Vacation

Well, the vacation was nice, but not really relaxing.

The first day was a drive up, followed by a short hike, lost in the woods, running away from a bunch of cows and bulls (who weren't chasing us, except in the mind of my daughter), a Bar-B-Q and some late night games.

When the other family arrived, they played some hands of Gin while I played Anagrams with David, the father, the Scrabble expert. He has a voluminous knowledge of short words, but I am quicker on the draw and more creative. Both of us have certain letters we are waiting for in order to steal a word or two. It was a tough match, but I gained a good lead, and only lost most of it by the end.

Later at night I introduced their 19 year old son Yoni to Tigris and Euphrates, which I can't seem to break out at the game night (I thought that they liked it when we first played, but I think it may be too dry for them). Anyway, I played with Saarya and Yoni an enjoyable game. Yoni really liked it, and we thought he was going to win after he put down a monument and nobody seemed to be in a position to challenge him. I lost huge when I challenged Saarya twice in my turn, once to an external conflict and once to an internal one. Out of the six tiles he had he could only beat me if he had exactly 3 black tiles and 3 red tiles. Guess what? ... Saarya ended up winning 8 to 7 to 6 (me). I was about to go to 8 myself.

Late at night, my daughter played Pop, some sort of pencil and paper game that works with both Hebrew and English letters. Players alternate placing "p"s and "peh" (Hebrew version of "p") in various places and then placing "o"s and "vav"s (Hebrew version of "o") between places making the word "pop" in Hebrew or English. I don't know the rest of the rules, but I will try to find out.

The next day, Monday, we split up into various groups, water hiking, horseback riding, winery, and a great dinner at night. Too tired for games.

The last day, Tuesday, was a bust, since no one was willing to commit to anything except what they didn't want to do, leaving everyone hanging until the day was basically over. I started a Scrabble game at one point which I was losing at by about 40 points, but never finished it.

This week is the rest of cleaning and then cooking for Passover, so probably not much in the way of games. Next week is game day, however, if all goes well.

Happy Passover, to one and all, and may your life be meaningful and peaceful.

Yehuda