Whatever they were doing, I'm glad I passed by

On a sunny afternoon recently, I passed a street near one of the universities and saw a group of young people casually gathered around a young woman fiddling with a digital camera. Two young men wore sports jackets and slacks, one with a top hat and the other wearing a black straw boater (flat top, wide, flat brim). A third young man in jeans wore a Viking helmet with one horn curled up, one down. Another young woman had a colorful scarf wrapped around her head.

I don't know what they were doing, but they were enjoying it a lot. And I thought, "I love university towns!"

I love the unexpectedness college age people bring to the community, the color, the sound, the energy. I remember crossing another nearby campus one Friday afternoon, walking behind a guy playing his trumpet, accompanied with a friend and a beagle pup that scrambled behind.

I remember a time in Forest Park in Fort Worth when those of us there were treated to a young man playing bagpipes atop one of the levees. Yup, college student, considerately coming out to the park to practice rather than in his apartment where the neighbors might not welcome him so readily. We went about our playing, and he went about his. We all enjoyed it.

Impromptu fun.

What a glorious part of life.

Mental Exercises

OK, This is from an e-mail I got that many of you have already seen. It's a ONE-WORD RIDDLE, and I give you the first word. Remove one letter at a time until you are left with a single letter, also a word. And, out of curiosity only, time yourself.

My 98-year-old friend John did not use pencil or paper, only his mind. He solved the whole thing in less than 45 seconds, and that includes his two mistakes. How well can you do?

The word is STARTLING. Tick, tick, tick.

I'll list the answers in the next post.