Game Night- Ticket to Ride

by Carol1 Comment
Ticket to Ride Designer: Alan R Moon Manufacturer: Days of Wonder Artist: Julien Delval Year: 2004 Players: 2 - 5 Time: 30 - 60 minutes Ages: 8 and up Description: One of the most popular games ever designed, Ticket to Ride is a simple yet strategic game of connecting cities in the United States with trains. On their turn, players simply draw train cards, claim routes on the board, or draw more destination tickets. Players must balance drawing cards into their hand with claiming routes before opponents in this friendly, yet competitive board game. The rules can be taught in only a few minutes, but games are varied enough to give the game unlimited replayability. With scores of plastic trains and a beautiful board, this is a game you'll find yourself playing time and time again with all ages. My thoughts: First of all, this game takes us at leat an hour to play, but that may be because we always have at least 4 players. And it takes us a...
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Friday Fill-Ins

by Carol3 Comments
1. All children alarm their parents, if only because you are forever expecting them to figure out you actually have no idea what you're doing. 2. Show me a good loser and I will show you a person who wasn't playing to win. 3. Life is like eating an entire box of chocolate liqueurs at one time. (Sometimes it tastes great, sometimes it makes you want to puke.) 4. Too bad that all the people who know how to run the country are busy taking care of their own lives and staying out of politics. 5. I have yet to hear a man ask for advice on how to combine kids and a career. 6. It is impossible to think of any good meal, no matter how plain or elegant, without pasta or onions in it. 7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to playing board games, tomorrow my plans include watching kids bowl and Sunday, I want to go grocery shopping after church. Join in!...
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Booking Through Thursday

by Carol5 Comments
One of my favorite sci-fi authors (Sharon Lee) has declared June 23rd Fantasy and Science Fiction Writers Day. As she puts it: So! In my Official Capacity as a writer of science fiction and fantasy, I hereby proclaim June 23 Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Day! A day of celebration and wonder! A day for all of us readers of science fiction and fantasy to reach out and say thank you to our favorite writers. A day, perhaps, to blog about our favorite sf/f writers. A day to reflect upon how written science fiction and fantasy has changed your life. So … what might you do on the 23rd to celebrate? Do you even read fantasy/sci-fi? Why? Why not? What can I do to celebrate? Maybe a post about fantasy I've read or would like to read, or why I enjoy fantasy novels. It could also be a good excuse to read The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein, which has been on my...
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The Dragon of Doom by Bruce Coville

by Carol3 Comments
The Dragon of Doom (Moongobble and Me #1) by Bruce Coville Description: Edward is bored with life in the little town of Pigbone. Then Moongobble the Magician and his faithful toad, Urk, move into the cottage on the hill. Soon Edward has a job helping Moongobble. And Moongobble needs a lot of help because it turns out, he is not a very good magician. (His spells keep turning things into cheese!) Edward has never been so busy -- or so happy. But then someone threatens to stop Moongobble from ever casting another spell. Edward can't let that happen. He'll do anything to save his friend's magic -- even face the deadly, dreaded Dragon of Doom! My thoughts: We actually listened to this on CD and it lasted about an hour. Amber says Coville is her favorite author to listen to in the car. I think it's because his stories are wacky and the CDs have a full cast, not just a single narrator, which makes them fun....
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Wondrous Words Wednesday

by Carol4 Comments
I ran across a couple new-to-me words this week. bosky- having an abundance of bushes, shrubs, or trees. "A big white swan full of little children approached my bench, then turned around a bosky islet covered with ducks and paddled back under the dark arch of the bridge." (pg. 137, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath) bifurcation- a forking, or division into two branches. "Harsh Marit was back from the dead, and her life was facing a bifurcation." (pg. 4, My Forbidden Desire by Carolyn Jewel) Play along at Bermudaonion's Weblog....
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The Mystery of the Black Raven created by Gertrude Chandler Warner

by Carol1 Comment
The Mystery of the Black Raven (Boxcar Children Special #12) created by Gertrude Chandler Warner Description: The Boxcar Children are traveling to Skagway, Alaska, for the annual Four-Rock Miners' reunion. They're looking forward to a week of sightseeing and even panning for gold. But before the fun can begin, the soapstone raven and the scrapbook that grandfather is set to inherit for the year go missing. They're nothing but old souvenirs, so why would anyone want to take them? The Boxcar Children set out to find the raven's secret! My (brief) thoughts: I don't think Amber's ever going to get tired of the Boxcar Children Mysteries. I find them a little boring, but she enjoys them, so I read them with her. This one did have some interesting facts about Alaska and the Gold Rush, though. As usual, there were several suspects and clues and it was fun to try to guess who the thief actually was....
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