“The word ‘cicada,’ for example, stops me in my tracks. Sorry, I simply cannot continue.” ~ Billy Collins on choosing poems for a poetry anthology. Colleen: If I put a blank on a double letter score and a blank is worth nothing, how many points is that? Mara: Nothing Colleen: But is it twice as […]
“I was born in 1927; how old does that make me?” she asked. “Wait, I need a pencil. I can’t do it in my head.” “Neither can I,” she said with a laugh. “You’re going to be 80!” I announced after abandoning the pencil and counting on my fingers. We both acted shocked. The next […]
When I first arrived at my birthday Scrabble game at the Café Del Sol, Mara was outside on the sidewalk talking on her cellphone to her boyfriend Arden. “Say Happy Birthday to Colleen,” she said to Arden and then stuck the phone near my ear. “If you put a G in front of your name, […]
Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You. ~ Dr Seuss “Look, there’s a house turning the corner,” Kathleen announced. We all leaned towards the café window, some of us stood up to get a better look as a truck hauling a mobile-home made […]
There’s no rest for the wallflower Scrabble players at the Café Del Sol during lunchtime. Kathleen and I set up the board at a kitty-cornered table tucked behind a large fir plant. We hadn’t even picked our seven letters or found out who would go first when visitors began to come over to greet us; […]
SOME DAYS FEEL LIKE THAT. OTHERS FEEL LIKE THIS. Photos: 1. Clean up after a game at my house with Mara yesterday. 2. Rosemary was counting out the letters that go with the Cafe Del Sol game last week. They often get dropped on the floor when kids play with them. For more Scrabble photos […]
It seems I go out these days just for an excuse to show off my new purple knit scarf, or to eat cookies. There were two Scrabble games going at once and half a dozen varieties of freshly baked cookies to eat at my friend Juniper’s house this past Saturday night. “I’m not even going […]
Mara and I go to the Scrabble board the way others go to a bar. Scrabble takes our minds of our problems, but it also gives us the opportunity to talk about them. With letters clinking in the bag, we pour out our feelings as we play. “I’ll tell you a joke,” she said, seeing […]
1. X is a high scoring Scrabble letter. There’s only one in the bag. 2. For a brief time, I had the nickname Xerox. OnThe LoveLink, our family e-mail group, I sign my emails “xocolleen,” and the spell checker kept changing it to “xerox.” 3. It’s a poet’s job to say… the emperor wears no […]
Some people play Scrabble for a living. Not me. Although, I did just play two games in two days. I won one, and I lost one, but not as bad as Mara, who can be seen in the photo above with a big L for LOSER on her forehead. Mara is forced to play blindfolded. […]
Now’s a good time to make that guacamole you were talking about,” (which really meant, this may take some time),” I said to my friend Alex, as I hunched over the Scrabble board and tried to concentrate. When it was her turn to play, I got up and sliced one of the tomatoes that I […]
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 […]
