A boyfriend I had in high school and for part of college, was unfortunately heavily influenced by his father, DC. DC told everyone that DC stood for Darling Charming, except on Sundays when it stood for Damn Cute. The truth was far less enchanting – Delbert Carrol. He was a hard drinking, fast living scoundrel. He didn’t approve of me for several reasons – I was a church-going gal, I didn’t drink or cuss, and I was extremely polite. Every time we interacted I could predict the tangent of the conversation. He’d ask me a question, “Have you ever ____?” They tended to be on the order of have I ever had a beer? Vodka? Eaten Bananas Foster? Since the answer was inevitably a no, he’d launch into his lecture that I need to “expand your horizons” and “live a little”. I broke up with that guy over his father influenced mantra “If you’re not with the one you love, love the one you’re with.”

I’ve encountered others in my lifetime who have considered my sheltered childhood to be a deficit. Some questioned if I had ever really had fun – because I don’t drink or take recreational drugs. Others have suggested that if I’ve never been on a pub crawl that I’m missing out on life! I had one person accuse me on being ignorant and a coward because I’ve never “dropped acid”! But these are the same people who had never shorn a sheep, ridden a horse, picked tomatoes (shudder – those tomato worms are gross), or bottle fed a lion cub. I’ve visited National Parks, seen both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and the Gulf of Mexico, and visited all 50 US States! I’ve traveled cross country in a plane, on a train, and by car. I rode on a motorcycle once (which was quite enough for one lifetime). I’ve seen births (cats, dogs, rabbits, mice, rats, birds – robins, ducks, and chickens, horses, cows, and pigs). I’ve seen death too. I’ve had my hands in the body cavity of dogs, cats, rabbits, and rodents and yes, they lived. I’ve borne and raised 2 sons, and been married for 43 years to the same man.

I’ve come to the conclusion that those people who insist I need to expand my horizons are the ones who are constrained by their own lack of curiosity. (steps off my soap box)

I haven’t written a straight post in sometime, by that I mean a post without a poem or story snippet attached. So I want to talk about board games. We are a family that has always played board games. Sparky’s family played Monopoly (almost as a religion) and Michigan Rummy, Clue, Twister and of course Chess and Checkers.

I grew up playing Aggravation, Parcheesi, Mille Bornes, Yahtzee, Backgammon and Life. But by far the favorite was Cribbage. Once Sparky and I married our favorite games got an upgrade. I refused to join in the cut-throat Monopoly (aka Monotony) that his family played – because it really is a slog with just 2 players. We opted for Scrabble, Sequence, Cribbage, Pictionary, and Trivial Pursuit. But the game that we played as soon as the boys were old enough was Risk. That was the game Sparky was introduced to in college and he loved it. It had all the elements that made a board game fun – strategy, chance, and the thrill of conquering the world.

Saintvi gifted us with a board game – Codenames. Tons of fun! So much fun that when my sister & BIL came to visit several years ago, we played it and when they got home to FL they went and bought the game! (Yes, we played it while visiting them in October.) Because we have friends who don’t like card games (childhood trauma) they enjoy Trivial Pursuit. We used to have all the different versions – original, silver screen, Disney, all-stars, boomer, family, the 1980s, the 1990s, Star Wars, and then the last one we got, 20th anniversary. Most of them were sold at the rummage sale we had when we moved.

Now our games are a stripped down collection – Scrabble (because it is still fun with just 2), Codenames, Go Bananas, The Great Dalmuti, Risk, Sequence, and the current obsessions – Settlers of Catan, and Bazaar. Son#2 and his GF are big into board games! It makes my heart happy to have them ask to play board games when they visit. I don’t think we’ve had a crowd big enough to play The Great Dalmuti yet but Easter isn’t too far off.

When we get the family together, the hats and bling are ready to go!! What the linked video doesn’t say is that the Great Dalmuti and the Lesser Dalmuti can be tyrants – they can order the Lesser and Greater Peons to stand during the game, make them fetch refreshments, do a silly dance, etc. It is the fun of being The Great Dalmuti. When we play, the Great Dalmuti gets to wear a cool hat and a 1990s style rapper medallion (a Mercury Cougar hood ornament on a big chain – and DO NOT ask how that came into my possession because I’m not talking), the Lesser Dalmuti has a really blingy set of Mardi Gras beads and a Fez. The merchants all wear plastic bowler hats or Kelly green top hats (think New Years party). But the Peons wear sombreros that are HUGE, so big that they are hard pressed to sit close enough to each other and not encroach into the Dalmuti’s personal space! The Dalmuti sits on a cushion in a comfy chair, the merchants sit on regular kitchen chairs and the peons (if the Dalmuti allows) perch on bar stools. It is generally an easy game and it isn’t fair but it can cause hilarity and we have a very good time!
What games do you play? Do you have a favorite??

This is the first day of the new year. Tradition dictates that we “resolve” to do (or in some instances not do) things. I stopped making New Year’s Resolutions many years ago. Instead I took up setting goals. I remember having to set “SMART” (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) goals for work. Since retirement I’ve let the goal setting slip away. Why? Because I felt like it! I now have “things I want to do”, “things I don’t want to do but have to” and “things I simply won’t do”! So here are my lists (so far) for 2026:

Things I Want To Do
1. Go to Australia
2. Travel to Florida to visit family
3. Reread the Harry Potter books (all of them)
4. Design a new Pathtag for Geowoodstock
5. Go to Geowoodstock
6. Make some bigger pieces in ceramics
7. Re-watch all the Harry Potter movies
8. Plant some wild flowers along the side of the house
9. Put up a better bird house in the tree out front
10. Complete the counted cross stitch quilt my father started.
Most of these things are fun, exciting, or fulfilling – or maybe all of the above. It isn’t a stretch to see why I’d want to do these things.

Things I Don’t Want To Do But Have To
1. Go on a diet
2. Get back to regular exercising
3. Submit 3 years of UHC bills for reimbursement
4. Hang the family pictures in the basement
5. Sort out some clothes that are too old/out of date
6. Help with the Church Rummage Sale
7. Clean son#1’s house as a birthday present
8. Cook a turkey for Father’s Day
9. Host Easter for Sparky’s family
10. Eliminate “the museum” in the basement*
There are some things that are obligations and responsibilities. The first 2 on the list are being mandated by my physician. Most of the rest are just part of being an adult. *This is an accumulation of memorabilia from Sparky’s siblings’ childhood. There is the rocking horse that no one wants to claim and take home but no one wants it sold or discarded. Ditto the baby carriage, assorted baby dolls, a set of Lincoln Logs, a couple board games with missing pieces and busted boards… you get the picture.

Things I’m NOT Going To Do
1. Teach Mochi to “speak” on command
2. Get on a bicycle
3. Go horseback riding
4. Dust Sparky’s desk
5. Ever, ever go back to Jesus Bar & Grill
6. Stick my hand into a dark hole for a geocache
7. Camp in a tent sleeping on the ground
8. Eat pickles
9. Cook asparagus
10. Paint the deck
There are some things I just want no part of. This is either to keep the peace, keep my health or maintain my current level of sanity. The pickle thing seems to be a thing that most people don’t understand. I’ve periodically tried to eat or like pickles. They make me gag. After nearly 70 years of trying to like them I’ve given up and I’m not going to torture myself any longer!

So there you have it. My roadmap for 2026. I’ll be doing some things with a sense of joy and adventure. I’ll do some things out of a sense of obligation or responsibility. And there will be things that I’ll avoid like the plague. If you see me wearing a plague mask that will be a big clue that I’m avoiding something!