Catching Up

My editor tells me that I should be writing and updating…regardless of whether I have photos to aid the blog…or not.  So, since i am sitting on a plane…with moderate audio/video offerings…I am plugged into some light classical music and writing.


A few weeks ago our gaming crowd veered away from a BUNCO night and tried our new favorite game…Left, Right, Center.  Once again, we chose a game that required only dice, a little bit of attention, and to make it interesting…some money.

One of the great things about Left-Right-Center is that you can play the game and visit at the same time.  The game also lends itself to eating and libations while playing so we planned a meal of heavy pupu’s—a phrase from our days living in Hawaii meaning heavy appetizers—and surrounding the kitchen island while we played.  It was a crowd with many of the usual suspects…which also meant many great pupus for the enjoyment of all of us.  Of course we did spend the first hour eating and enjoying something to drink before settling into the game.

Food around the outside…beverages on ice in the island sink…dice and money on the island in front of us.

Left, Right, Center is a game that Jessica told us about—she had played it with several friends in Phoenix and thought it would fit right in with our BUNCO crowd.  The playing dice (there are three die) each have two faces with an L (for Left), two with an R (for right), and…for those of you who think you have already figured this out…only one face with a C and one face with a black dot.


The game set comes with the dice and a stack of chips to hand out to the players.  We could have played with the chips, but taking a cue from Jessica’s experience…and not wanting to be whimpy about it…we asked everyone to bring three one dollar bills (actually we asked them to bring six…more on that later).  As the game starts the player with the dice has three bills so they can roll all three dice.  Whatever shows up on the dice is what the player does with the money…either pass bills to the left (one for each die with an L on it), the right (same thing), into the center for each C, or keeping a bill for each dot rolled…then passing the dice to their left for the next player’s turn.  You can only roll as many dice as you have bills in front of you (with a maximum of three dice).  Although you could lose all your bills on your first throw, you are never really out until all the bills are in the center and one player left with at least one bill…because the person you handed the dice to may roll something that gives you some bills back…or the player on your other side may also pass you some bills on their turn.



Play goes round-and-round and with thirteen people playing it can take some time…particularly with money changing hands.  We did play the first round with quarters…just ot get everyone familiar with the game.  Jim Nowak ended up weighed down with 39 quarters.  A few snacks and then we got out the real money—dollar bills.  Susanne Cimochowski won the next round and then Dennis McCarthy won a round.  Everyone should have been out of their six singles by this point, but there was enough interest that more bills were found (or exchanged) so we could play one more time. 

Just as he did with the quarters, Jim Nowak came through on the final round to win again.  He can be seen in the photo with his winnings tucked away into an inconspicuous place.

It was a great night and a game we will surely play again…possibly at a family gathering…bring your bills!

FOOTBALL…Navy Style

A couple of weeks later we headed to New Jersey to join forces for a Navy football game.  When Navy plays Notre  Dame  it is either at South Bend (Notre Dame’s home) or a neutral site (which becomes Navy’s home).  This year it was at the New Meadowland Stadium and Scott had gotten us tickets.

Nana and Papa had headed down earlier in the week and Cheri and I joined them at the Whitney’s on Friday evening…another great opportunity for steak and wonderful wine.  Dan and Monica were there for the evening as well so we were able to catch up with them a bit.  And if that wasn’t enough…it was also Nana’s birthday…a triple header for the weekend!

Saturday morning we guys headed out to the stadium with enough time to find our seats, get something to eat and then watch the Brigade march on.  We had great seats and the new stadium is beautiful.

The game started with Notre Dame getting the first kick-off.  They worked their way down the field and ended up on the one-half yard line and a fourth down…of course they went for it…Navy held their ground and kept Notre Dame out of the end zone.  Besides taking the ball away from them, Navy then marched down the field and scored the first touchdown of the game…it was just a sign of things to come.

Navy was ahead 17 – 3 at the half, but having experienced games against Notre Dame in the past this was not enough of a cushion.  Fortunately Navy got the kick-off to begin the second half and again marched down the field to score.

Notre Dame did come back a little late in the fourth quarter…after both teams had put in backup players…but it wasn’t enough.  The final score…Navy 35  Notre Dame 17…and it wasn’t even that close. You can see that many of the seats on the Notre Dame side were already empty…made getting out of the parking lot fairly easy. 


Three of the last four years Navy has beaten Notre Dame.  It may not continue, but we are enjoying it while we can.

Sort of a Guys’ Weekend

The next weekend I had the rare chance to accompany Cheri to one of her conferences.  It was being held in Portland, ME so we took advantage of the opportunity and stayed at the Morris’ for the weekend.

Saturday morning Cheri was off to her course being held at the Maine Medical Center, Stephanie had some shopping to do and that left James and I to engineer some Saturday morning chores.

We had a garage door to fix, which meant scoping out the job, developing a list of supplies, a trip to Lowe’s, and working on the door structure.  Surprisingly, we ended up with all the right parts, engineered a new supporting design, reinforced one of the other spring arrangements, and had the door working properly in less than two hours.  That meant we had time to take Angus (their black lab) out for a couple mile walk in the woods on a beautiful fall day.  I regretted not having my camera with me on the walk because the woods and the trail were quintessential New England.

After we got back we determined that we needed to continue our manly ways by going to a rib place for lunch.  Nearby is Buck Naked Ribs…so named because the owner’s name is Buck and he only uses a dry rub on the ribs…therefore naked of sauce while cooking.  There are sauces available on the side and we made the most of it.  Hot ribs and cold beer on tap…a manly lunch.

Since it was Saturday…and we had full bellies…it was time to watch a little college football and doze a little.  Cheri joined us later in the afternoon and we continued to enjoy the time with our friends, their famous homemade pizza—it really is outstanding—and some more sports on the TV.  We did take a little break from sports to watch the Rally to Restore Sanity which had been taped earlier and we are not sure but we think we saw Margaret Morris in the crowd.

Sunday morning I dropped Cheri off at her conference and then sang with James in their church choir.  James had a great solo part in a gospel piece we sang and I enjoyed my time with their choir.  Then it was quickly off to pick up Cheri and head back to Connecticut.  We wanted to get back in time for the memorial service for a church friend, Paul Wolf.

Another great series of adventures.  As I mentioned I am on a flight…Cheri and I are on our way to Denver to visit Jessica at her new place.  Jess and PJ are looking forward to our coming out and I will have more on this new adventure soon.