Games

Sunday 10-12

This morning on our bike ride we went over to Edgefield again. We explored some of the more remote parking lots and found some great blackberry picking. I picked only a quart or so, but I’m planning to go back soon.

Chris helped me with my new iPad. He showed me how to get my Google contacts to sync—yay! I’m still finding some of the interface a bit baffling, but it’s getting better.

I helped Chris repot their new little Japanese maple tree. That was quite a job. The tree wasn’t doing very well, so they bought some new potting media. On the bottom of the pot we put a layer of crushed pumice to provide drainage. The potting soil was special, and we mixed in sand to make the soil drain well. I hope the little tree perks up.

Chris, Anara, Ken, and I played a game of Carcassonne on Chris’s iPad. The digital play offers some benefits:. For example the board can expand indefinitely in any direction, rather than being limited by the edge of the table. Cleanup and putting away the game is a snap! Of course Chris won. I especially liked having the legal tile placements highlighted. However, an actual board and Meeples has some aesthetic appeal too. I don’t know if it was the digital format that caused it, but people tended to go off to do something and only come back when it was their turn.

Shawn made pasta for dinner. The sauce included artichoke hearts and olives and zucchini, in addition to a marinara sauce base. Anara had plain marinara sauce. The rest of us heartily enjoyed the enhanced version that Shawn created. After dinner we went for a walk through the neighborhood. Then Shawn left to spend the night at her friend’s house dogsitting.

The rest of us played Lord of the Rings with the Sauron expansion. Of course Anara played Sauron, as she always does. Chris and Ken and I played the Fellowship characters. We’ve played this before, and it seems that the odds are stacked against the hobbits: Anara enjoyed playing evil cards and finally beat us completely, despite our best efforts.


This blog entry was written on August 17, when I happened to notice that I had skipped August 12. Fortunately, I had used "Tape-a-Talk" on my phone to record some notes; otherwise I'd have been at a loss to remember everything.