A Blogger’s Conference Call
This is a photo of me at a Scrabble game yesterday, talking on the phone with my blogger friend, Naomi of “Here in the Hills.” I’m at the Café Del Sol in Floyd, Virginia, and she was calling from Los Angeles. Here’s the story:
Mara called to cancel our Scrabble game at the Café Del Sol because her daughter Kyla wasn’t feeling well. My date with my husband, Joe, for an afternoon swim in the pool was a wash-out because it was raining.
But all was not lost. I called my friend Virginia who had recently told me she likes to play Scrabble and suggested we play sometime. We pulled off a last minute game between her, her husband Don, and me.
After retrieving the board from the hiding place where Mara put it so that playing children wouldn’t mix up and lose the letters, we settled in to play. It was an enjoyable game, even though Don and Virginia are both better players than I am, and I tend to choke when I play with someone for the first time. I was also drawing bad letters. 
Sipping on tea and chatting in between turns, we were near the end of the game – Don and I were neck-in-neck and Virginia was well in the lead – when Max, who works behind the café counter, walked over with the phone. “It’s for you, Colleen,” he said.
In a previous post, here at Loose Leaf, I wrote about my fellow Floyd blogger, Doug, making a joke about the Cafe’ Del Sol’s phone number – 745- ACUP – which is displayed on a sign outside their building. “It’s a good phone number for a coffee shop, either that or lingerie shop,” he quipped.
With that entry, Naomi left a comment saying, “I’m going to call you at the Café next time you’re there playing Scrabble.” And she did!
“Naomi!” I blurted out, excitedly. I suspected it was her because I sent her an email before I left my house telling her I was off to play Scrabble.
“I’m here playing Scrabble and getting my butt kicked!” I told her.
“How can that be?” she asked. I guess I had given the impression on my blog that I was a pretty good player.
“I’m playing someone new and she’s whiz!” I answered. By this time I had walked into the Winter Sun Hall in the back of the building to get away from the noise of the crowded café. 
After reading each other’s blogs regularly for about a year, I feel as if I know Naomi. She frequently features photos and stories about her life as a stage performer, playwright, singer, and artist. Because of the photos she’s posted, I could picture her in her house, see the exotic cactus plants on her deck, and imagine her cat sitting in her lap as we talked.
“Your voice is exactly how I thought you’d sound,” I told her. Naomi, who recently hosted an online party in celebration of her 75th birthday, has a warm and engaging personality that comes through her writing and was also apparent over the phone.
“The internet is amazing,” she said after sharing the story of a recent connection she just had with an old friend’s daughter, which came about by way of an old photo she had posted on her blog. I told her how my sister’s childhood boyfriend found her via my website, and how I found Terri from Island Writer whose wintering neighbors are from Floyd.
But soon, my mind wandered back to the Scrabble task at hand. I could see through the paneled glassed door leading into the Café that it was my turn. “I’ve got to get back to the game now, Naomi. Thank you so much for calling!”
Talking to Naomi was highlight in a rainy day that made my playing a bad game of Scrabble more bearable.
August 12th, 2006 12:34 pm
LOL. I love your account of the ‘phone call’ Colleen… and thanks for slicing 5 years off of my age! (lol)…Right. it’s the big 7 5…..You look great in those pictures and it’s fun to know that we were talking as that one photo was being taken. You too sounded exactly as I had imagined. Isn’t that nice? I LOVE The Blogesphere, Coleen…I’ll have to call again when Mara is there and say ‘HI’ to her, too!
Hope your weekend is a lovely one, my dear.
August 12th, 2006 1:37 pm
how fun. it’s a small blog world – in fact- I actually live nearby Naomi and I’m sure we’ll meet one day.
p.s.: don’t get stuck w/the “q.”
August 12th, 2006 2:28 pm
I’ll try not to be envious of your phone call, and hope I get one someday…LOL
How nice for you. Isn’t our blogworld amazing??!!
August 12th, 2006 3:15 pm
What a good friend you have in your readers.
I didn’t realize Naomi was 75 years old. She presents herself as much younger.
August 12th, 2006 5:09 pm
Great story! Amazing when such good things happen.
But I don’t want to Highjack(374) this story with Quixotic(374) Whizbang(374) Musquash(338), so i guess I’d better rattle the tile bag and see if I can get a Quartzy(128) opening.
Here via Michele’s – Hi!
rashbre
August 12th, 2006 5:21 pm
This is too cool, Colleen! Really enjoyed reading about (and seeing) you talking to Naomi.
This Internet is indeed awesome. I’ve had the chance to meet the infamous Millie Garfield of Thoroughly Modern Millie this past March. I’ll be meeting YOU in October, when I come to Floyd.
And I’ve already made plans to meet Claude of Blogging in Paris, when I’m there in March.
The Internet/blogging has diminished the size of our world tremendously!
August 12th, 2006 5:29 pm
Hi Terri, David St. Lawrence of Ripples was eating lunch at the cafe when all this happened. We talked about your coming and how we’re both looking forward to it!
August 13th, 2006 12:27 am
Great story. The blogosphere can be so cool.
August 13th, 2006 2:04 am
Sounds like a good way to kill a bad day!
August 13th, 2006 12:00 pm
I NEVER lose at Scrabble. That’s because I kick the board over whenever I’m more than 50 points behind. I think it’s a guy thing, very few women I’ve met care enough about being undefeated. Of course, I never met Ivana Trump.
Every once and a while you take time to explain why you’re blogging. I decided to give that a try. Let me know what you think.
August 13th, 2006 5:55 pm
Funny these reconnections. The internet’s an extra arm of the grapevine now.
August 13th, 2006 7:55 pm
Sounds like a wonderful afternoon. I have often wished to be able to talk with many of my blogging friends. It is good to hear that it has actually been done. 🙂
August 13th, 2006 9:06 pm
Shane is so right about those damn Q’s, Colleen. They just love to stick around in your hand to the end. Damn Q’s
Michele sent me here to read about your phone call with Naomi. I’ve not been to her blog much since her 75th birhtday and I’ll just have to mend my ways and start visiting a few times a week once again.
August 13th, 2006 9:16 pm
What a great story, blogging really can make our world smaller!
Michele sent me.
August 13th, 2006 9:23 pm
That is so exciting! I am glad I went ahead and visited you tonight.
That made me smile. I just love Naomi and her stories and I think that is so neat the two of you hooked up by phone! I just love the Internet!
August 14th, 2006 8:34 pm
You spoke with Naomi! How lucky you are. I’d give my eye teeth to chat with her.
Love how you captured the experience, Colleen. You have such a cool vibe.
August 16th, 2006 8:12 pm
You talked to Naomi! I’m jealous. Was it as wonderful as reading her blog?
March 15th, 2010 2:13 am
[…] Once we played Scrabble with two boards, six players at two tables. Another time my blog friend Naomi called from from Los Angeles because she knew from my blog post that I was there playing Scrabble. And […]