Last week, I reported on the death of Rabbi Bill Rudolph, whose funeral took place on Tuesday. Yesterday, another friend passed away. George Johnson had been battling a rare form of blood cancer for several years, at one point thought he had it beat, and then it came back. He died of pneumonia brought on by a lowered immune system. We still are not sure if the funeral will be Sunday or Monday.

George and his wife Ayah have been friends of ours for many years. George, like myself, had a career as a lawyer, who left it behind when he retired. He was very devoted to Judaism, religiously, culturally and historically. He belonged to an Orthodox synagogue, took classes continually, wrote for (and was an editor on) MOMENT Magazine, and was a fellow board member on the Haberman Institute for Jewish Studies. He was a creative intellectual and will be missed.

In other news……we were awakened at about 5:45 this morning as a coyote strolled by and howled several times. That’s a first. I know there are coyotes in Rock Creek Park, but I don’t remember them coming this far out of the park (one of the entrances to Rock Creek Park is about one half mile from our house).

Finally (for today), an incident at Gregory’s coffee shop yesterday. As I was sipping my coffee and writing yesterday’s blog, there was a young woman (maybe she was 20, maybe at a stretch 25), who was sitting down busily typing on her tablet, with a notebook on the table, and a large purse next to her where she was sitting.

After a while, she shuts the tablet, stands up, leaves her table, and goes to the ladies’ room. Well, OK, but she leaves her tablet on the table, and her large purse open on the bench next to where she was sitting. She is gone close to 5 minutes.

Now years ago, Hannah and Michelle took a sisters’ trip to London and went to a coffee shop. Hannah hung her purse on the back of her chair and when her name was called walked up to the counter to get her order. When she came back to her seat, her purse was gone. In it was cash, credit cards, passport, I-Phone and a ring that had belonged to my grandmother which Hannah worse almost all the time, and which my grandmother had brought from Europe. Luckily, someone turned the purse with the passport into the American embassy and insurance covered the loss of everything but the ring (get insurance when you travel!).

I told my coffee shop neighbor about Hannah’s experience. She responded with “You know, I never thought about that. You’re right, I won’t do that again.” Now, I don’t know if she will or she won’t. But she didn’t seem unintelligent, and I’m sure she would have been unhappy if someone had taken her computer and her purse. I would think some things should be obvious.

I would think.