Board Games

..larch leaves falling on poplar leaves
...

Before I fell and hurt my arm, so that I can’t play board games, Bonnie and I would spend evenings playing Lost Cities.

The more I played this game, the more power I had to figure out what it is that makes the game work: when to keep cards in my hand, so that my opponent struggles trying to find them in the deck of unused cards.

As well I get a chance at the end of the game to use my adding skills. 

When I was in grade IX, my mother signed me up for a course down at Henderson’s Secretarial College.

Half the morning was spent learning how to type and the other half of the morning was spent learning how to add columns of numbers, perhaps four columns across with numbers in the hundreds of thousands, and several rows deep.

... larch leaves cover the ground in the fall...

I passed the typing course, and while I was spending my mornings there, I also practiced adding, so I must have passed the adding course.

I had no idea that this skill would ever be useful to me.

But now I find I am an expert in calculating the magnitude of my supremacy over my opponent.

Not only can I get higher figures in the columns, but I can add them at a phenomenal rate.

Indeed, I can figure their totals at the same time, even while doing so upside down.

... Douglas Fir tower over the cabin...

I remain surprised that not everyone has this skill.

Rebecca says I am to blame for not giving her the same foundational education.

She is, however, grateful that she was able to go to Beauty School and thus she has exceptional skills of backcombing.

She is hoping to find a place to practice if anyone is wanting to volunteer once we are out of COVID times, when we will be able to see each other face to face (or rather, scalp to brush).

Arta