Games Feast at Kathy and Neil's

Me: "You think I have too many of these..."
Paul: "Clothes."
Me: "... in bed."
Paul: "Clothes." 

The answer should have been "pillows", but maybe this was hint?  Kathy simply laughed at us. 

Kathy and Neil graciously hosted a special edition Friday Feast with Games yesterday.  After some tasty baked chicken and fresh vegetables, we started playing Catchphrase. 

Me: "You hire these people to kill someone for you."
Steph: "Assassin!... Ninja?"

Johnwill and Rebecca didn't seem that interested in playing at first, but when they joined in they were incredible!  There was something so to-the-point and precise about their clues.  I was in awe. 

The Borgtron (Daniel) was less in awe, rather all in energy, running 'round the place, looking for the cat, touching things...  Steph managed to kept him at arm's length with a feathered cat toy on stick - might be the most play / interaction I've seen her have with a rugrat :)





After having played so many rounds of Catchphrase, sometimes the words seem familiar.  Not so much last night.  Different reels?  Different version?   Neil got "East Cupcake" and put in a valiant attempt - first breaking it down into separate words...  When time ran out and it was revealed we wondered what the heck the phrase meant.  I was almost worried to look it up on Urban Dictionary (note: it's o.k.).

Next up was Ticket to Ride: Europe.  Played it before, but still took me forever to make any moves.  I blame geography.

Catch(phrase)ing a Break

We drop in on Rem and Steph for Paul to have a well-deserved break from all his coursework (2 this term).

We ended up playing Catchphrase.  In order to prevent spousal-sentence-ending-mind-reading-craziness I paired with Rem, and Steph was with Paul.  Fair right?  But Rem certainly got the short end of the stick. 


Rem: "Tuna, mackerel..."
Me: "Sardines?" 

Despite having no course work, my brain was the tired / frazzled one.  So off base!  Sorry, Rem!  On my turn I even broke some rules :"The first bit is... ".  Ugh.  


My baking experiment didn't quite turn out either.  I thought it needed more fruit (despite being a banana-based, blueberry, and raspberry "loaf").

"I think there's plenty of fruit... or you could just have fruit."  Steph might be right.  My strengths do seem to be in fruit crisp/crumbles.

Potluck Picnic Party - In the Park!

Erik to Steph: My mother told me to give you a hug.
Everyone: Aw...
Erik: And to tell you I can do the death race.
Meaghan: DON'T listen to your mother! 

Meaghan and Kathy's Potluck Picnic Party was on the other side of the park - the bit of Emily Murphy Park I didn't even know existed. When Paul and I tracked everyone down, people were mellow: Eating, feeding the fire, and catching up. 

Most were familiar faces.  But there were also some I only last saw at Kathy and Neil's wedding! 

More things to invoke that day?  Meaghan twirling in the same white dress and games on the grass.  If only there was singing...

Beth: Province in Canada, people from there are extremely silly.
Paul: BC... Alberta... Ontario...
Steph (on the other team, finally): Newfoundland.



We played Catchphrase -- and were too slick for our own good.  Somehow, we managed to blank out on "Elmo". 

Afterwards, instead of bocce it was "frisbee-soccer catch" which morphed into "multi-ball-throw-kick" chaos.  So fun!  At least for those actually playing.  We had the courtesy to call out to the person we're aiming for ("To the guy on the cell phone!") and not get too close to the food.  But we did not have very good aim. 

After hours of food, catching up (Meaghan seemed to be pretty happy in the States), and game play most of us were ready for a nap and headed home. 

I almost think the PPP in Park was blessed - not only the usual good friends, food, and fun, but also good weather and few mosquitoes... Unlike the UADC volunteer barbeque planned for a couple of hours later -- same time as the thunderstorm.

More photos of the PPP in the Park here.

Some Things to Hyde and Reusing

Did the sunshine go away with Jackie?

We've had such bad storms.  Last night, my babies (the plants) were out unprotected from the twoonie-sized hail!  We could hear them beating on the sides of the walls and windows (um... the hail).  But what to do?  I didn't have protection ready and even if I did rush out, I'd just get hit too.  (Some mom I turn out to be.) 

Paul called me away from the windows (and my weather cursing), back to Jekyll.  The television miniseries' modern spin on The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde had finally caught his interest.  Catherine had recommended and lent it to us.  It had my attention from the start with the strange timeline and fast action.  Admittedly, Gina Bellman (well, her character) did take a lot of getting used to. 

Another storm severity indicator: Number of large tree branches felled. 

I saw one from our elms this morning on our sidewalk and dragged it off to the side.  Yikes!  It was probably good I wasn't out there. 

Finally made it out to the Reuse Centre to do some volunteering.  There have been changes including new volunteers must be part of a group.  While I don't agree with the policy, it was nice to have some company.  The other girls there were friendly and I had the nice feeling of being not completely alone, but at the same time not involved in anything complicated. 

Back at home, I showed Paul my loot: Different versions of TriBond (one of his favourites)!  And then told him about Bible TriBond - the version so crazy I didn't think we'd actually play and thus didn't bring home.  Oh, he lamented how it was "the one that got away".  I just might have to go back for it...

Tri-Bonding

"Ah! You're not a nice daughter-in-law after all!" That's what I get for choosing to steal points when we had our "Head to Head" match.  Though, come on, see how happy Paul is to steal the point?

Regardless, my new moniker Bad-Daughter-in-Law (or B-DIL for short) has a certain ring to it... It seems pretty good to be bad. 

Wonders, Special Brownies, and Missy Photogenic

Was late for Grant and Sarah's, but the walk to get me there did me good.  After settling in, they shared their great news with me and Paul: They're going to have a baby! 

 

"Given my late December due date, my friend has nicknamed the baby "Jesus". "

What a busy time they'll have ahead with Grant finishing up his phD and looking for a post doc outside of Canada.  They certainly don't do life changing events in half measures!

 

(Left: [Not actually] Paul's response to the news.) 

 

We had a tour of the apartment, herad about all the measuring and planning Grant did in the downsizing move (only to find the apartment dimensions given to him were incorrect), and caught up on things from that past few months.  Sarah and I shook our heads at the silly jokes and puns Paul and Grant kept trading back and forth.  And then, we settled down to dinner: Roasted pork loins, potatoes, and vegetables. 

The dining table was quickly cleared after dinner so that Grant and Sarah could teach us how to play 7 Wonders.  I could vaguely relate it to Settlers of Cataan, but at the same time thought it was strangely un-interactive.  Points were tallied, little cardboard coins were doled out and payed back.  I didn't do so well.  I had a nagging feeling that actually knowing something about the Seven Ancient Wonders (or whatever the game was based on) might have actually helped (such as a warring nation seemed to have military strategic advantages)...

 

For dessert, Grant had made brownies, but didn't make them "special" as Paul requested (i.e. by adding cilantro).  But Sarah amended that problem by making a special butter icing - with rosemary and sea salt. 

 

 

Throughout the night.  Missy, the cat, upstaged me at every turn, proving she is the top model.  But I guess that is the thing about cats they have the model attitude -- they don't care and they have no doubt as to just how great they are.

 

(Below: The next Kat Moss)

(Above: Missy out models Grant too.) 

Trapture

"It's boring."
"What?!  No, it's a fun game.". 

What I didn't realise when I protested and eventually convinced (without much fight) Kevin to lend it to me, was that this wasn't the same game.

From afar it looked like it, but Trapture was not Blokus (the Trigon edition being the one I've actually played).  But I think I might be forgiven: They're made by the same people! 

Paul was impressed by the instructions.  The rules were simple, the objective clear (only later did we stumble on understanding how to break ties). 

The kids joined us for a couple of games.  Coconut being very effective as barrier so we couldn't see what pieces were left to be played. 

Though I much prefer Blokus, I have to say for a game marketed as educational for the over 6-years-old it was still pretty fun for us.  But maybe sometimes we did overthink the moves just a little. 

Brass and Birthday Blast!

There were no fireworks in the bells.  But it was still quite a blast.  The Mill Creek Colliery Band concert "Brass Blast" was in the afternoon and despite the cold weather and snow, still had a decent turn out.  David did the introduction and compere duties, making me giggle when he dramatically recited the lyrics to Jurassic Park (by Weird Al) as preamble for the parody's basis, MacArthur Park. 



My favourite in the concert, even with "Colonel Bogey" as the encore, was sentimentally (and thus predictably), the ‘Sous le Dôme Epais’ arranged as an euphonium duet. 

After the concert, we rushed home and then headed out again to celebrate Steph's birthday. 

Games Night was already in full swing by the time we arrived. 
 

(Above: Steph skeptical about a certain word?) 

(Right: Ken takes a peek at Sophie's Scattegories card.)

(Below: Agricula.) 

But, thankfully, we were not too late for cake or presents.  My gift for Steph garnered a few laughs and inspired a few ideas for other food related buildings (unforutnately, I did not take note for the benefit of future architects)*. 

* It occurs to me now how fun for there to be a Superlambanana banana saver.

(Below: The Butterdome butter dish gets a place of honour in the centre of attention.)  

 

Later, when it was just Steph, Rem, Kathy, Neil, Paul and myself left, we started a game of "Things" completely (with) out the box -  we created our own topics. 

Your slogan / motto if you were a dictator... Things you have forgotten...

Then, Kathy proposed a combination of a person and something they never would have said. 

Submitted:

1. All you need is love.  Hugs all around!  ~ The Marquis de Sade
2. Ciecro never said "Life is like a box of chocolates"
3. Marco Polo never said, "Marco... Polo..."
4. Genghis Khan: "Do we need to annex this bit of land, do you think?"
5. Charles Dickens: I'll make this brief. 

All made us laugh.  The last made Paul gasp.  Then there was the fun of discovering who exactly wrote which one. 

Can you match the answers to the submitters?  Some hints:

1. I missed recording Neil's answer, and
2. Below are photos of the actual submissions.

 

Some Horrible Things

There was some more tidying up.  Paul cooked dinner while I attempted another food experiment.  When Rem and Steph arrived, we were ready.  A short tour later (of rooms and not of kitchen cupboards -- some of which had not actually changed since Rem unpacked them :P) we sat down for dinner.

Paul's (beef) Lancashire Hot Pot had turned out really well.  As we ate, Steph updated me on Sophie's health and that an old friend might be moving back to Edmonton.

After eating, I was ready to clear the table to start some games, but Rem suggested moving to "more comfortable chairs".  What a strange thought - we were already in the more comfortable chairs.  But he had meant the ones in the living room.

Though it was a small change - moving less than 10 feet - it proved to be a quite a different experience.  We don't usually sit in the living room.  And now, what were we going to use as a table?

Aha!  The versatility of the t.v. tray once again comes to the forefront!

And so, with that last bit figured out, it was time to see if Rem and Steph were also horrible people.

After laughing at painful diseases, menstruation, and other politically incorrect things, I thought maybe again, we are all horrible.  But when Steph chose "A hot Latin lover" as UN universal right... There just might be some hope for us.

We took a short break for tea, Steph's brownies, and my experiment. (Below: Not quite Battlestar Galatica but still high in iron from the cream of wheat.)

Another round or two, we started a game of
Things.  Some slightly more questionable than usual answers appeared -- our brains had been tainted by playing Cards Against Humanity!  Paul suggests we combine games... Hm...

We are Horrible People

The evening started off nicely.  Grant and Sarah arrived for dinner.  They got a tour of the house (though not the full tour).  We'd managed to stash things away, tidy, and clean most areas so that the experience wouldn't be too embarrassing (upsidedown babies aside). 

We ate dinner.  See how lovely they are (right).










And then it all went wrong: We'd opened Cards Against Humanity. 






All of sudden we were being gross and laughing at politically incorrect things.  We were plotting and being offensive on purpose.  All that in order to win in the game that was like a pervert's fill-in-the-blank version of Apples to Apples. 
Paul was struck silent (from laughing too hard).

"Dear Abby, I'm having some trouble with __________ and would like your advice."

Though Sarah apologised often ("Sorry, honey."), Grant still had to cover his eyes to block out the images. 

 

Below: "A romantic candlelit dinner would be incomplete without ____________."

 

Despite all this, I still suspected Sarah was actually a nice person.  So, when she had to judge "The UN has declared ___________ as a basic human right."  I played "Puppies".  And won. 

See, she isn't that horrible.

 

Right: For reference, this is what Grant's considers the game's trump card.