We Dabble in Scrabble
There’s no rest for the wallflower Scrabble players at the Café Del Sol during lunchtime. Kathleen and I set up the board at a kitty-cornered table tucked behind a large fir plant. We hadn’t even picked our seven letters or found out who would go first when visitors began to come over to greet us; Dance Free Brit, guitar playing Bernie, a wave across the café to Ellen, Hello to Steve.
The crowd was a colorful one and the line at the counter kept getting bigger. Gretchen looked pretty in pink. David snapped a photo of me with his phone just as I was placing my tiles on a triple word score for my high score of the game. The din mixed with chatter, the music piped in, something in the kitchen fell and broke. 
Kathleen’s soup got cold as she shuffled her letters. Her eyes darted back and forth from her rack to the board and back again. It was worth the trouble when she found a place to spell QUINCE. At one point I got up to roam around; to look at a picture of Stephanie’s little boy from the batch of photos she was downloading on her laptop, to find out how Talisin’s scrap booking class was going, to ask Jamie if he would teach me how to make posters as nice as the ones he makes for Winter Sun events.
JOIST, SALOON, WHARF, RILLET, and DRUID: Some interesting words, and some big scorers, but no bingos were played. The sun streamed in and the letters radiated out from the center, covering all four corners of the board.
Post Note: Scroll down HERE for more Scrabbling adventures.
Comments
Your scrabble adventures are so fun! I can't get anyone in my family to play it with me :-(. I grew up playing the game with my Mom. Fond memories.
p.s. I changed the setting to allow anonymous comments on my photo blog. Thanks for letting me know.
Posted by: Ampersand | March 13, 2007 8:48 AM
i enjoy scrabble, but have a feeling i'd never win if i played with you guys. i would never have thought of the words you used.
and i'd love to come take a porch vacation with you sometime....i'm still hoping we might end up in southwest virginia. it's almost exactly halfway between my family and my husband's family...
Posted by: bluemountainmama | March 13, 2007 10:26 AM
A Scrabble game could be worked into the porch vacation and would more often if my husband liked to play. The board also included RAN, WAY, and VEE. I know this because.... I like to take photos of finished games. A Scrabble board of words is like an Indian Sand Painting to me.
Posted by: colleen | March 13, 2007 10:37 AM
Great words.
I on the other hand am finally learning how to play dominoes, or at least the version known as "chickenfoot". Nyssa won't play Scrabble with me anymore. I certainly wouldn't make it in one of your games.
Posted by: srp | March 13, 2007 10:48 PM
The Café Del Sol sounds like such a comfortable meeting place. How wonderful to be friends with so many of the patrons.
Posted by: Coll | March 14, 2007 9:10 AM
Thanks for introducing me to "rillet"! It wasn't in my Random House, though "rill" is (with 2 meanings). What I found online for the American Heritage Dictionary:
(1) A small brook; a rivulet.
(2) A long narrow straight valley on the moon's surface.
Guess it depends on where one wants to be. :)
Posted by: Elissa | March 14, 2007 10:50 PM
Wharf? Great words! For years I said "wolf rat". It wasn't until I was grown that I was told it was "wharf rat"....you still catch people in this area and surrounding saying "wolf"!
Posted by: Deana | March 15, 2007 7:36 AM
I predict that one day we will play Scrabble! ha
Your morning playing scrabble at the cafe sounds just about perfect!
I love people watching, so thanks for indulging me.
Susan
Posted by: Susan | March 15, 2007 10:01 AM