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susandennisNPR just played a story about the value and fun of math. The guy said that learning math at home can be great fun. He said a great way to do it was by playing games like Yahtzee, Gin Rummy and Cribbage.
He just described my family's entertainment. My father taught us all to play gin rummy as soon as our hands got big enough to hold cards. We had massive, bloody and multi-day family Yahtzee tournaments. (I was the fastest on the arithmetic and as a kid was delighted when everyone looked to me for the dice total for scoring.)
A friend of my Dad's once got a massive (like 2 feet in diameter and about 7 feet long) tree and split it in half, slapped on legs and carved out a cribbage table on the flat side. Then he took the other half and carved out one for us. The pegs were the size of pez dispensers. We played for hours and hours.
All this was decades before STEM and way more funner.
We also played a lot of backgammon. When I got my first work bonus ever, I was in Dallas, TX at sales training down the street from the original Neiman Marcus. I wandered down at lunch and bought Mom and Dad a fancy travel backgammon set. Over the years I had to completely redo the felt inside several times as they kept wearing it out.
When Daddy died, their score notebook showed he owed Mom something like $22K. She was the champion but he was the one who so loved all the games - anything you could play sitting down with a scotch in one hand was his favorite!
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A couple of weeks ago I was looking at packing up my airconditioner on wheels and rolling into its 'barn' for the winter. I'm looking out at the 10 day for cast and still seeing near 80 degree days. WTF??? Look at the calendar, weather people!!! We in for some days of rain but even those days are more warm, humid fast hard rain like the East Coast has instead of our way nicer cool, drizzle rain. Not good.
Today's swim can't happen til the pool opens at 11. I'll be there then.
Today's baseball game is at 11 as well. I've gotten so I fast forward through most of them lately anyway. Some of the playoff situations are kind of looking interesting, though.
My arms and hands are both looking fairly normal these days. The worst of the current purple blood bruises have healed. It's fun to be able to wear short sleeves for a bit. I've discovered that while the slightest thump on the back of my hand or arm will result in an ugly purple spot without fail if I'm out of the pool, IN the pool, is a different story. The lanes are marked by hard plastic rings on a wire and often I hit it with the back of my hand and nothing. And earlier this week I got roundly whacked on the arm by a guy in the next lane. On land, that whack would have been an instant purple blotch the size of a dollar coin. In the water... nothing! I think I am a fish.
Now this fish has to put in a load of laundry.
He just described my family's entertainment. My father taught us all to play gin rummy as soon as our hands got big enough to hold cards. We had massive, bloody and multi-day family Yahtzee tournaments. (I was the fastest on the arithmetic and as a kid was delighted when everyone looked to me for the dice total for scoring.)
A friend of my Dad's once got a massive (like 2 feet in diameter and about 7 feet long) tree and split it in half, slapped on legs and carved out a cribbage table on the flat side. Then he took the other half and carved out one for us. The pegs were the size of pez dispensers. We played for hours and hours.
All this was decades before STEM and way more funner.
We also played a lot of backgammon. When I got my first work bonus ever, I was in Dallas, TX at sales training down the street from the original Neiman Marcus. I wandered down at lunch and bought Mom and Dad a fancy travel backgammon set. Over the years I had to completely redo the felt inside several times as they kept wearing it out.
When Daddy died, their score notebook showed he owed Mom something like $22K. She was the champion but he was the one who so loved all the games - anything you could play sitting down with a scotch in one hand was his favorite!
------
A couple of weeks ago I was looking at packing up my airconditioner on wheels and rolling into its 'barn' for the winter. I'm looking out at the 10 day for cast and still seeing near 80 degree days. WTF??? Look at the calendar, weather people!!! We in for some days of rain but even those days are more warm, humid fast hard rain like the East Coast has instead of our way nicer cool, drizzle rain. Not good.
Today's swim can't happen til the pool opens at 11. I'll be there then.
Today's baseball game is at 11 as well. I've gotten so I fast forward through most of them lately anyway. Some of the playoff situations are kind of looking interesting, though.
My arms and hands are both looking fairly normal these days. The worst of the current purple blood bruises have healed. It's fun to be able to wear short sleeves for a bit. I've discovered that while the slightest thump on the back of my hand or arm will result in an ugly purple spot without fail if I'm out of the pool, IN the pool, is a different story. The lanes are marked by hard plastic rings on a wire and often I hit it with the back of my hand and nothing. And earlier this week I got roundly whacked on the arm by a guy in the next lane. On land, that whack would have been an instant purple blotch the size of a dollar coin. In the water... nothing! I think I am a fish.
Now this fish has to put in a load of laundry.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-09-05 04:35 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-09-05 06:49 pm (UTC)Enjoy your swim, Ms Fish! :)
(no subject)
Date: 2013-09-05 08:05 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-09-06 01:11 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-09-05 09:27 pm (UTC)As a kid I single-handedly destroyed family game night by being a whiny crybaby whenever I lost. Somehow I have managed to become extremely non-competitive. Probably because I know that I can't deal with losing so I don't play!
(no subject)
Date: 2013-09-05 09:29 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-09-05 10:17 pm (UTC)I remember cribbage! Yeah... "I have nineteen."
(no subject)
Date: 2013-09-05 10:21 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-09-06 06:08 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-09-06 12:56 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-09-06 01:01 am (UTC)