In Which the Barnebeys Play Games, but I get upset when Evan's jawn beats me.

Life has been really rough the past couple of weeks. After that whole wedding shenanigan down in Charlottesville, I only had a couple of days to decompress before I had to start grilling hot doggs and concocting slaws last Friday. Then, the next morning, Papa Barnebey (a.k.a. The Old Welshman) got us all  out on some wild bike ride up to Phoenixville. I had to borrow a bike with gears. How embarrassing.

Luckily we took Sunday off to just play some games. No long guest lists, no aching bike butt; just some cards, a wood fire, and later, a scrabble board.

Kermit came out for a little bit, demanding to be included, so we let him hold some 3's and 4's in his big froggy hands, just to keep him quiet. Too bad sheepshead only uses Ace - 7.

By half-time I was leading and the kielbasa was ready to come off the grill, so we broke for lunch. It may look familiar.

[Look at all those TUBs!]

Later, after a trip to the custard stand, we reconvened on the deck for some Scrabble. It started off well enough with a cheeseboard, wines, and a bingo.

[The only pen to score Scrabble with is a Le Pen.]

This picture was snapped at the peak of our Scrabble high. The first game had just finished and had gone well. Despite the lead I had held since my SMUGGLE play, everyone was still feeling good about their scrabbling— the board had been open and the vowels had been well distributed.

Soon into the 2nd game though, things started to head south. The scores were close and people were getting testy. Then I was denied the use of GERMY. Look it up. Then I had to fight for AD and MAW. By the time I played OI, the table was set for an insurrection. Forced to use RID instead, I had to accept 2 fewer points, and more importantly, use my R. R's can be indispensable at the end of a game. 

Soon Roxy had gone out, Evan had given her the 12 points still left on his rack, and I had lost the game by 1 point. Some things were said. Words were questioned, dictionaries were questioned, peoples' characters were questioned. It was not a Scrabble high. Later, after consulting The Official Scrabble® Dictionary, Evan tried to debate what it meant to be a word, effectively calling into question not only my Scrabble knowledge but also the subject in which I'm getting a doctorate. Thanks. At least we could agree that jawn is a perfectly valid and useful word.

I'm not sure when we're going to play Scrabble again.