Callie, I'll just betcha if you cannot find Baby Ray's in OK, you will be able to find it on Amazon.  Betcha!  Since Chip has not allowed me to go to any store (or restaurant) since Covid, I have taken to ordering stuff on line in order to relieve him from having to make decisions between items for me; and I have learned, to my utter amazement, that Amazon has EVERYthing!  And cheaper.  Blows me away, it does!

I've been to Sanibel Island, and it is a great place.

I have a difficult time, as well and all, making, or rather, failing to make my brain accept that I will travel no more forever, too.  I just sort of take it for granted that one day I'll get to all those places I never got to.  Actually, apart from the dissonance between the fantasies the old grey matter concocts and the facts on the ground, THIS old body balks at leaving home these days. 

I had a lot of fun watching the White House Correspondants Dinner tonight. 

We used to sit around the dining room table as a family when I was a child, and play card games and board games and you name it.  Lots of laughter and lots of bonding.  I've been deeply sad that this habit is disappearing from the American scene;  it is everyone dive into their own Smart phone these days.  So I have been asked to confess what I would like most for my birthday in late May, and I have said and have been promised a midday party at Debi's with at least half of my children there and all the Spumoni I can (but shouldn't) eat and we are all going to sit around  the dining room table and play, hold your breath: MEXICAN TRAIN. 

Fortunately, while Debi does not have a game set, I DO!  So Chip and I will lug it over there and Let The Games Begin!

I am just so freaking happy at that prospect, I will not hold bask a whit from bragging up a storm:

SO THERE!

I will not hold BACK, not bask.

It sure sounds like things are looking up for most of us this last week. Happy to hear it.

I am about to embark on a kitchen remodel, complete with new almost everything including a dishwasher which I never had before. Once I give the okay, it will be about eight weeks for the new cabinets to come in, so I have a little time to pick out the dishwasher and new flooring I want.

Today, I hope to do spread some clover seed around the bare spots in the front yard and do a little weeding in the flower beds. It all depends on how long my shoulder holds out without ouching more than it is. I managed to do something to it when I mowed two days ago, so it hurts to raise it above shoulder level or overextend my reach, enough to warn me to take it easy. I thought I had someone to mow the yard for me this summer, but at $150-175 each time, I declined. Now, I am back to seeing if I can find someone to straighten out the yard. It has gotten really lumpy and bumpy after the sewer repair and who knows what else. I swear the darn thing adds more pot-holes and depressions every year.

Have a great day everyone!

MarGal, hope you have a self propelled lawn mower, they make the job easier to do. They now have new lawnmowers out that work on their own...robot lawn mowers. they are not cheap though.


https://www.pcmag.com/picks/the-best-robot-lawn-mowers?test_uuid=06r4MYCu5PZzCkufjQSV3po&test_variant=a

Mary Page -  You brought back some great memories of the big family parties, with aunts, uncles, cousins, sitting around the tables after dinner, playing card games, board games, et al.  Also neighborhood gatherings, with four or five families getting together on the 4th of July, for the big outdoor BBQ's, or picnics.   Not something that's part of life anymore, in the 21st century. 

Trying to remember the card games?  Hearts, canasta, poker and bridge come to mind, depending on the number of people and tables.  Lots of different board games.  I remember one called Pictionary - so funny, we would get to laughing non-stop!   Charades, was popular, but not one of my favorites.  I was never any good at getting up in front of everybody.   

Well, those days are gone forever, and will never return.   It's such a shame.  Makes you wonder where society is headed in the future?   (Or maybe it's best that we don't know)

My grandmother loved a game of Hearts, and we had a bright green felt cover for the dining room table that had the card pile places painted on it in white and black and red.  After clearing the table, we plopped that down and got everything ready for some really cut-throat rounds of Hearts.  There was no gambling, as we were playing hell-bent on Blood!

When my children were little, well, and when they were teenagers, too, and even older, we played dealer's choice. That was when we played just an awful lot of twenty-one.  Despite the lack of betting, one of my daughters had a suitor who sweated with worry that his church might count this as gambling, and his cards were always well bent with terror when he played.  Oh, how we have chortled, sometimes with him, over the years at that memory.  The kids were High School sweethearts, wound up marrying two entirely different people, and still keep in touch as good friends.  One of that particular daughter's best friends dated his brother, back then: she and this daughter were later roommates in college and are still the very best of best friends: making a point of seeing each other and the other two suite mates they had AT LEAST 4 times a year.  They also have a Zoom meeting now.  Once a week the 4 of them gather on a Wednesday afternoon.  I am sure you can hear the loud bursts of laughter.

When I was a brand new bride and could not afford to go out of a Friday or Saturday night, we would have another couple over and the 4 of us would sit at our tiny kitchen table and play Penny Ante Poker.  Yes, we gambled.  Each would have a roll of pennies.  Fifty cents worth of playing.  When you finally ran out, you sat out.  The final winner took all.  The other couple would bring a six-pack of beer or coke.  We would supply some, as well, and potato chips to munch on.  It all sounds simple and harmless.  It was those things, and more.  We all remained friends for life, and I have now survived as the last one still living.  I remember the laughter.  I remember the friendship.  We could not count on the cards going our way, but that friendship Never let us down.  I may be waxing nostalgic here, but I tell you true:  IT WAS A DIFFERENT WORLD. 

 

Happy May Oneth!

I'm so happy to report that my family loves Table Games!  Oldest DIL comes from a large family and it's a tradition for them to play Texas Hold 'Em poker on the eve of holidays when they're all together. I think things like Skip Bo, Uno, etc. have been added since there are now grands and great-grands.
The 8 of us in my immediate family (now 9 and sometimes 11) always play a noisy, very lovingly competitive game of Mexican Train after Christmas supper, which is usually at my house. 

My Grands learned very early to play various card games/board games for children.  Miss Ellen loved to knock her "Sorry" opponent back to Start and then sweetly say, "Saw-wy".  I'd say, "You are not!" and she'd slyly giggle.

I know #1 DIL gets together regularly with a group of her friends to play - but can't remember the name of the game they play. #2 son/dil go scuba diving with a group of friends and they also play "something" in the evenings.

So - group "table games" are still around but may not be as prevalent as they used to be.

MaryPage, you added a post while I was typing.   My Aunt Esther loved Hearts and had no problem out-smarting everyone else.  MIL belonged to a Canasta Club.
My parents played Bridge but I didn't learn how until I got to college.  Hubby learned to play while in the Army and we enjoyed a lot of Party Bridge during our 34 1/2 years together.  We tried to play Duplicate one time but didn't like all the rules and regulations (especially not being able to talk!).  I still don't.

Hubby and I played Skip'Bo, Uno, Yahtze and other card games with friends who didn't play Bridge.  One time 4 or 5 couples were playing one we called "Oh Hell". One couple was new and we explained that it was basically like Solitare except for all the Aces in the middle.  We started slapping the cards around and one gal just sat there. She finally confessed that she didn't know how to play Solitaire.   None of us could believe there was anyone who didn't know how to play that.

Mary Page - Same situation here, as to our oldest daughter and her Mormon (LDS), boy friend.  The Mormons have strict rules, as to food, drink, and activities, and they suffer pangs of guilt if they even drink a Coke, or have a cup of coffee!   They surely are the nicest and most trustworthy of teenagers . . . I never worried about her, over the time span that they were a couple.  We live a block from the LDS church, so all three of our kids attended activities there over the years.  Mormon families like to live near their church, so had many good neighbors.  I would say without hesitation - the friendliest and kindest group of people I have ever known.

Callie - Just seeing your message, but wanted to comment.  I had forgotten about Yahtze!   That had a long run of popularity here.   I don't know if my adult kids play table games with their friends, but I would guess that they don't?   I know my two daughters don't,  but not sure of son and wife?     When oldest granddaughter and her husband are here,  they  like to play poker, or an old board game we have, called Battleship.  Or is it Stratego?    Best enjoyed by the who are extremely  competitive! 

P.S.  Just did a search for Sweet Baby Ray's BB sauce and discovered it IS available at the market from which I order groceries.    Just opened a new bottle but will try to remember to order this one next time.

Marilyne, I still had my sons' game of Battleship when Carson was young and played it with him.  He's never been as competitive as his sisters so we didn't play as many games as they/I did. 

So many of those games sound familiar. But no one mentioned Monopoly. That was big around here. Battleshop & Yahtze had their run. As did Hearts. Once when away to a company school to fill our idle time we played "Liars Poker". Did anyone ever hear or play that?  (The exact rules escape me.)

For Monopoly, you have to have fewer people.  I played Monopoly with my cousins back practically from the moment it came out until the first one of us died.  We sat on the floor (which we could do with complete ease back then) in the sunny basement room that had been made into a playroom for us and spread all the bits and pieces around us and had at it.

I never played Battleship.  That game was for the boys.  But Yahtze, I still love that game!

No, I don't remember Liars Poker.  But isn't that a pretty apt name for ALL Poker?  We did have an old-fashioned size paperback, well-used, that covered just one whole lot of poker games.  Dealer got to choose.  I sort of recall, actually, recall very well, that the guys liked certain games that were totally different from the ones the gals preferred.

Our go to games were Parcheesi, Monopoly, Gin Rummy, Bingo, and Scrabble. I learned the basics of Chess but, at the time, didn't have anyone to play with Sue lost interest quickly. Another, solo, was and still is Jig Saw puzzles. Mostly I am doing them on my tablet now, but I still have my boxed ones. Mary Page, I learned Hearts while in college, but promptly forgot how to play it once I was out.

Amy, my lawn mower is not a powered one. I figure to get one soon though because the one I have is pretty much crap and was from the beginning. It was bought originally as a stop-gap until me good one got cleaned and an new blade put in. Unfortunately the guy that worked on it had a heart attack so it sat in his shop for a some weeks before he got back, against doctors orders. He put the new blade in, but when I turned it on it screeched like a banshee. I don't know what he did with it but I never took it back. The yard itself is very bumpy, made all that much worse by last fall's sewer repair. Too bad my backyard is on a slope steep enough that I wouldn't want to try a riding mower.

I did get out to do some weeding and seeded some bare spots with clover. The clay left over from the digging was almost hard as a rock. In fact, a lot of it was bits of rock. So I didn't do much. I will have to do more seeding after a rain that leaves the soil damp enough to work with it better. I am going to have to brave the traffic and go over to Home Depot or Lowes and get some mulch and top soil.

Oh, wow! Board games. When I got my first car, and could drive a ways from home, I would drive over to my Brother/SIL house and play board games with SIL and my two nieces.  We would start with Canasta, move to Uno, Scrabble, SIL and I would play gin rummy.  As the last game of the night, we would drag out the Monopoly, and play until we just couldn't see the board anymore. 
At one point, after I got married, Bob and I lived next door to a couple our age, and we would play games (hubby didnt like them much, the games not the couple) but we played Password.  I can still remember some of the clues the guys gave for words, and we laughed until the tears came!  I had a grown-up cousin who would invite me to come over and play gin rummy with her. I was a teenager then but we had some good games. 
My dad who had been in the Army, and later in the Navy, taught me to play poker. At a young age: 5 Card Stud, BlackJack and a couple other poker games I can't remember the names of now.  I guess I am just a gamer at heart, but have no one to game with anymore. If we could have another SeniorNet type get-together, I bet we could have a Blast (since we're too old and creaky to dance or walk the beach)!

Sounds good to me; I'm in!

Moi, aussi! 

Just thought of another table game we enjoyed with friends....Tripoli,  a combination of Hearts, Poker and Michigan Rummy.  Used to have a group that got together on New Year's Eve to play this.  One year, we were so engrossed in the competition that we totally missed celebrating the year's change at midnight.

MarsGal, we have a riding lawnmower plus a self propelled one . The self propelled on is as old as Methuselah but still will a little coxing still runs great! Sure saves when pushing uphill.

Now I ask you, was there ANYthing more bonding than that?

And I thought I knew all the games, Callie.  That's a brand new one to me!!!

Ah, MaryPage, you just reminded me of another card game called Mille Bornes (trans: 1000 Mileposts). It is a road race card game. I just checked my pile of old games and, sure enough, I still have it.

I still have my Tripoli board, and I did play that with my nieces and SIL!

During the same timeframe as nieces and SIL board game nights, once in awhile all of us would gather at my house, 3 nieces, one nephew, and have game night.  We'd do the board game thing, then as the night wore on, we'd invent games or entertainments.  We invented one that was played inside the house, with only the light from the TV (with brightness/contrast turned down).  We called it Hide & Go Boo. We'd scope out all the best places to hide in the semi-darkness, and if the IT person got close we'd leap out and go Boo!  The idea was to scare the heck out of "It".  Lot of heart-stopping  laughter and squeals!

A good Monday HELLO 🌷

Oh my, the wonderful memories I have of playing all the card and board games you mentioned.  How I wish we had close friends to do this with again🥰🥰. We used to play games with the grands but now hey have bigger and better things to do, it seems😩‼️

We had a nice rain during the night and it is the first measurable moisture we have had in a month.  Very thankful, but 🙏🙏 for more🤷

There was a clap of thunder through the night that scared half of our county to death.  Many did not know what it was and there has been all kind f chatting on social media all day long.

We had our electric meter changed out today.  We knew it was coming, but did not know when.  Everyone has been dreading it a# most have complained that their bills increase exponentially.  Reason being is that they now can charge you different amounts for the units depending on the time of day you use them.  Many places have gone to this new meter system it seems. 

My Boston son has been in Arizona visiting my dad and his in-laws.  He has really enjoyed the time with them as well as seeing some old high school and college friends.  He went with a couple of his college friends to the closest beach area in Porto  Paenasco Mexico where the friend was participating ina triathlon.   He has not been down there in many years and was shocked at how developed it is now.  They stayed in a beautiful resort that was over $400 a night.  By far not the old "Rocky Point" we went to for many years!

We have decided to go to dinner at our favorite pizza place tonight as some of the proceeds will go to our grandsons lacrosse team.  Always like to support places that do things like this. 

So good to catch up and see what you all are up to😍😍😍

Jenny

Love all this conversation about games! As a child I played Gin Rummy, checkers, Chinese checkers and Monopoly. One of my problems with games was sitting in one place too long. Monopoly always seemed to go on forever!

 In my early teens my brother and I spent a few weeks every summer with my great-aunt and uncle and great-grandfather in Massachusetts. My aunt loved cards! I learned to play Canasta and to this day I like Canasta-type card games. She had her weekly Bridge group and I still have the card table they used. The padded, covered top has one small tear but is still in good shape.  My great-grandfather and I played a lot of dominoes, Parcheesi and Chinese checkers. He was very good at dominoes.

MaryPage - Wish I could be there to play Mexican Train! I have the full set (#15) We usually only used #12. In the past few years I had a hard time getting anyone to play. Everyone liked the card games better, the favorites being Hand and Foot and Triple Play (both are Canasta-type but more complicated). Our regular games with friends stopped for me because of illness and then along came Covid and we had to isolate! 

One game I learned here in Florida is Bunco. It's probably my favorite.

Chape and I used to play Scrabble. Even though I was better at words, he was very good with strategy and almost always beat me!

Daughter Lauri is at Brynn's this week-end and we did FaceTime with the twins and also Keani. Those babies are amazing! And it's also amazing that I can see them in action, in real-time, thanks to technology.

I had a dental appointment early this afternoon to get two permanent crowns finished. The root canal has to wait till the 24th because the endodontist is on vacation.

Me, too, Beverly!  I own the full set of Mexican Train.  Bought at Tuesday Morning some years back.  Wish we could co-host the whole gang in here.

For those not in the know, Mexican Train takes barely a shred of talent, but you have to think ahead.  Inevitably, the person on your right, who plays just ahead of you, becomes your worst enemy, as that person makes the great play you were waiting your turn to do yourself!  Yes, everyone laughs hysterically, while you mutter to your husband, daughter, son or visitor sitting to your right with a silly smug face: "I Hate you!  Hate you forever!"

The game uses dominoes in many colors.  You can learn it in less than a minute.  Everyone loves it, and the best number playing around your table is five to seven.

Monopoly is the one game we would leave in its place (usually on the floor) in the childhood playroom with my cousins.  We could play one continuous game FOR DAYS!

Oh Happy Day, Halluh, Hallay!  I bought my geraniums yesterday!

I live in a bayside, marina community of gated condos.  Some are pretty massive townhouses, while others were built (in 1988 and later) in a variety of apartments.  None of these apartments are more than 3 stories high, and none have more (some have less) than 6 apartments at one address.  I live in an apartment with, I swear to you, the best view in this entire complex of over 400 units.  You can Google Villages of Chesapeake Harbor, Annapolis, MD and see where I am.  One of our friends in Bosom Buddies here in Seniors & Friends has a granddaughter (a lawyer!) who lives here in Annapolis, and they have come here to lunch with me.  That was several years back now.  I tell you all this just to get to Geranium Time.

We have a humongous Nursery in Davidsonville here in this county called Homestead Gardens.  They have a website, too.  I have gone there for years, on or about the First of May, and purchased flowering plants for my summer pleasure.  As the years have gone by, I have collected, gathered, bought and been gifted large blue ceramic pots AND have learned through that old process of live & learn that geraniums are the most answering thing for this particular environment.  Little trouble, huge results, gorgeous colors these years (you are not required to rely on red.  I dislike red flowers, and invest in an all pastel garden.  You would be Surprised at the lovely pastels that geraniums are available in these days!)

So yesterday, armed with a large Mother's Day gift certificate from daughter Debi, Chip drove me to Davidsonville, which is on the road to Washington, D.C.  The place was a dazzling dream.  I could easily have spent a week there.  But, once purchased, my beauties needed being brought to their final home.

This building has six apartments in it: two on each of three floors.  I live in a 2nd floor unit.  Each apartment goes from the front to the back of this building.  There are two balcony decks, the larger being at the back facing the Chesapeake Bay.

I have planted the front deck, and the geraniums are extremely content with both their location and their fellow plantings.  I can tell they are going to have a great summer, and may well bloom right up to and possibly through the first of December.  Today will consist of slipping the bayside deck flowers into their shiny blue homes.  Like the sailboats and yachts from around the world that have settled in slips in our marina, these white, pale pink, and salmon-colored geraniums will spend a FUN summer of 2022!

I am also a geranium fan.  Your balcony deck full of geraniums sounds lovely.

Photos from MaryPage:

https://www.seniorsandfriends.org/index.php?topic=11.new#new

Scroll back when you get there.  there are
three photos.

Mary Page -  Great photos of your geraniums in their blue flower pots!  I'm inspired to do something similar on my back deck, where I can see them from the kitchen.  I do have plenty of Cymbidium orchids out there now, but they are under the window so I can't see them unless I go outside.  They only bloom once a year, (right now in full bloom), so I need something to enjoy during Summer and Fall.  Like you, I don't care for red flowers, but prefer all the various shades of pink.  My cym's that are blooming now, are pink or yellow.

Another weekend approaches, and this will be a sad one for me.  Tomorrow afternoon we will be attending a Memorial Service, for my longtime, dear friend Joye.  She passed away in January this year, at the age of 87. We were college roommates, and remained close over the years.  She and her husband Chuck, were married only a couple of weeks after AJ and I, in October of 1956.

A good MONDAY afternoon HELLO.

I had issues with my iPad and Bob had to clean it out and reload.  Good news is it fixed the issue but the bad news is it dumped a lot of my saved things and I've had a terrible time getting in to my STUFF like Seniors and Friends. 🤪🤪

We are staying with the grands again this week. This s the last known time we will be needed here.  School will be out soon and we won't need to stay here as we do now. 

I had a wonderful Mother's Day, and I hope all the mama's in here did as well. Three flower deliveries so my home has been smelling like a florist shop and making me smile🥰🥰

It has been so windy here we still have not bought and put out our summer flowers yet.  I love reading about all of yours.  Can't wait to go see the picture of your geraniums in your blue pots, MP‼️‼️

MARILYN, I am sorry to read your dear friend passed away.  It is hard to loose someone so dear to your heart.

Take care and have a good night.

Jenny

Marilyne...
...sending condolences on the loss of your friend and a special ((( hug ))) to you...