Man vs. Machine

We'll need the code breakers from yesterday's topic to whip the computers at checkers.

And all this time I thought a draught in Great Britain was beer drawn from a keg.

Silly me.

Checkers anyone?

there is a chicken that can beat you at tic tac toe, go ahead, look it up

The computer checkers game insisted that it would get to play with the red checkers and I had to settle for the black checkers and when I demanded that I be given the red checkers it threw a hissy fit and logged off.

Spoilsport.

RY, but does the chicken ever win? I've seen a video of a chicken playing Tic-Tac-Toe and now this reminds me of the movie, War Games, with Matthew Broderick. He's a computer whiz who accidently hacks into a top secret government computer with control over the U.S. nuclear arsenal. He thinks he's only playing a game when he's challenged to play "Global Thermonuclear War"... which starts the countdown to world war lll. The tension mounts when the computer is searching for the launch codes which will send nuclear missiles against Russia. Russia is poised to do the same against America. Broderick stops the countdown by showing the computer how to play Tic Tac Toe, which teaches the computer the concept of futility..
 
Here's a challenge      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmZ-wApjUlE
And the winner is        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npQ8sDxcI_c ;

My dad played Checkers at the pro level and would take my mom all over the country. No machines back then but He had his heroes. They were folk legends in their arena. Kind of like John Henry, the steel drivin man who beat the machiblight lost his life.

Now for me, Checkers was about hanging with the old guys in bib overalls who played at the hardware store where I strolled to get fishing supplies and Nutty Buddies, my favorite ice cream treat. I could listen to them talk for hours about mining disasters and war heroes and local politics. The only machine they ultimately played against was that big old clock on the wall. I didn't realize it at the time but they were in their last days and time and Black Lung diseasr were their real opponents. They have been gone for many years but those old weathered hands embedded with coal dust are still teaching me it wasn't about winning at Checkers but being with friends. Those poor machines just don't get it it. Most people these days don't either. Wisdom comes at a huge cost when you're old. Funny isn't it? King me.

Good morning JANE, RY, LOT, & TT..............
 
JANE................I've never seen War Games, but my husband has mentioned it before. I will have to check it out. I hope you had the most relaxed day of all yesterday!
 
TT................great vivid post. Those moments are what shape us & what we remember...........really nice........................
 
Enjoy your day all!
 

Good Morning All! 
 
Tommy ~ What a pleasant story.  A Norman Rockwell picture was painted right before my eyes.  

Jane ~ So funny.  Do you think the chicken was negotiating for a bigger slice of that quarter?

My husband is a very good checkers player.  For awhile our grandchildren were bringing their games with them to challenge him.  He wouldn't let them win though, same with me and Scrabble, but the games did get lively.  Sadly video games slowly but surely took their place.  That's one good thing about the interactive video games such as WEI and XBOX:  they do allow play between the generations.

And what else can the machine do?  They have robot vacuum cleaners now that can do your whole house, and robot lawn mowers.  I would not call the computer that plays checkers bright; it is a machine with a program to do one thing.  And as they make circuits smaller and can put more in a computer, the programs get bigger and more elaborate.  However, I have seen estimates for the number of connections in the human brain, and some estimates now are as high as a trillion.  A computer can never match that number of synapses with the infinite number of connections.  It is that capacity that makes us self-aware and conscious.  If the computer can win at checkers, what else can it do?  Can it pray or love or have compassion?  I haven't played checkers since I was a kid, but I'll take Tommy's old boys down at the hardware store any day.  Once the checker game is over, we could swap stories, enjoy the sunset, and go home for dinner.  And then decide the next day whether to play checkers or do something else.

bebe ~
The Beauty's senior winter exercise group was told that they would not meet if the schools closed (we get real winter weather).
Yesterday was an in-service day in the system and almost nobody showed.

RY ~
You're right about the Chinatown tic-tac-toe chicken, he almost never loses.
Not exactly a state fair specimen, he looks like he might keep shady company in his off hours and is not rewarded with a food pellet if he fails to win.
A checkers or chess chicken taking on Chinook or Marion Tinsley would be a fascinating thing to hear about… wouldn't really care to watch.

The first person to tie this into climate change can go face the corner……..
make that the second person.

Lynne ~ So do agree with you.  While I can't relate to the checkers stories, I can relate to Scrabble on computer compared to playing with my kids and/or friends.  They still want to pull out the board and play with me.  We would put on a pot of tea, or now maybe wine, and just have more fun.  For me now on computer, it's a good way to hone my mind, but not the fun it is with people.

http://youtu.be/SuQY1_fCVsA

Out of the Scrabble games my children andI played came threats  like "Psycological body-slam, spiritual thrashing" and  many, many other descriptions of the doom about to be visited on anyone who dared op "take your not too humble superiore on in a game of  Scrabble?!"

ANDY I'll bring the ultra fancy Scrabble set I got for Christmas to the sepiatrain tonight and we can have some cocktails while we play! I know just what you mean about playing on computer (or in my case kindle as my computer does not like game apps for some reason).

STONEY Its interesting to me that the use of narration with a British accent actually made the instruction more compelling and I paused as I was unwrapping my L.D. Swiss Rolls (wink). oh and lol "second person."

Good morning all.  Computer games are everywhere, unfortunately.  Wii, Ninetendo or even "Guitar Hero" not EVERYONE can play.  Like checkers and chess, some are just relegated to watching the fun.  I like checkers and I know how to play chess, but I am not very good at it, I taught my sons how to play and they whip me, so I don't enjoy playing chess with them (I told you, I am not good at chess).   I like to play DOMINOES!  I have a set of LARGE 9'S AND 12'S.  On family holidays, we get out the dominoes, digest the feast and play a little strategy.  If you pay attention, it is a GREAT game.
 
I brought my dominoes to my Cub Scout meeting a couple of weeks ago and those 7 year-olds learned how to play Chicken Foot (or Turkey tracks).  It teaches them patience, strategy and it is fun.  Tonight we are learning to raise the flag (flag etiquette is part of an achievement) and I know they will want two things afterward.... cookies and dominoes!
 
Next week we will play marbles on the floor. 

TOMMY ~ I have got to ditto Miss Bebe, Miss Andy and Lynn...great tale. 
You almost out stonyed Stoney.  I was attempting to capture that same flavor
yesterday but did not quite manage to put the lid on it soon enough. Although I
could hear Stoney's voice in the back of my head repeating over and over, "put a
lid on it, kid, just put a lid on it."
 
Even though they still gather outside the local grocery, I haven't seen the
old timers playing checkers and their numbers seem to have dwindled.  I can't
really tie that to global warming, but I can tie it to climate change.  I think
that there is little reverance for the old and the wise, they are seen to be a
burden or irrelevant and it has become more convenient to shuffle the old timers
off to an assisted living center rather than care for them at home.  I know that isn't a fair generalization, but I also know there are a lot of lonely old people out there whose faces light up whenever someone (and they don't really care who) comes for a visit.
 
If you are looking for a good game of checkers.  Try the local Cracker
barrel.  It's good family fun.

Tommy, you are so on spot with your post. Checkers is so much more that a game. It's a common denominator, a reason to be around your friends, family, and also serves as a good ice breaker with new acquaintances.

My favorite games where played sprawled out on the floor with the board between me and my grandson who would always pull a new rule out of his pocket whenever the need arose.

We had some good heart-to-heart conversations over checkers. I hope he remembers them as fondly as I do "when his eyes are level with mine".

Jane, I remember seeing War Games wth my sons. Kinda scary. That was Mathew Broderick before Ferris Buelhler which really make me old today.

My younger son is 33 today which really reinforces the 'how did I get to be here' feeling,

Be well

Chef Deb ~ You're on!
 
Paolos ~ Unfortunately, there aren't too many local grocery stores around any more nor are there any barrels to set up the board.  I do see the old timers (and by that I mean, of course, older than me.....of course) gathering in either McDonald's or Dunkin' Donuts, but mostly just for company and talk. 

Wonderful posts everyone.  I don't play too many games anymore, mainly because I'm not very good at them. I used to play Stratego with my brother all the time. We played every day, multiple times a day and I NEVER WON A SINGLE GAME.  I've never won at Monopoly either. I guess it's a board game thing. But in college, I played Bridge incessantly and got to be a decent player. In fact, I think my real major in college was Bridge, not History (which is what the paperwork says.)
 
Anyway, some of my best memories are playing games with my Dad. He never watched TV, so our time together was usually spent either walking the dogs or playing games. We often played the card game Russian Bank. I don't recall how it is played anymore, I'll have to google it. I know it was played with 2 decks and it was a fun game that could be played for hours.  Maybe I beat him once, I don't remember. I just remember that when I was in college my Dad sent me a New Yorker cartoon of a father with his pouting daughter playing a game.  the caption read: Well it wouldn't be any fun if Daddy let you win, would it?  My Dad was awesome.

Chef Deb--I do love Scrabble!  Let's have a couple tables. I'll bring the wine, you can make some finger food!

And backgammon! I love backgammon. During one of the Great NYC Blackouts, the one in the 70s, my husband and I had been playing backgammon for hours. The power went off and we lit a candle and turned on the transistor radio without either one of us losing a turn. Before long the apt was full of other tenants who heard the music and came in. A black out party! Except my husband and I never looked up from our backgammon games.....

Sundays at my Mom's were split between backgammon and finishing the Times puzzle.

My mother played Bridge until she died at 87. It was always appalling to her that I never learned, as one is somehow disgraced by having a daughter lacking certain social graces. However I am sure I did miss the boat on that.

IMARJORIE (I do wish I could write in bold here) you're on...I will put all the food on toothpicks so we don't get the Scrabble tiles dirty. Fellow computer Scrabble players--do you get as annoyed as I do when the computer wins? I cannot bring my average wins over 88%--drives me nuts but I always complete the games or I would somehow feel slightly soiled. (laughing)

TOMMY=absolutely great vignette...thank you. I could feel the sun.

PAOLOS--glad you said "almost"!!! Although you too are very close sometimes, but Stoney IS the man here.

I can't help observing a certain dearth of regular posters here today....I hope it wasn't something I said.....

A good friend of mine is addicted to FB scrabble. I don't play any games on the computer at all. I don't need another addiction--this place is addictive enough!

Speaking of playing games, check this out.   Next thing you know dogs and cats will be living together! 
 
 
http://boingboing.net/2012/01/23/good-news-whale-and-dolphins.html

ChefDeb ~ There are those conspicuous by their absence, but because of
something YOU said?  I don't think so.  Now I have been known to stir the pot,
but a swift kick in the rear from Stoney is about all it takes to shut me up for
a while.  See how easy it is to be bold? You just need the right
tools.
 
Jigsaw puzzles are my favorite, because both of my little girls like to
start them (out of the box and onto the table) and finish them (the last few
pieces and another few while their attention span lasts). They are quite good at
plugging in the right pieces, the difficult part is making sure their hands
aren't covered with peanut butter or jelly. 
 
Their other favorite activity is TIME IN as opposed to TIME OUT.  It came
about as a veiled threat one day when the youngest's behavior was so wrong and
yet so funny.  I couldn't punish her and I couldn't let her get away with it. 
YOU, young lady are due for some time IN.  The puzzled look on her face
let me know she didn't know what to expect and that is usually punishment enough
for her.  What's time in, daddy? she asked a little sheepishly as I
picked her up off the ground and wrapped her in a hug.  This is, I told
her as I smothered her face in daddy kisses.
 
 
IIIIIVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
ChefDeb needs a jury of her peer.

I had an uncle that was an excellent checker player and could beat all the locals and the settings were just as TT described. During WW2 while being stationed at Ft. Knox he was playing a national checker champion. The USO would have different noted people to come and challenge the troops saying it was good for morale,and it was. Ping Pong champs chess and checker champs etc. Any way my uncle tied the champion two games in a row and was written up in local papers anf the FT. Knox  base paper. He taught me how to play when i was just a lad and would play with only about two thirds of his men and would still win. As I improved he would add men until he had a full compliment of men. Of course I never won but learned a lot about checkers and a few other things. Often some of my friends would join and take turns playing and always lost, but we enjoyed the games and the bonding. This was after the war.

PAOLOS, kind words from you but if a certain blogg oops poster y'day wasn't offended by me I am far too subtle. Perhaps my acerbic sarcastic tooonnnneee does not translate to the page. LOVE the "Time In" Gonna steal it for my almost 2 yr old granddaughter who is currently experiencing more Time outs than she cares for.

RWH1 ~ Wouldn't it tickle you to know that it was Tommy's
pops that played your uncle? That would be too cool.


IMarjorie ~ The whale dolphin
behavior is well chronicled in a novel by Christopher Moore,
FLUKE.  It is a borderline scholarly work (the border between
sophmoric and moronic), but will not disappoint if it's laughter you are
wanting.

Checkers, backgammon,Chess,scrabble, jax,played and as I remember my Grandmother, "Nana,' taught her grandchildren...we played numerous; it was a lifestlye..gaming...I know I taught my children...but they are gamers of the internet...My daughter dates one of the most famous gamers...in the world; he is a world champion...too; his pictures on the gamebox...whooty, hoot hoot!Very busy working on the Whole Being Health Expo check:thundermtlenape.org and you'll see one of my projects and as a Dietitianwork a thelping people with special diets..etc...on this "eye," i will give basic information but i want my "eye" experience not to be dietary counseling...remember i am reprograming my mind to acquire better communicating skills and conversation and tea...maybe a long island tea...occassionally too...see i do not drink or smoke..so for me, to have a wine with dinner is super.unusual.. I do not have time to luxuriate...too busy teaching, instructing and helping...others...but on vocation...i want to have a Long Island Ice Tea...too..    ; - )  Chefdeb, just a note...prevention...for kitchen rules...you have to help the employee not to let something get taken from your kitchen; like your recipes...a couple steaks...because your the leader the director, ensure all possibilities of it not happening, so you give your hired help tools...for prevention...education...reminders...aid them with knowledge...people want to learn...they want to eat steak. you needed the knowledge that this kind of thing could happen....it wasnt personal it was the person was in despair.weirdness.....despair is everywhere...constant continuous reminders.......prevention is the best medicine..you have to excite confidence and it will follow through your employee yes,, sometimes there are thinking problems of the employee..but try to help them...you should see it....i know you know this i just had to iterate it...savin an employee from a problem... in the long run will save you Money!!!
..Our hospital staff low turnover and abundance in kindness...happy for the most part...a team...   this is long ago ...but good memories : + ).... Bee code, that i provided... has alot of positive...reasoning to it ; in yesterdays..discussion...i was going to put a question mark? after we could help ourselves out following their lifestyle..? Bees are fuzzy soft. too...i just find them so admirable...instincts super human...! This winter was harder on the Honey bees than last year...when its cold they huddle and never leave the nest...these warm period spouts..of weather....causes the honeybee to leave the nest and forge and more often then enough they do not return back to the hive...and the bees remaining will die-off...they're darn fascinating..Okey... Dokey Later!

I do not think that, i will be indoctorinated to playing online games...but this "eye" is maybe a game of sorts....and the begining of my indoctrination of a new way of thinking and gaming...OH MY!!!

Paolos, thanks for the reading tip. I just wish I wasn't so far behind in my reading.  I've picked up many great books on recommendations from the folks here, but I spend way too much of my free time watching TV.  Sometimes on something "good" like Downton Abbey, but then I also get hooked on NCIS re-runs. I'm hopeless.
 
I did purchase, via Amazon, Death Comes to Pemberly that was recommended here. That book has my name all over it. I love PD James and have read most of her books, and P&P is one of my all-time favorites. That one I will read and right away!

KING ME !http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbK0C9AYMd8 ;

CD--I think your subtlety is a good thing. You don't want to get in too much trouble, like KSS

       .--. .-.. . .- ... . | -- .- -.- . | - .... . | ...- --- .. -.-. . ... | ... - --- .--.

TT, wonderful post.  
 
bebe, I had the laziest day I can remember ever having, without being sick. It was just what I needed. Thanks for asking. War Games is a good movie...sort of a Fail Safe premise. I liked it.  
 
ChefDeb, another very nice recollection....your 12:05. I marjorie, yours too. My mother was a Bridge player too, long ago in another lifetime it seems, but I never learned. My mother and two sisters and I did play Whist fairly often at the round table in the kitchen.  She said  Whist was similar to Bridge.. It was so long ago, I don't know if I can remember how.  
 
I've never played Scrabble on my phone...well, I have an almost obsolete mobile. ...but I've never played a video game.... on anything. My son plays scrabble on his iPhone....he showed me and it just isn't the same.....there is something about reaching into a bag and picking the tiles to play Scrabble...holding them in your hand and making a move. ... being face to face with your opponent ...playing a game with tension and laughter and talk inbetween plays...a warm feeling you can't get through a machine or mechanical device..but he always has his Chess set in his car and at family occasions will bring it in and set up a match....he's teaching my grandson.  Some of my fondest memories are playing checkers, cards, pick-up-sticks and the like with my sisters when we were kids. I don't think you can get those memories from playing on an iPhone or such.  
 
Paolo...love your Time In...perfect.  
 
rwh1, very nice...yes, wouldn't it be cool if your uncle happened to have played TT's dad. Probably no way to know...but just thinking of the possibility .... how serendipitous.

Chefdeb thanks for your backgammon story; i remember being in Baltimore visiting my cousin, curator of the Baltimore museum at that time...80's, when you live in the city; you have to weave arooooooooooooooooooound alot to go about......and backgammon we played on the rooftop of a nearby Brownstone...We all the entire 4 generations of family members 2 games going.....by the blue lapis swimming pool...picnics, sunny days and Backgammon were made for Baltimore Days! Smile...it makes your cheeks get shiny..

.Chefdeb i will recipe swap soon...its funny on this eye you post a thought and someone else post simultaneously...and ooops you might have said the wrong feeling of a post...oooops.....!

I love puzzles...sit...sit...and sit....study....configure....the pieces....i have finished many puzzles,my brothers and sisters used to hide a piece so when it was time to put in the last piece...oh how, that was such a big deal, i always gave in with my hidden piece..my one brother always ...won..or the other of the two brothers...the puzzles were
.....large thousand piecer ones'!!

PL:  about game rules:  your grandson and I are cut from the same cloth.  With a perfectly straight face I can announce that "Yes, absolutely, that is a rule - absolutely.  If we only had that rulebook we threw out 20 years ago, I'd show you, but yes, truly, it's a rule."  Snicker.

PL:  Happy B-Day to your son.  My little pink bundle of joy will turn 37 next month.  It's scary.  I remember like it was yesterday, being 37 - mid life crisis! - and now it's my baby's turn. Wow.  It's all very confusing, isn't it?  

PL, my son is 35, so I know the feeling...but really, I feel almost young....almost.
 
Penelopetx, my grandkids play Rock Band, an interactive video game where up to four players simulate the performance of popular rock songs by playing with "instrument controllers". Sometimes adults will join in, though I haven't yet, it is fun to watch them. They have a bunch of different games....one, a dancing one ....I can't think of the name... is especially fun to watch as they try to keep up with the dance moves. Fun, though I think it's as much or more to just dance to the music ...freely....but this is the age of technology and these are the games that kids are playing.

oh my.

Oh I do wish we had a "delete" button sometimes. Anyway, thanks for kind words and thoughts to JANE, IMARJORIE, VIOLET ROSE et al. Got to finish my Scrabble game before the light changes too much and I have to squint at the tiny little letters I have to push to make a word. The weather was perfect today for bread baking and it turned out gloriously. Weather really does make a difference. Especially with scones--rainy day scones, not so good. Talk about O.T.

ChefDeb:  you are funny, in a very good way.  Oh my indeed.

TT--wonderful thoughts....Paolos--such a good Daddy you are!  I'll bet your girls are always shrieking with joy when you're around!---Being as technologically challenged as I am, I would never even think about playing  computerized game--I'm beat before I even start!

I've never been good at the "strategy" part of games--the part that makes them games!  In Scrabble I don't spend time looking for triple letter scores and double word scores--I just concentrate on spelling words!  Checkers never even looked like fun to me, although I would spend long minutes arranging the board as if to play or just making stacks and stacks of the checkers.  Ours were plastice with grroved edges so they almost interlocked when you stacked them.  And the patterns you could make with just black and red.....!  

Goin sew a pink panther skirt, today, scissors & tea, for me, now and throughout the cold cloudin evein...Audios Amigos! 

Carol--I did the same thing with checkers.  I hadn't thought of that until you mentioned it. I never mastered the game, but liked playing with the pieces.
 
My husband is an excellent Scrabble player and often has the opportinity to use all his letters and get that bonus. I always look for the triple and double scores--kind of like clipping for coupons or getting BYGO. Where I lack is the word thing--I never use all my letters in one turn. Either I'm word challenged, or I never get as good letters as he does.  Probably a combination of the two.

IVAN, IVAN, IVAN ---- WHERE ARE YOU?

Carol ~  Me either!  I love the challenge of forming words; often use all seven of my letters, but hate the "strategy part and really am not good at it.  I could never play chess where they're five or six or ten moves ahead in their minds, I just like the games.

Park ~ 37 is the age I seem to be stuck on.  Even my kids are byond that now, but if you woke me up in the middle of the night and asked me how old I am, I would say "37".......wishful thinking?

Voices, voices is anyone else hearing voices?  I hope it isn't stoney again...put a lid on it kid.

Andy, that's so funny....37 was a very good age for me....maybe it was an especially good year for you.

You guys are like, so machure...wake me up and I'm like 17..WHATever!

BEBE---Belt bulletin!!!

I had not thought about yhe possibility of TT's dad play my uncle. that would be great if had happened but now ai can't ask my uncle-he passed away some years ago but that was in the right part of the country for it to have happened.

Andy, that's interesting.  37....I don't think I'm 37, when I wake up - I think I"m more around my 40's when I wake up.  Thing is, with me, as the day advances, I get younger.  And for the life of me I can't figure out why, I would think I'd get tired and older, but NO, by dinner I'm having a gay old time, poor husband, he's dealing with a kid, almost.  I just find things (generally) pretty darned funny, and there 's a lot to laugh about by 7 p.m.   .... I know what you're thinking:  but I don't drink, (alcohol), or do any of that other fun stuff.  ........ I'd worry about myself, but when I wake up the next morning, there I am, again, early 40's and relatively serious and sane.  Some sort of weird Peter Pan thing...I try, but I can't grow up.

P4, I have days like that, and if there were no mirrors (sometimes unavoidable) in the house, I'd swear I was a kid again, but it's not an everyday thing.... I agree that there is so darned much to laugh about though, so I think that keeps us young....me anyway.

Jane ~ I don't remember it being especially great or better, it's just a nice comfortable age and, I probably can't think of the real one without stuttering.
 
Park ~ I think I'm younger until I check out the mirror -- 'just who is that looking back at me?"  I feel younger, maybe that's it; inside 'm really immature.

Draughts or checkersDraughts as in those chilly breezes that sneak into your houseDraughts as in evil tasting medicinal liquidsDraughts, handsome dray horses Draught ale (thanks lotlot) from a pump on the bar of an English country pub. Draught- the depth of water a boat needsIsn't language wonderful?I've been here all day, but in a foul mood, so spared you my grouchiness. It's duvet time now, hope I get out of bed the right side tomorrow. Nos da, dear people. x

Man and computer playing checkers.  Man: Betcha couldn't beat my dog.

Draughts - checkersDraughts, those chilly breezes that sneak under the doorDraughts - evil-tasting medicinal potionsDraughts - the fine pair of heavy working horsesDraughts of ale from a pump on the bar of an English pub (thanks lotlot)What a wonderful language we have.I have been around all day but in a foul mood, so thought I'd spare you my grouchiness. Hope I get out of the right side of bed tomorrow. Nos da, dear people. x

Draughts - checkersDraughts, those chilly breezes that sneak under the doorDraughts - evil-tasting medicinal potionsDraughts - the fine pair of heavy working horsesDraughts of ale from a pump on the bar of an English pub (thanks lotlot)What a wonderful language we have.I have been around all day but in a foul mood, so thought I'd spare you my grouchiness. Hope I get out of the right side of bed tomorrow. Nos da, dear people. x

Aaaaaaaarrrrrrggggghhhhhh! Bloody computer.Has anybody tried playing checkers with Floyd?

Aaaaaaaarrrrrrggggghhhhhh! Bloody computer.Has anybody tried playing checkers with Floyd?

“He’s not so smart. He only beat me three out of four games.”

Tommy T

A little shack stood on a gentle rise at a bend of the Lumber River where one could fill up with gas, buy some smokes (Granddad always smoked Lucky Strikes...LSMFT ya know), get some bait and procure the basics for a rat cheese or bologna sandwich. (And despite grandma's disapproval, I am
certain the occasional Mason jar filled with a clear liquid.)South Eastern Coastal North Carolina summer afternoons will usually find the thermostat set to broil, so by 3 o'clock everyone was ready to 
get out of the heat. In the late afternoon farmers and tradesmen who had
been hard at work before daybreak, gathered for checkers, gossip and fishin'.

.....aw dang it I've GOT to study for a test tomorrow and just
don't have the time to finish this.

Hazel, my
Granddad called checkers draughts too. Along the coast of Va and North Carolina,
many still have the speech and expressions of their ancestors.

JANE..................glad you had a wonderful day, you deserve it!
 
PAOLOS...................what a lovely, lovely story about time in....................your girls are so very lucky to have you!
 
CHEFD.....................???????? splain..................
 
MISS BLUE..................you can't do that, get back & finish...................
 
PARK & PL.....................lucky, lucky children of yours w/ birthdays...................
 
Is anyone else just tired???????????? I just think about how lucky the chidren of all the people whom I love on this site are...........................how splendid to have many of you as parents................................I can't even write a clear post, but you get my drift.................
 
 

Today has been a wonderful day. Thanks all...and you Mr. P for helping me to daily find those little tidbits of my soul.

What a nice day it has been. The weather was sunny and warmer than usual, the topic breathed fresh life into many very good memories and the kind of smiles that begin with the eyes.

Bebe..... You're the cat's pajamas!

Nos da y'all ....

Miss Blue ~ Lovely story; I wish you'd finish it.
 
And still, no IVAN ??????

Miss Blue, we will be waiting for the rest of your memory tomorrow.....

Yes Miss Blue around these parts life is a run on sentence- No periods just dramatic pauses

Miss Blue, please don't leave us waiting....and then?
 
bebe, I feel refreshed! Hope you're havinga wonderful week. I think your students are very fortunate to have you in their lives....whether they realize it yet or not.
 
Hazel, sweet dreams and wake refreshed and in a good mood. 

Chef Deb !  I LOVE TO PLAY BACKGAMMON!  That was one of the MANY things I learned in College!  I could play for hours!

Ya know what term Scrabble uses when you use all of your letters on one turn?

You'd think something difficult... like... "Scrabble"

Nope. It's called a "BINGO".

What?

Ummgawa...I agree...but if not Scrabble, then maybe a word with 7 letters which ties in with the number of tiles in a rack....but BINGO?

I flew Delta to Vegas today. Asked each and every crew
member if they knew a Capt.  Pete Zacowzee or anything close.  I
figgerred anything close to it oughta ring a bell.  Nope, Nuttin, I don't
think he exists. On all my Delta flights I haven't once heard an announcement This
is your captin pete zacowsee or somethin like it. How many captins can delta have for pete'ssake? I'm beginning to
think he flies for Southwest.

I haven’t been to Vegas since the Treasure Island fire.  I am staying at the Aria, the complex of 5 hotels developed by MGM is
called City Centre and it is a sheet of glass. 
The sun is retreating behind the mountains.  It has been bouncing off windows all
day.  The potus will be here tomorrow, maybe
he will have time for a drink before he flies out.

I hope Miss Blue remembers what she did with them Catawba worms.