I just returned from Tallahassee where I visited my daughter, Dee, her husband, Ed, and their six children.
They were on a TV fast for 40 days, so I thought I would die of TV starvation, as I am such an addict.
However, we played a lot of card games. With at least six people in the house at all times, there was always someone ready to play.
I taught them a game I had played when I was a teenager and had them addicted to it when I left.
The game rules are simple: Play solitaire the regular way, but play with three or more people. Put your aces in the middle of the table, and let everyone play on them. If you run out of plays, move a card (or cards) off one of your stacks at the same time as the other players move off theirs. This keeps the game going. I call it "Cutthroat Solitaire." It beats the reruns on TV any day.
My other big excitements were eating at The Melting Pot and going to the LeRoy Collins Public Library.
I had to slap my hands to keep from checking out a number of books, but my two granddaughters, Grace and Victoria, did me proud. They both enjoy reading.
That library is part of the Leon County system, as ours is of the Polk County system. They have a "Traveling Book Club" that sounds really neat.
A patron may select a title from his or her list, check the availability calendar online, by phone or in person. When it is your turn, you check out the bag of 10 books, and you and nine of your friends all read the book, and you are responsible for the bag for six weeks. You may renew it once if no other group has it reserved. There are 28 titles, and in addition to the books, the bags contain information on getting discussion started on that particular book.
I intend to pass the list on to Cori, who is the chairwoman for our book club at our library.
I took my little dog, Parker, with me. It took Parker until the north side of Lakeland to stop barking. The next trip with Parker, I think I will invest in a good pair of ear plugs. He enjoys playing with Dee and Ed's black lab, who is about four times his size. He also enjoys the many nice walks he gets from Dee and the three boys in the family.
I'll see you at our Winter Haven Public Library in "dog care!"