Scrabble anyone?

When my children were young we all loved to play games.  One of our favorites, especially mine, was Scrabble.  I'm such a fan of the game that one Christmas my husband gave me a deluxe set with a board mounted on a turntable so it could be rotated from player to player around the table.  The board also has little ridges between the squares so the tiles stay where they are placed, and don't slip slide around, thus eliminating a lot of aggravation. Then the only aggravation was when I didn't win.  I can be rather competitive.  One memorably aggravating game was played on January 12, 1995.  My son was 24 at the time.  I know the date of this game because he taped the score sheet inside the cover of our Official Scrabble Players Dictionary.  On that memorable evening he scored 464 points by spelling not one but three seven-letter words, and he's never let me forget it.  Now I would like to proposed a change in the rules of this classic game.  Traditionally, proper names are not allowed but I think an exception should be made for the names of medications advertised on TV.  Words like BOTOX, ZANTAC, RINVOQ, INGREZZA and OCREVUS would certainly add some flexibility not to mention scoring possibilities.  Love those ten-point Zs.  Scrabble anyone?

snake tales continued

 My closest real encounter with a snake was when Charlotte came to visit.  Charlotte was a fairly young, four foot long boa constrictor who spent one summer living in our basement when my daughter and her boyfriend (later her first husband) brought her home from college for the summer.  The snake and the boyfriend spent most of the summer with us because the boyfriend's mother flat out refused to have a snake in the house.  Charlotte spent most of her time in a large glass terrarium on the bar in the basement family room.  It was nice and cool down there and she had a window view.  She ate an occasional mouse (shades of great grandma's black snakes) but these were purchased at the pet store and brought home in little cartons (picture the cartons that Chinese food comes in) with a phrase printed on the side that said "Somebody loves me and is taking me home."  Well Charlotte certainly loved them.  I did not watch when she ate.  Sometimes Charlotte was allowed out of her glass box to get some exercise.  She liked to twist her body through and around the rungs on the back of my dining room chairs.  She also, and I know this may be hard to imagine, would curl up on my lap and let me pat her.  It certainly wasn't like patting a fluffy cat but she did have a nice cool leathery feel.  When the kids went back to college the snake went too, and was returned to the pet store.  I think the novelty had worn off.  Some pets, and some husbands, just aren't there for the long haul. 

snakes

 I have had several encounters with snakes in my life, none of them poisonous, but all memorable to me.  It started when I was a child when my father jokingly referred to tapioca pudding as 'snake eyes.'  I do not eat tapioca.  When I was a little older my mother, in a effort to help me think kindly about snakes, told me about her grandmother who kept two large black snakes in her basement to kill any mice that tried to get into the house.  We did not keep snakes in the basement but, since we lived in the country for most of my growing up years, we occasionally saw snakes in the grass.  My youngest brother (that west coast brother I often refer to) wrapped a dead snake around the gas peddle in my car which, when I realized what my foot was on, got me out of that car, and chasing my brother, at a speed I have never duplicated since.  One of the funniest scenes I remember (while not funny for the snake) happened when our miniature dachshund Remington managed to kill a garter snake when we were all outside doing yard work.  He immediately went into "Look at me, the mighty hunter." mode.  He ran around the yard flinging that snake into the air, catching it, and repeating the process over and over again.  Throughout his life Remington chased lots of squirrels and an occasional cat but that snake was the only wild life he ever caught.  Tomorrow night, memories of Charlotte.  

anything cool

 My west coast brother informed me that today is National Ice Cream Cake Day.  Since he lives in Spokane where the high tomorrow is supposed to be 106 degrees, I'm sure he would enjoy some ice cream in any form.  

Fifteen years ago my son moved his family back to Fort Wayne from Phoenix because even then it was too hot in the summers for his children (then toddlers) to play outside.  I know people say "Yes, but it's a dry heat."  It gets to a point though where hot is hot, wet or dry.  I remember walking across a mall parking lot on a summer visit to Phoenix and feeling the reflected heat from the pavement burning my ankles.  It was probably over 100 that day.  On the other hand, one July I attended a business conference in Atlanta.  I had been inside for several hours and decided to step outside during an afternoon break to get a breath of fresh air.  Hah! It felt like I had walked into a steaming hot washcloth.  I went right back inside.  As I said, hot is hot but personally I'll take 80 and humid over 106 any time.  

On a non-weather related note, I can be sure of ice cream cake at least four times a year because it is a favorite birthday cake for my son and his family.  Hmmm, the next birthday in their family is in July.  Of course that's when my daughter-in-law turns 50.  I'm not sure how much she will feel like celebrating (although she is a very young looking 50) but I'm pretty sure there will be ice cream cake.  

wave that flag!

 I know our country has problems but sometimes it's good to feel unapologetically patriotic.  This evening was one of those times.  The weather was perfect, it didn't rain, several hundred of us gathered at Parkview Field to enjoy the Fort Wayne Philharmonic's patriotic concert.  The first time they've all played together since before the pandemic.  It was wonderful.  We heard the history of the National Anthem, enjoyed several stirring marches, sang along to 'My Country tiz of Thee' and other patriotic songs, saluted veterans and active duty military persons and watched fireworks while the orchestra played the theme from 'Star Wars.'  Not quite sure how that fits as a patriotic tune but everybody loved it.  All in all it was a rousing, feel good evening.

Ho ho ho...

 Today is my west coast sister-in-law's birthday.  When I texted birthday greetings (I did send a proper birthday card also) my brother reminded me that June 25, in addition to being his wife's birthday, is also exactly six months 'til Christmas.  I was not thrilled by this reminder.  I do love Christmas, in its proper time, which is December.  I'm not thrilled to see Christmas decorations in the stores before Thanksgiving, let alone have reminders in June.  But, being one of the world's best procrastinators (it's my super power) I have determined to put it firmly out of my mind, at least until October.  

above the door

 This a a reflection of the age of the house and not my age.  When I was eight years old my family moved from an almost new three bedroom house in New Haven to a 100 year old small, one story farm house on five acres. My mother had read a book called "Five Acres and Independence" and my parents were giving it a try.  They did keep their day jobs.  I was reminded earlier today of a nifty feature of that old house.  I was watching a Perry Mason rerun.  The fact that I enjoy these really is a reflection of my age.  In one scene, Perry climbed up on a chair in a hotel hallway, and peeked in the transom to see if anyone was in the room.  Do you remember transoms?  They are narrow rectangular windows mounted horizontally above doors.  The real reason for these wonderful little windows was ventilation.  We did not have air conditioning in our old house but we never missed it. With ten foot ceilings and all three (we had three exterior doors) transoms open there were always breezes circulating through the house.  I'm sure it helped that we lived in the country where the wind was almost always blowing, but still it was a very clever invention.  One thing we didn't have.  In another Perry Mason episode, Paul Drake, the handsome detective, used a boxy periscope to look out the transom window over another hotel room door, to see who was in the hallway.  I'm sure my brother and I would have loved to have one of those periscopes.