Summer Scrabble
This is the summer Scrabble game when Mara and I filled up on wild wineberries and blackberries before we played. We passed Catalpa, Mimosa, Rose of Sharon, Butterfly bush, and all the flowers in Jayn’s garden on our way to the Zephyr pond, where we pulled out the wicker couch with the pink floral pattern from the sauna house for sitting on.
Mara thought she picked a piece of chocolate off her shirt from a brownie she was eating, but discovered when she put it in her mouth that it was really a piece of mud from when she was swimming with her daughter Kyla in the pond. It got quiet when Kyla went down to Jayn’s pottery studio. The breeze stirred. It slid under the trimmed edges of my blue silk blouse, and rustled the leafy green all around us.
Little plastic letters clicked into place on our Scrabble travel board. Words like fruity and fishy got played. The fish were biting. We could hear them splashing in and out of the water. Kayla came back and announced she made a pot. Mara admitted that Zacation wasn’t a real word. It was Zacaton she was thinking of. Some kind of Mexican grass.
August 5th, 2007 11:32 pm
It sounds like an idyllic time — what a lovely way to spend time with a friend!
Michele sent me,
N.
August 6th, 2007 9:20 am
You two allow Mexican words?
Remind me to bring my Spanish-English dictionary when I come to play with you!
August 6th, 2007 9:36 am
We use the Official Scrabble dictionary, which the author of Word Freak says is not really a dictionary after all, but part of the game, a book to keep players from fighting about what is or isn’t a word. They accept zacaton but not the word “fart,” which is ridiculous. If you look closely on the Scrabble dictionary cover it says something about being approved for school use, so at one point they tried to clean it up for off color words.
August 6th, 2007 11:34 am
Why not use a regular dictionary?
You look so pretty in the first picture. xo
August 6th, 2007 12:19 pm
Wish we were playing today…
We’ll have to do another by-the-pond game when we aren’t both so tired!
Hope the tooth is feeling better.
Wish we were playing today…
We’ll have to do another by-the-pond game when we aren’t both so tired!
Hope the tooth is feeling better.
August 6th, 2007 12:37 pm
The photo was taken right before my tooth started hurting and the day after I had my hair cut.
The Scrabble dictionary is the one Scrabble players use. It’s actually very lenient on what it will allow and is an accessory to the game. You could use a regular dictionary and I have in the past.
Mara, don’t forget we have one more Scrabble date before school starts at the pool!
To me this slice of life Scrabble game was epitome of summer.
August 6th, 2007 3:23 pm
Sounds like the lazy, hazy, crazy, days of summer up in your neck of the woods.
August 6th, 2007 5:15 pm
I wonder how many people who read your blog know what wineberries are? I love them; they are my favorite berry. Around here they didn’t do very well this year, I suppose because of the lack of rain.
August 6th, 2007 6:06 pm
Believe it or not, it was my first time eating them. I don’t seem to have them over here, one mile from Zephyr farm where my girlfriend Jayn lives. Or maybe I do but didn’t recognize them. I’ll have to look. I LOVED them.
We’ve been getting a fair amount of rain in our neck of the woods. I haven’t had to water my garden once.
August 6th, 2007 6:12 pm
Nice pic and a lovely wicker seat too. Like the new haircut.
I’ve never known anyone to be as hooked on scrabble! Nice to find that in a partner too.
We could really do with some of your rain…we’ve barely had ANY ALL summer and the farmers are literally crying.
August 7th, 2007 8:18 pm
ahh, such an idyllic location for scrabble…
I really need a zacation, so I’m adding that word to the official Ampersand Dictionary.
August 8th, 2007 7:36 am
Ah, sounds idyllic, gentle, refreshing, whimsical – lovely, I’m reminded of a particular movie but the name completely escapes me for the moment.
August 8th, 2007 8:07 am
Oh no that mud thing sounds like something gross I’d do…bless her heart. I love all your pics, it tells a great story. You guys are too bright for me to play Scrabble with.
August 8th, 2007 10:09 am
sounds like a perfect setting for any afternoon gathering…. i can just picture it!
i have to admit to being one of the readers who doesn’t know what wineberries are. i have heard of them and am assuming they grow wild? i’m going to have to ‘google’ them now. 🙂
if i lived closer, i could picture us having some of these afternoons together, although i don’t know how good a scrabble player i would make. you are so lucky to have so many good girlfriends nearby….i’ve been SO missing that female comraderie since we moved from maryland several years ago. i’m hoping to find it in our new town here.