and carrying my peace flag (the good guys lost 7-4).
At any rate, an attractive, smiling young woman hurried across East Ninth Street and said excitedly, “Are you Lou Pumphrey?!”
I said, “Are you with the NSA (National Security Agency)?”
She said, “I’m Becky Mason. I was DeeDee’s roommate in college.”
DeeDee is my younger daughter who roomed with Becky their freshman year in Mack Hall at Ohio State in 1995.
In my dozen or so years of promoting peace, no one has come even close to being as effusive and enthusiastic about what I do for peace than Becky. I was very touched and impressed with her outpouring of appreciation. (Becky has been familiar for some time with my peace initiatives because of conversations with DeeDee and having read my anti-war letters in newspapers. She took a selfie of us and said she would e-mail it to DeeDee.)
Here’s the third and final anecdote of the week.
While doing my weekly grocery shopping early this morning at the Whole Foods Market grocery store in University Heights, I saw another shopper who is unquestionably the tallest human being I have ever EVER seen. I’m guessing the guy was seven feet tall. He was wearing a black tee shirt and the only word I remember seeing, which was at eye level across his chest was “basketball.”
Coincidentally, he and his wife were in the neighboring check-out lane, but they finished buying their groceries a few seconds before me. As I finished putting my groceries in my cart, I heard a cashier several feet away say to the gentleman as he and his wife headed to the exit, “My son attended your basketball camp!” He acknowledged her comment graciously as he and his wife walked away.
I asked the cashier who the man was but she couldn’t remember his name. I said, “Jim Chones?” And she said, “Yes, that’s it!”
Here are some details: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Chones
