Played Out...

We've been playing games. Literally. The last three nights in a row... playing games... On New Years Eve we went over to the home of friends for a visit. We sat and chatted, caught up on news and watched the evenings celebrations on several TV channels. And then we tried out our new game that hubby got for Christmas. Have you ever heard of Anomia? It was new to all of us. It's fun but you need to pay attention, and you have to think (and speak) quickly. (not so easy after a few drinks...) It's a card game and the cards have various colored symbols and written categories printed on them. Each person turns over a card and when two symbols match, those two players must call out an example of the category on the opposite person's card. Whoever gets the word out first wins the opposite players card, and whoever has the most cards in their winner pile at the end wins the round. The categories range from easy (breed of dog, flavour of ice cream) to more challenging (Super Power or name of an Opera). I know you are thinking "well that's not hard- I can name an Opera". But when you are under pressure and trying to get the words out quickly..well it's pretty funny. We noticed there was a distinct difference in the interpretation of several categories between the generations- for example- Super Power- the older generation took that to mean a country like USA - whereas the younger ones said things like "Invisibility" (obvious Harry Potter readers!) Good fun and lots of laughs.... We also played Quiddler, a card game where you must use the letters on the cards you are dealt, to make words. Also a very fun game; we've had it a while now and really enjoy it. It's a great game for two or more players.

Last night we were invited to the home of other friends for a Raclette dinner and games later... more good times. But first- good food! Are you familiar with Raclette? It originally comes from Switzerland and the Savoy region of France.  The name comes from the French racler which means to scrape. The Raclette grill sits on the table and each person "cooks" their own choice of foods. The top grill section is for cooking- meats, seafood, kebobs, etc.  The small pans go underneath  for heating and melting- we warmed precooked veggies and melted cheese over them, and also toasted bread with garlic butter and cheese. OH SO GOOD!!! Barb had marinated beef, pork, chicken and shrimp. Veggies included potatoes, green beans, mushrooms, onions and asparagus. Garlic butter and grated cheddar made everything taste even better... What a fun and delicious way to spend a few hours with good friends.

Barb and I have been friends since she taught Laura in Grade One. At that time our sons started playing together and they have been best buds ever since- that's about 15 years now. Barb and I are now quilting buddies (that started when Barb's hubby Craig "hired" me to give Barb some quilting lessons for one of those big round number birthdays. She then joined our Guild and the rest is history as they say...) So we all enjoyed getting together, as we've been doing it for quite a while now...but most of all it was a special night for Mark and Geoff. Geoff and Mark are the first two of their "old gang" to finish their first degree; Geoff has now completed 4.5 years of study to become a Geomatic Engineer. He leaves Thursday for Calgary to begin his first job. I call him my "other son" (as Barb refers to Mark) and I think Laura thinks of him as another brother so Mark won't be the only one missing him... 
Again we played Anomia. It really was fun with seven people - you certainly had to pay attention- Laura whooped us all - she was SO fast this time. It was obvious that her young brain can work more quickly than those of the parents....
Tonight we played it for the third time. Laura returns to school tomorrow so was spending this afternoon and evening with her best bud Angela. So of course we had to teach Ange how to play both Anomia and Quiddler... again, Laura whooped our butts.. Just call her Miss Smartiepants... (I think we need to make a rule that from here on, when we play, all "answers" must not have been used before... that might slow her down a little bit...)
Mark is out tonight at Geoff's "going away" party - all the guys who have hung around together since middle and high school are together to give Geoff a send-off.... I'm sure they'll be laughing over past fun times and crazy things they've done... You have to love the humour of a 22 year old. A bunch of them did the Movember thing- then decided they should carry on for a few more months- so it was Decembeard (they just shaved a few days ago), next is Januhairy (no haircuts I guess?) and then Febrowary (unibrows???)
So you can see we've been having fun around here...  Mark got a fun "toy" for Christmas -
Perplexus Epic (thanks to my friend Susan Elliott for suggesting it). It's basically a large clear plastic ball with a "maze" inside- you must tilt, tip and rotate the ball to move a small steel ball through the maze- all 125 steps.. more about that another day. (besides I've only gotten to step 20 at this point- I'd like to be further along before I tell you about it...) Watch this video to see what I'm talking about..
Did you get any fun toys or games for Christmas ?

Peace
Linda

"Games lubricate the body and the mind." ~ Benjamin Franklin