Sledding

 

Tawas

 

Together

 

Drawing

 

Stories

 

Avocado

 

Christmas

 

Window

 

Breakfast

 

Theatrical

 

Still life

 

Cookies

 

Libby created these

Red again

 

Red

 

Dishwasher

 

Dessert

 

Naomi and I whipped up these desserts for a recent Sunday dinner. 

Tomato soup

 

Table

 

Packages

 

After dinner

 

Photo credit: Julie

Texture

 

At the kitchen table

 

Working from home

 

Piano

 

Tea time

 

Green

 

After dinner

 

Storytime

 

Flowers

 from Logan

Peek

 

New Year

 

Cleaning

 

Libby helped me wash and brush the sheepskin rug from my living room. 

Aunt

 

Cup of tea

 

Dinner

 

Apples

 

Fading

 

Counter cactus

 

In the fire pit

 

Lockdown (game)

 

For the past several weeks, a group of us have been playing games online on Saturday evenings. This week we played a game, which we dubbed Lockdown, that was a winner. It's a simple game that involves strategy and chance. I recommend trying it over the holiday this week. 

Required materials

• a pair of dice for each player (or you can use an app to roll dice digitally)
• Access to a video conferencing platform (such as Zoom)
• A shared document with a grid (You can do this on Zoom by pasting a table onto the Zoom Whiteboard)

Number of player: 2-4

Ages: 6 to adult

The object of the game is to cover the most squares on the grid with your color. 

How to play

• The first player rolls a pair of dice and adds (or multiplies, if you want a faster game) the numbers on the dice. The player choose a corner and colors in that number of squares to form a rectangle (In Zoom, you can do this by annotating the shared Whiteboard). 
• For example, the first player (blue) rolls 2 and 4. That player colors in 6 squares. 

• The other players roll the dice and begin building from the corners.
• For example, the second player (red) rolls 6 and 3. That player colors in 9 squares.
• The third player (green) rolls 4 and 5. That player colors in 9 squares.
• The fourth player (purple) rolls 1 and 1. That player colors in 2 squares. 

• The first player rolls the dice again and colors in a second rectangle. The second rectangle must touch something that player previously built. 
• For example, blue rolls 2 and 1. Blue colors in 3 squares to form a rectangle that touches at least one blue square from a previous rectangle. 

• The game continues with players taking turns rolling the dice and coloring in rectangles. If a player cannot play (the sum of the dice is too big) that player must pass for that turn. 
• The game ends when all of the players consecutively pass. 
• The player with the most squares wins (hint, it's easier to keep a running total rather than waiting to the end to count squares). 

Candle

 

Too cute

 

Typewriter

 

Leaves

 

I mowed the leaves in my front yard earlier this month. 

Through the window

 

Breakfast

One of my favorite breakfasts--oatmeal topped with yogurt, pecans and pomegranate. 

Stroll