I hope all who celebrated had a nice Thanksgiving. Our diners went from 11 to 5 due to the recent upsurge in Covid cases. It was a bummer, but we made the most of it. My husband ordered some new games for us to play since we couldn't go anywhere.
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| Sushi Go is an easy card game that was cute and fun. Skull is a very simple bluffing game. Latice Hawaii was a cross between Scrabble and Rummy. I liked that the best. But I can't even with Wingspan. So many pieces and none of us had patience for the directions AND its appendices. Even youtube tutorials were of no help to me. Spouse claims he will figure it out when he has some time to kill. Not my purchase! |
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| My contribution to the holiday festivities was a Christmas Ale tasting. Saucy Brew Works was the local fave with their 3 Hos beer, but Collision Bend was my personal favorite with their 8 Crazy Nights. Which is no surprise for me, as I also prefer Hanukkah songs. |
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| In other news, the library shut down again, this time to foot traffic. My daughter's hours were cut in half, but at least she's still working. In a salute to Covid Theatre, the new procedure for picking up books entails: 1) Order online and await email saying your order is ready for pickup, 2) Call branch to make a pickup appointment, 3) Pull into designated parking spot along front sidewalk and call from your car that you are there, 4) Remain in car while clerk wheels out your book on a cart and then runs back into the building, 5) Exit your car, run up to the building to grab your book off of the cart and then return to your car, 6) Watch as clerk runs back outside to grab the cart and wheel it back in. I've watched this numerous times while sitting in my car, waiting for my daughter. It reminds me of how people might react in a nuclear fallout. |
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| We're still working on 1000-2000 piece jigsaw puzzles. This was our latest. My daughter deemed it to be a very boring puzzle. That's what you get for $3. |
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| The highlight of the weekend were these fireworks in town that we viewed from the comfort of our car in a grocery store parking lot. It was a 20 minute show accompanied to Christmas music played over an FM station. The finale was fabulous and you could hear the clapping and cars honking their horns all over town. It was nice to get out of the house and "do something." |
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| Unfortunately, the fun and games are over. We got hit with about 18 inches of snow from Monday night through Wednesday morning. It was a heavy, wet snow and it looks like once again, we lost a few more trees in back and now more branches to pick up in front. We lost power for half the day on Tuesday and then Wednesday we lost phone/internet/cable tv service. 2020 still has some teeth left. |
Hey, I'm ready for that Christmas Ale tasting. . . I tell you, when you have a whole houseful of COVID sufferers, you go through every game in your closet. I think we've played about 15 games of 'Settlers of CATAN'. . .
ReplyDelete18 inches of snow?? Good grief! We had an inch or so, that lasted for most of a day. I don't know who'd have done our shoveling if we'd gotten dumped on like that. . .
My son LOVED Catan in high school. He played it every week with friends. I tried it once and decided I’m not as smart as I used to be! I think our storm came from the south and blew East, so you missed it. Our cable and internet and phone is still spotty. Too many trees and branches came down.
DeleteOh that's a lot of snow. We hardly ever get snow here.
ReplyDeleteI truly hate everything about it.
DeleteI'll have to look for some of those games. I do enjoy playing them. Are any of them meant for 2 players or do they need a group to play? Wow with the library procedure! Hopefully there won't be ice out there! Can you imagine? Funny thing is our library has never reopened for "foot traffic" inside it but of course has pick up service. I was listening to a Covid update from the San Diego area as BIL/SIL live there and because of their rise in cases they were shutting down their libraries for in person use. I thought that would have been something that had already happened there since they were more strict with restrictions than Arizona. I have to agree with the puzzle. It had to be hard too with the brick being so predominant and pretty much the same color. I thought your idea of Christmas ale tasting was a good one for Thanksgiving! Clever!
ReplyDeleteWow on the 18 inches of snow. That's all I got to say!
Stay safe and sane!
betty
Good to hear from you, Betty! I know the Hawaii game can be played by two people because I’ve played it with Middle Child. It is odd that some library systems never reopened to the public. I was so happy ours did, even for just 4 months. I had a bad feeling three weeks ago, so I went in and took out 12 books, just in case they totally shut down. Figured that would last me 3 months!
DeleteI frickin' hate snow. With a passion. But there is a little part of me that likes the very first snowfall and how clean and pretty it makes everything. Then I'm back to hating it again 5 minutes later.
ReplyDeleteIt was just 5 of us for Thanksgiving too. My daughter picked up a new board game from Walmart called Ticket to Ride. New to me anyway. I thought it was going to be stupid, but I ended up liking it a lot.
The library seems a little over dramatic. Don't get me wrong. I am all for wearing the masks and washing the hands, but all of those steps seems a bit overblown, imo.
Another snow hater here. It’s already filthy mounds of ugliness along the side of the roads. We have Ticket To Ride! I think there are different versions, but ours is the USA one. I do think it’s overkill with the library, but most are union workers (except my daughter’s position, hence her hours getting cut and no benefits, of course) so I think admin needs to make it look like they are protecting the workers at all costs.
DeleteI was wondering how many people were at your Thanksgiving dinner this year. Even with the reduction of people, it sounds like you and your family had a really nice day.
ReplyDeleteHere in Philly, I was surprised by how many restaurants were open on Thanksgiving Day for outside seating. This whole restriction thing is so utterly confusing to me because it seems so contradictory. To be honest, I'm over it because they can't seem to make up their mind.
I love your setup of the brews! So organized! And I have to say, your kitchen looks fabulous. Great stove!
Happy to read that your daughter is still working. So far, we haven't had any shutdowns here (other than no indoor dining or drinking), which I'm surprised because cities are the ones enforcing the most restrictions and shutdowns. But who knows, that may eventually happen.
WOW! I cannot believe how much snow you got already!?! Glad you had your power/phone/internet/cable tv services restored. Reminds me of my time living in Florida when we would frequently lose all those things due to rain storms.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend, my friend! X
Howdy, Ron! Outside seating on Thanksgiving? Brrrrr! I’m over the whole thing, too. I had to go to Walmart and I counted 7 people with masks under their noses and 1 person with no mask at all. My husband and I are now wearing N95 when we have to go anywhere indoors. We are surrounded by purple counties and exposure to the virus is pretty much a sure thing every time we leave the house. It’s frustrating to be told to not get together with close family for the holidays, yet bars and restaurants are still open? Makes no sense and is just pissing me off at this point! Rant over.
DeleteI lied! Rant continues . . . Our phone/internet/cable has gone out multiple times per day this entire week (I wrote this post a few days ago) for hours at a time. Makes it hard to work from home, so my husband said he’s just going into the office tomorrow.
Hope your weekend is a good one!
You've been doing some fun stuff. I like board games and jigsaws, and I like the one your daughter has done, I can see why she would think it boring though :-) Our library is open and we are able to just walk in to collect or return. We don't get much snow here in the UK which is just as well as I don't like it anymore.
ReplyDeleteI have a new puzzle lined up for us to start after the holidays. It’s a scene from South Beach (Miami) that is much more scenic. I’m glad you don’t have to deal with the 4 letter word (SNOW)!
DeleteYe gods, you guys got clobbered with snow!
ReplyDeleteIt's tough about the reduced family dinner, but at least you had something. And I'm glad your daughter is still working.
Fireworks for Thanksgiving? I think that's cool!
I've always loved Scrabble. We used to play that a lot at my aunt's farmhouse in the Berkshires.
Some of those other games are new to me, but it's nice to a play something without getting on the computer.
I like your contribution the best. Everybody wins with beer!
Yeah, that snowstorm and the detritus left behind was the icing on 2020. Or, let’s hope that’s the grand finale! And playing Scrabble in the Berkshires sounds like heaven. I’m online too much, like everyone else these days, so board games are a great alternative. Happy Monday to you.
DeleteWow, that's a lot of snow and a lot of outages. We haven't had any snow here yet, we get very little snow during the winter. I also hate the stuff - it's pretty to begin with but it soon turns to mucky slush. Your library procedure sounds way over the top. Like Polly, I can just go to the library entrance and collect a book (I can't browse the shelves though).
ReplyDeleteThe only games we have are scrabble and chess. Our scrabble tournaments are great fun because we're pretty evenly balanced skill-wise.
I didn’t know you received such little snow. That’s a win! It’s not as enjoyable when you can’t browse the library, but I’m glad it’s still open for you. I never mastered chess, but I’m not bad at Scrabble.
DeleteYou have snow already!!! We went out yesterday without a coat on it was so warm, although today the temps dove again. The puzzle doesn't look that boring. I'm currently on the hunt for 1000 piece mermaid puzzle for my daughter, but can't find any that aren't childish. You made me laugh at the game choices. The complicated games kill me. Have you ever played Color Brain? That's a family favorite in our house. We play the Disney version with the kiddies but the regular version with the adults.
ReplyDelete1000 piece puzzles are not as easy to find as one would think. Whenever I’ve searched online for specific subject matter, I either can’t find it, or they are $50! No thank you! I hate games with complicated rules and pieces. I have not heard of Color Brain,so I will look it up.
DeleteYour blog is (unfortunately) one of several that no longer show up on my reader's list. Sorry for my late arrival.
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned three things that I haven't done in a long time: games, jigsaw puzzles, and libraries. All three bring back pleasant memories and remind me how my life has changed.
When I was a freelance writer I used to spend endless hours doing research in libraries. The Internet suddenly erupted and DRASTICALLY changed everything.
The library Covid rules and regulations are completely insane. I never thought I'd live to see such radical changes....
Your 18 inches of snow is beautiful and Christmasy, but I know it's extremely annoying to live with. The snow here in TN has already melted due to heavy rain.
Hi Jon. I also have reader list issues. My list tends to constantly reorder other people’s posts, causing me to miss new ones. It’s frustrating.
DeleteI think I’ve spent some of my happiest times inside various libraries, from childhood to college to taking my own kids. Hopefully there will be a return to normal in 2021.
I've moved back to snow country and we've only had two dustings so far! It's time to get the puzzles out, however.
ReplyDeletehttps://fromarockyhillside.com
We live in the snow belt, so always get more than most. Enjoy puzzle time!
DeleteWe have some board games we haven't played in quite awhile, so this post inspired me as we have enjoyed them in the post. The beer tasting sounds like a fun event even with only a few folks. Our turkey day was just us two. We did the traditional turkey and sides and ate for a week afterwards in various menus. Yikes on that snow and here in Nashua, NH, despite an all day snow rain came afterwards and washed most of it away overnite. While it was still snowing, we were tree decorating and watching the Santa Claus trilogy. Our library was closed for awhile, then it reopened for awhile, but patrons could only pick-up books, check out the new book display and not browse the stacks. Then the "rules" changed and patrons could browse the stacks by setting up an appointment first. That ended before Thanksgiving, when the library again closed to patrons. But there are online virtual activities offered, including book groups. And curbside pickup has always been in effect. You can go to the library website and select materials, the staff sends you an email when its available and you can walk or drive and call when you have arrived and your materials are brought out to you. Currently, there are no overdue fines being charged as returned materials are being "quarantined." I've been taking advantage of library downloads for e-books and audio books.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you enjoyed your Thanksgiving, just as a couple. The rules for our library have changed a few times; I’m just glad they haven’t shut down completely like they did March till July. I’m just not an e-reader and I can’t do audio because I get distracted.
DeleteOur library shut down again because they had one of their workers test positive. Now you make an appointment to pick up any books you ordered at a designated day and time. I ordered books and my time to pick up is 2 weeks away! I'm hoping they will reopen by then. They were doing a good job with social distancing! You did get a lot of snow!
ReplyDeleteI think with the quarantining of Library books, the turnover has really slowed down. It’s taking a lot longer to receive orders.
DeleteNo games here but lots of fun. No puzzles either .... yet! Puzzles were the last real activity Queenie could do with Mum before she declined so she's not quite ready to do them again. All in good time.
ReplyDeleteWe've gotten back to working our new master bedroom, almost time to move in.
We could use some more good wine and good brews but Queenie is afraid (you know, that Baptist alarmist upbringing) that we'll develop a dependence out of boredom so until Cuomo grows a brain we only sample now and then. Have room for another at your tasting table?? ;-)
I can understand not wanting to do an activity that reminds you of your recently departed parent :(
DeleteActually, 2020 is probably responsible for a preponderance of new addictions. My personal alcohol rule is 2:2. I only ever have what equals to 2 drinks and I never drink 2days in a row.
Close to mine, I (almost) never have more than 1 a day, tastings excepted, so I don't fuss about days-inna-row. Queenie thinks that's a bit too liberal for her tastes
DeleteThat is a long friggin way to get a book. But I suppose safety is key. Better to be too safe than not enough. If only all did that then we wouldn't be in the current state.
ReplyDeleteOverly complicated games just seem like work. Why do I want work? lol
Snow. Blah. All yours. Keep it far far far away please.
I thought the library procedures were overkill, but the library union is protecting its workers. I guess another snowstorm is headed our way next week. Thanks, 2020!
DeleteI am down for some Christmas ale tasting once I can taste again. We are always looking for some fun games to play with the family so thanks for the suggestions. I think 18 inches of snow would send me over the edge this year. We are still without snow in the valley but the mountains are going to get a lot this weekend. Take care.
ReplyDeleteI’d enjoy a post about family games, if you have the time or energy. Large snowstorms put me over the edge every year. People think it’s pretty, but it’s also destructive when it’s that heavy. I spent an hour yesterday cleaning up just the front yard. What a mess!
DeleteWow.... 18 inches of snow. It does "look" good, but I know how can be.
ReplyDeleteIt warmed up yesterday, but it’s snowing again today.
DeleteHaha yes that does look like bit of a boring jigsaw, unless you were able to do it whilst sampling all the different ales. :D
ReplyDeleteIt wasn’t the best puzzle. I have a Miami/South Beach one I’m saving for January.
Delete18 inches of snow?!?!? I think I'd be packing up to move! I've never heard of a fireworks Christmas show, but that sounds fun, and perfect for social distancing. I've been looking at Sushi Go on Amazon, so I'm glad to hear that you liked it. I may go ahead and order it soon. I've never heard of those other games, but Latice Hawaii sounds interesting.
ReplyDeleteYeah, the snow was brutal. The fireworks were the ones the city had planned for July 4th, but never used since the fair was canceled. Sushi Go is fun!
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