I've never played chess. At the moment, I'm trying to learn Mah Jong - hardly on the same level, but I think it would be more fun for me at this stage of life.
The only card game I'm good at is cribbage. My brother-in-law taught me to play when I was about nine and he always prefaced each game by announcing that he would be cheating at every possible opportunity. This had the desired effect of making me attentive and fast and helped me a great deal with math (I believe). Some of my love and admiration for numbers initially came from those cribbage games.
Lest the reader assumes I'm a negligent cat-parent, let me say the cats (Somalis) aren't allowed on the tables and generally conform to this rule except when there's a non-eating activity on this specific table. Jigsaw puzzles, for instance, are fair game. Chess would be a mess.
What's good for one cat is better for two. They often try to squeeze into small spaces together. "I'm sitting on this piece!" "No, I've got that piece - move somewhere else!" If you look closely at the corner of this photo you can see that I'm wearing the latest in blogger fashion (according to Alan) - winceyette pyjamas - the American version, which I gather, is a variation of our basic flannel.
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| Pinkie in sepia |
I'm starting to suspect that winceyette pyjamas cause a temporary fever to overcome the unsuspecting blogger who should be dressed and otherwise occupied; the temporary fever causes a flurry of insane, ping-ponging research on Google from one subject to another. Today's fever resulted in the addition of Pieter Bruegel's wonderful painting "Children's Games" to this formerly completed post. Most of the eighty games pictured are very physical like hoop rolling, stilt walking and leap frog; a number of vulgarities are in the scene, such as urinating, hardly a game by our standards, but I guess considered fun (the variations - use your imagination) in those days when they didn't have Google to amuse themselves. The closest activity to a sedentary game pictured is in the lower right, where two men are playing tiddlywinks. The height of gall you might say, including tiddlywinks and chess in the same breath. So now I have to look at the origin of the phrase "height of gall" and there go another couple of hours reading through ancient Roman history, pharmaceutical measurements and botany. I'm ripping off these winceyettes and getting out of here.
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| Pieter Bruegel "Children's Games" from Wikipedia Roll your hoop or leap frog over to Sepia Saturday for more fun and games. |
When a cat wants your attention & you're doing something else - writing, playing a game of solitaire, working a puzzle, etc. - they will invariably park themselves in the middle of whatever it is you're doing. I'd be sitting on the sofa reading, & my Molly would climb up next to me & lay her paw in the middle of the page I was trying to read. They are tenacious! Love that last picture of the children playing games in the old days. We used to have posters somewhat similar on the walls of our bedroom when I was growing up & I loved looking at them in all their detail.
ReplyDeleteI would enjoy doing Bruegel's painting as a jigsaw puzzle. I'm sure there's one available somewhere.
ReplyDeleteI've always enjoyed Bruegel' paintings, but I can't recall having seen that Children's Games one before, so thank you for introducing me to it ... or it to me.
ReplyDeleteI loved your post – winceyette and all! Your brother-in-law sounds like a lot of fun and your cats are very cute.
ReplyDeleteHope your cats didn't manage to mess up any completed parts of the jigsaws! I've always loved that Bruegel games painting, and used to have a framed poster print of it, but sadly no longer.
ReplyDeleteFascinated to see that you are learning to play mah-jong. It is a game that has been played in our family for the last 50 years. We even had a regular man-jong session going at out local pub until the other people involved moved off to Spain. Wonderful cat photographs. As for your Winceyette pyjamas - winceyette and sepia go well together.
ReplyDeleteI hope the cats never cause a piece to disappear before the puzzle is complete.
ReplyDeleteI think I would go quietly insane if there were a Bruegel jigsaw puzzle!
ReplyDeleteOh thank the Lord there is someone as easily led into cyberspace as me before they realize it's midday and they're still in their jimjams!
ReplyDeleteAmazing to think that no one painted the subject of children's games before Bruegel.
ReplyDeleteNegligent cat parent ? Just for letting your cats on the table ?
ReplyDeleteOf course it could be a problem with jigsaw puzzle!
Barbara
Great fun seeing your cats, your jammies, and the Bruegel. I'm late reading Sepia posts this week, and there are already ones being posted (including mine) for next Sat!
ReplyDeleteI don't remember ever seeing that Bruegel painting. It's grand!
ReplyDeletePut a piece of paper on the floor and no matter how large or small the house is THAT is where the cat will want to sit. Never fails.