Monday, January 29, 2018

Raining snow, snowing rain

Raining snow or snowing rain, it's all the same.  The weather does not add any joy to the proceedings. I plugged in my camera to charge for the super moon, and wonder what I'll find in the sky.

It's Monday, cards. Totally misjudging the amount of time needed to drop off the rent check and mail a letter, I arrived way early at the church, and spent a quarter hour driving around town, looking for a friendly picture.

Here is the candidate with the most potential. The sun will shine, the ivy will become bright and green, the wind chimes will ring and the bright umbrella will go back up. January is about gone; this picture could look much better in two more months.




And, we did laugh heartily for a couple of hours at cards. Peter and I each have card trouble. While he drones incessantly about my style, the real problem is the unending loss of fine motor control in my right hand. By the time I've sorted and spread my hand, the others have been waiting several minutes. Peter once had a similar problem, but he seems to have overcome. 

Last September one other member of our group made a lovely card holder for Peter. A length of lumber, trimmed out, sanded, with a groove to hold Peter's card hand. It was a hit. Over our holiday hiatus, the other member took the cardholder for his granddaughter to use. It was a hit with the four year old, too, and didn't come back.



Today there were two new holders on the table; one for Peter, one for me. Now I can arrange a hand as quickly as anyone. Quicker than Peter!

Last week Nancy and I dusted Peter and Greg at pinochle. No, come to think about it, we were a hundred or so points ahead at one point, and they pulled to within thirty points near the end. We stayed and played one last hand; had they made enough points they could have won the day. They didn't. Too bad.

Today, our turn to get weak cards. Nancy and I lost. But all four of us went home with aching ribs, because Greg also made a trump teller. For the first time in three years the eternal question "What's trump?" was greeted by laughter, or rude jeers. Greg also made:



The trump teller. What's trump? That hand, diamonds.

21 comments:

  1. Hari OM
    Fabulous card holders. The rest lost me completely! As long as you had fun, me's happy fur ya. Am not holding out much hope for the supermoon as we are to have blanket rain here. Though I will be in Edinburgh and you never know... YAM xx

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  2. lost your blog when I changed things around some! I'm back and glad to see you are doing well.

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  3. Looks nice a nice group to be with. And yeas ... in two months we will have more hope.

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  4. what fun and how wonderful to have observant and kind friends.

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  5. A good laugh is good for the mind and body! You found a great group!

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  6. Dear Joanne, I'm so glad for you and the Peter that you both have the card holders/sorters. I've used a plastic one that comes with the game Rummykube. It hold the tiles and makes the game much easier.

    I didn't get the ending of your post on my first reading but was aware that I was missing something. Then I got it! Thanks for the laugh! Peace.

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  7. Made me smile and I wasn't even there.

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  8. I've never been a card player, only learning patience (solitaire) and snap which I can't play by myself of course, but I'd much rather read a book anyway. I am glad you are getting out and playing though, the card holders are a great idea.

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  9. I'm sure the laughter is the best part of playing cards.

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  10. Cards is something I've never played. Only the childhood games in childhood and I couldn't remember them now. I was very unusual in my growing up years because everyone else liked to play gin rummy, solitaire and cribbage. It's lovely that those you play cards with have made a nice board for both you and Peter to enjoy playing more.

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  11. Great card holder and even better the thoughtfulness that went into it.

    When you mentioned pinochle in a previous post, I mistakenly thought you were talking about crokinole! You may have wondered what I was blathering on about.

    Now that I understand pinochle to be a card game, I see it seems quite similar to what we on the east coast of Canada call Auction 45's, although wikipedia tells me they are two separate games. Sounds like a fun morning and a good group to spend time with!

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  12. there are a number of games with a trump. I wish our government game didn't have one.

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  13. there are a number of games with a trump. I wish our government game didn't have one.

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  14. Dad made one of those holders for Grandad after he had a stroke. How lovely to have friends with which to share laughter. It really makes the day doesn't it?

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  15. Passing miserable, rainy, snowy days with good, kind friends can make one forget about trump, at least for a little while.

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  16. Nice card holder. Clever.

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  17. I've never had the aptitude for card-playing. The only one in my family without it. But I do a mean crossword puzzle! What a great gift - the card holders!

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  18. My sister once found an antique trump teller in a junk store and bought it for use at home when we played whist, because my father could never remember what trump was and drove us crazy every hand asking "what's trump?" He loved that trump teller!

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  19. I've never been a card player or game player for that matter. Don't think I'm very competitive. But I did play old maid with my 5 year old grand daughter recently and she had trouble holding all those cards. Perhaps we need to find her a card holder rack.
    And yes, the word "trump" has taken on a whole different meaning...

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