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Janie Albright (Blank)

Donna, Clare and Susan and I briefly touched on the Detroit/Greenfield Village Trip when we went to the Cinco de Mayo party last week. We are all in favor.  Jack, are you still willing to make arrangements? I think we are wanting to do it during the week if possible. If you can do this let me know some details and I’ll send out a survey or something to gauge attendance. 

Donna, 55th in Barcelona? I’m all in.  

James Hamilton, M. D.

David Mitchell

From the Department of Absolutely Nothing to do With Anything:

I heard a funny a few days ago at my monthly Vietnam Veterans lunch. We always ask any guys who come for the first time to stand up, intoduce themselves, and give us a quick bit of their background. This new guy next to me stands up, gives his name and what he did in Vietnam and when and where he served there. Then just a bit of personal background.

He says,"I managed the Playbody Club in New Orleans for Hugh Hefner for two years, but I had to quit for health reasons. My wife threatened to kill me."

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And one more useless item that I just feel like sharing with the entire planet.

Since my reunion about 4+ years ago, we have all raised our interest in finding more of our unit - a very close bunch once upon a time. I have had one particular guy that is quite special to me and lost touch with him about 35 years ago. Been searching actively again for about 9 years with no luck. I even went to his old Highway Patrol office in Medford Oregon to trace him (while visiting my son in the "Kingdom of Portlandia"). They knew him but were not allowed to give out his personal information - damn!  I had even begun to think he might be gone from us.  

Meanwhile, I think I mentioned that I had found this young guy at my retreat who helped me find my "Observer" Clint Hunt, in Kentucky after 49 years. But this other guy was a pilot who shared a wild and crazy harrowing 10 minutes with me and I'd give anything to find him. My young friend gave me a lead that turned out to be this guy's brother and sister in-law in Bend, Oregon. I spoke with them twice and they seemed reluctant, but took my information to pass on. They said "You've told us enough about Bob that we are sure you are legit."

Two nights ago, I was walking into a McDonalds, and my cell phone rang. I grabbed it and it showed Bend, Oregon as the source. It was Bob!

I just about went nuts in the McDonalds! I was laughing hysterically at first, and then started crying in front of a bunch of strangers in McDonalds. Walked outside for the duration of the call.

Wow! Some days are diamonds! 

I'm going to share our "moment" in a story sometime in the future. And I promise, It'll be a "safe" story for this audience. Crazy, but safe for you Forum readers. 

Janie Albright (Blank)

I subscribe to a free blog called the Columbus Navigator.  Lots of fun local articles. Saw these and had to post!  

https://www.clintonvillespotlight.com/articles/yarn-bomber-adds-color-to-clintonville/

https://www.columbusnavigator.com/walhalla-ravine-midcentury-modern/

John Maxwell

Mark Schweickart

As Dave M. so eloquently put it recently, "From the Department of Absolutely Nothing to do With Anything: I thought I would make my own appropos of nothing segue here on the forum, and subject you, my captive audience, to another one of my songs. The thing that is amazing about Dave, is that he not only has a remarkable memory for details from his own life, but often seems to remember incredibly precise details from his parents' lives that I find quite astonishing. Thinking about this the other day, reminded me that when my Dad passed, I wrote a song about the stories he liked to tell of his life. I sang this at a pre-funeral gathering, and knew most of those attending, and certainly all of the immediate family, would recognize the stories alluded to, so I didn't need to spell them out. I am guessing that I may not be alone in having had an elderly parent who liked to start many a conversation with, "Say, did I ever tell you about ...?"

Who am I kidding? We are all probably starting to do this ourselves more than we would like to admit when speaking to our children and grandchildren. 

James Hamilton, M. D.

Mark,

Nice tribute to your father. Very touching and what a great way to remember him!

Janie,

I don't know that Walhalla is the prettiest street in Columbus but it may well be. It certainly would be my choice for the best in Clintonville.

I can't recall if I have shared this photo on this Forum in the past, but it is one which I took in July of 2018 along Walhalla and have been using as a wallpaper background on my computer for a couple of weeks (I change these about every 2-3 months). Also, I entered it in a contest for a 2020 calendar recently and will find out whether it made the cut in a month or so. Of the many images of this area that I have photographed, this was one of my favorites.

Jim

David Mitchell

Janie,

I guess we know how badly Clintonvlle people need to get a hobby when we read about them calling the city to complain abour the "yarn bomber".  

Mark,

Sounds to me like an awful lot of good stories there.

David Barbour

Great photo, Jim,  I gotta go with the Clintonville Littlebloom however.  Purely taste!

Dave B.

James Hamilton, M. D.

Donna Kelley (Velazquez)

Mark, thanks for sharing your moving tribute to your father.  It made me think of many of my own father's stories and I imagine that your song has made many stories ring in our heads today. It could be Charlie's Stories, Steve's Stories.....    

Jim, another beautiful photo of our dear Walhalla.  It deserves to make the cut to be enjoyed by many.

James Hamilton, M. D.

Donna,

Thanks, we'll have to see what the judges decide!

For those of you out there who have beautiful flowers to photograph, here is what I saw this morning when I walked out to get the newspaper. It wasn't there yet. I wonder why. I saw no bears. I think they went back to their dens to hibernate a little longer.

I should have gone back to bed. I ended up shovelling wet snow.

Jim

Timothy Lavelle

Jim,

I feel bad for you. Over here the flowers are blooming wildly, the Robins are back, two Blue Jays with Westside Story haircuts have begun strutting on the deck railing like previous years. A local underground band, called The Moles, are also making their appearance. I wonder if The Bears would be worse than The Moles? Yeah, I'll stick with tiny rodents over Yogi n pals. 

Remember to bend your knees and lift with your legs. 

James Hamilton, M. D.

David Mitchell

Snow?

Is that some sort of airborne pine pollen layering the ground?

Does it stik to your windshield and gum up the wipers?

Does it form a green scum on the surface of puddles and ponds?

Does it cause a reaction in the sinuses?

Michael McLeod

Michael McLeod

Oops I meant to explain that weird photo above.

This is a teaser and a reminder that I have not forgotten my promise to illustrate my adventures in Florida landscaping. Both that vine-like plant climbing up the palm tree near my swimming pool and the weird cactus-like potted plant beneath it are varieties of night-blooming cereus. They are homely by day and glorious by night -- briefly. The blooms are starlit and stealthy, exotic and fragrant and romantic and fleeting, crumpling in the first rays of dawn like Cinderella's pumpkin-turned-coach-turned pumpkin again.

These plants are quite the phenomenon down here, a longstanding old south tradition I have embraced. There is even a facebook page with a list of places you can go -- private homes and parks - to see them during blooming season. One big oak tree in particular that is on a street corner in an old neighborhood close to me is wrapped in a vine from trunk to crown. Hundreds of blooms overtake it for about a two week period. It's a fairyland sight, looking like something one of the theme parks down here in Orlando spent zilliions to conjure up. But it's just mother nature kicking ass.

If you look closely at the potted plant in the photo you can see little white fuzz-balls on the vines. Those turn into moonlit blooms. Soon, now.

I'll post pictures when the time comes.

Jim: our time zones and our homefront scenery, much like our political views, reflect a yawning divide, eh wot? I will say, however - I like Trump's China strategy. You asked for one of us liberal snowflakes to say something nice about him. Well there you go. 

David Mitchell

Boy howdy!

Ya give these English Majors a inch and they go off on ya for a mile. 

Ya could'a jist said sumpin' like, "See these here pritty plants? They are growing in my back yard". But nooo. Ya gotta give chapter and verse. I'm suprizzed ya didn't give the latin names. 

(And notice how causally he slips in that he has a pool - and by contrast - "the rest of us don't!")

David Mitchell

Jim,

A foot down in Colorado Springs? And 6 inches in Denver? Wow?

Is Arapaho Basin still open?

Michael McLeod

As I recall, Dave, you rather enjoyed scarfing down a proffered poolside pizza during your Florida swing. 

And this.....this is the thanks I get?

I just wish I could find a nun to give you a proper lecture.

David Mitchell

Okay, okay Mike, you got me buddy.

But listen, I still have a piece of that pizza that you let me take home in my fridge if you want it back. That's only been about 7 months. I think I can scrape off most of those tiny little things crawling around inside the cellophane bag that I wrapped it in. 

David Mitchell

Here's a little video that Tim and Jim and I have been putting together for a quiet spell on the Forum. We shot it around Mike's back yard pool while he was going out to get pizza for the film crew.

Sorry, but we decided not to film this one with fireworks shooting out of her boobs (again). The insurance rates would have been sky high if we had. 

James Hamilton, M. D.

Lawrence Foster

Couple of things:

First:  Sister Antonio's brother John McGovern.  John did go to a high school in Prairie du Chien, WI -  Campion HS.  After graduating from Notre Dame he went to Chicago and was doing social work while working on his master's at DePaul Univ.  I visited with him a couple times in the early 1970s.  We went to a Cubs game one afternoon in August 1971 and saw Tom Seaver of the Mets shagging flies in the outfield before the game.  Seaver did not pitch in that game.  But in the 6th or 7th inning the Cubs sent up Ernie Banks as a pinch hitter.  He hit a home run off relief pitcher Tug McGraw.  It turned out to be the next to last home run Banks ever hit, #511.    Later John was in the Golden, Colorado area running a boy's home in his social work/counseling field.  He and his wife had 3 children.  I went to his father's funeral in the late 90's up in Delaware, Ohio.  We had a good visit.  Mary Ann (Sister Antonio) had left the convent and was married with children and it was a good reunion with her also.  His parents are buried within 50-75 yards of mine.  John's mother, Mildred, and my father were high school classmates at St. Mary's HS in Delaware.   I too have lost contact with him but who knows, maybe I'll start digging around. 

Second:  My daughter helped a friend operate this year's American Odyssey Relay (AOR) 200 mile relay run/race from Gettysburg, PA to Washington, DC  (https://americanodysseyrelay.com/#home).  Back in December when I was laid up from some foot surgery she was home and asked me if I could design some images that could be used as medals for the runners who complete the race.  The AOR uses an online royalty-free image of "Freddy the Flamingo" as their mascot.  So taking that image and looking at the route that would be run I did 5 pencil sketches of locations that the runners would go through.   The committee selected one of them for the t-shirt and one for the medal.   The images are of Freddy at the Fairview, PA covered bridge and crossing the Mason-Dixon line.  Below are the 2 sketches and then the final products that the computer graphics folks created.  I received these as a thank you from the committee.  There is no way I could ever run any part of that race.  I do get on an elliptical a couple times a week but that is all.

Michael McLeod

Dave: hang onto the pizza slice and bring it with you when you return as it can double as a surf board.

Jim: That "yukka" plant you mention - I have no idea what to call it - is not nearly as dangerous as some of the plants I have whose further reaches come to a fierce, hypodermic needle point and I mean a point that can puncture you if you so much as look at them crosseyed. 

Always interesting to me that the principles of evolution are in play just as surely among plants as they are in the animal kingdom