Game of Hanabi

One of my daughters got a copy of the card game Hanabi for Easter. This situation—my children getting a game that I really like--presents a small problem for me. It's their game, but I want to play it and take it to friends' houses and treat it like my own. That's not a major problem, because I can't imagine my children telling me "no" when I ask if I can use one of their games, but it does make it look like I got them a game just so I could play with it myself. It just feels a bit awkward and would be easier if I just had my own copy, but then, it would feel silly to buy another copy when we already have the exact same thing in our family.

Anyway, I've played it a couple of time, and enjoyed it a lot. The most recent time was last weekend, when I played it with three friends. It felt awkward getting started because I was trying to simultaneously get them interested in the game, remember the rules, read the rules, and play the game for the first few minutes, but after a short period of time we all had it. And I had a lot of fun.

The most fun was seeing (and hearing) everyone working through their own internal debates on what to do on their turns, while also trying to keep from saying more than they were supposed to. It resulted in a continuous stream of incomplete sentences, along the lines of, "Well, if you have…and he has…wait, hold your cards up so I can see them…OK, but if I…and we have two clock tokens left…but then you could…no, wait, what about…so I could tell you…" I found it pretty funny.

We got a score of 18 without dropping too many accidental meta-hints, which I guess is pretty good.

Mysterium

Shadowrun Troll

Bingo the dog shaman

June creek fishing

Last weekend I went fishing for the first time in several years.  I fished a stream. I caught nine or ten fish, all small, but all fun to catch.  I really want to spend some time looking for decent sized catfish and drum in there; there are bound to be a few.

beet hummus

I made a batch of hummus, and added two roasted beets. I also roasted the garlic. I think roasting the garlic made the flavor overly mellow (I had never done that before.) It is good, but not as strongly flavorful (read: garlicky) as usual. I don't really notice the beets, apart from the snazzy color.

 We recently bought some butternut squash hummus at a farmers market, and we all enjoyed it. That, and the various forms of pesto I've recently encountered, got me thinking about how all kinds of things could probably be added to hummus and pesto.

We just got our first big box of produce from a CSA. It has beets and chard. I have grown quite fond of beets in recent years, but no one else in my family really likes them. It occurred to me that cooked beets might be an interesting addition to hummus. So I Googled it, and sure enough, I found recipes that went along with what I had in mind.

So last night I made beet hummus, which was really just hummus with some roasted beets added to it. I also roasted the garlic this time, and added some coriander and a dash of cayenne. It was good, but I think the thing about it I like best is the bright magenta color.

a bill on its last legs

Broadheaded skink, captured

Here are some photos of a broadheaded skink, captured by a little boy I know on Derby Day.  We spotted him on a sidewalk.  This kid, he's a natural hunter/gatherer.  He's clever and determined when it comes to stalking game.  I watched him catch anoles in Florida, and I've seen him catch other little critters, too.  So he went after this lizard, but the lizard darted into the bushes.  

We discouraged his active pursuit, but he wouldn't be dissuaded.  He kept rummaging through the hedge until he caught a glimpse of the hiding lizard, and grabbed it.  He maintained a firm but delicate grip (I don't think the lizard was injured in any way) even though the skink kept biting his fingers ("Ow! Ow! He's really biting me!").  You can see in the third photo how the lizard kept craning his head around, trying to find something to bite.  He latched onto soft skin and fingertips a number of times.  Finally, he was released back into the bushes, but had to be persuaded to unclamp his jaws.

I don't think I had ever noticed this species of skink before.  His red head (and it is "his"; if it had been a "her" the head would not have been scarlet) is pretty awesome.

Hanabi, last weekend

First time I ever played it.  It was fun, and I want to play again.

sad banana

rainbow on a cloud

I am not sure I had ever before seen a rainbow that terminated, cartoonishly, on a cloud-top.

Cicada painting

This is a small painting I did about 15 years ago.  I recently found it in a stack of stuff.  It's not a great painting, but I feel like there is some really good stuff going on in it.  It's about 6 x 10 inches.

Louisville Skyline - pen and ink

This is a drawing I finished last year, but I set it aside to ponder over later, and promptly forgot about it (right after I finished it, I became busy with drawing commissions for Christmas, as well as the jack-o'-lantern show out at Iroquois Park...it drove the memory of this drawing right out of my mind.)

I was happy to find it again a few weeks ago.  I'm very happy with it, now that I look at it with fresh eyes.

It's 10 x 14 inches.

details:

At the St. Louis Arch, Spring Break 2016

fingers like steel squirrelclaws

Pizza

Here are two of the four small pizzas I made yesterday. They came out GREAT.

St. Louis City Museum

climbing around at the City Museum

At the City Museum, April 6

Down through a tree trunk, and down through the floor

8x10 inch pen and ink house portrait

Finished tonight

photo: maple sugar manufacturing demo

From the Maple Syrup Festival at Leane and Mike's Sugarbush, near Salem, Indiana, March 5, 2016.

Almost-radar note

I found this in change at work last week. I keep my eyes open for radar notes (palindrome serial number), and this is the closest I have ever found.  And it is a star note, too! Not bad.