Post Rummoli Party Exhaustion

So Sunday afternoon I hosted an all girls Rummoli party.  What is Rummoli you ask?  It is a really fun game that has elements of poker and rummy.  There is betting involved and it moves fast.  My friend, Jennifer D's family has been playing it for generations, and it is popular in Canada.  Most people make their own boards, so of course, off I went to Home Depot and the fabric store.  It took me about 2 hours to figure out how to cut the board into a perfect octagon, but once that was done, and covered with green felt, I had a blast with the sequins and glitter.  It is a SPARKLY board.

I made some finger sandwiches and purchased pretzels and cookies.  I felt bad that I did not make every last item from scratch. But I cut myself that slack I was talking about and just went with buying really good quality cookies.

We had a blast.

Today, it is almost 2 pm, and I am finally getting moving.  Just could not move this morning.  I had spent most of last week cleaning the house to get ready for the party and Dad's visit on Thursday.  He is stopping by for one day on his way to Alaska to go fishing.  I think we shall go to the zoo.  There are two new baby snow leopards that have just been born and a new red wolf exhibit I haven't seen yet.  Lots of photo opportunities! It will be fun.

I also figured out why there were harbor seals up the river, the salmon are running!  The dog and I walk along the Puyallup River, down near the mouth of it and that is all Indian land, so the non-Native American's cannot fish that area, I was driving to the pickle farm to get some fabulous tomatoes, and saw all the guys lined up along river road, fishing their hearts out.  Mystery solved.

And now I need a nap.

For those who want to play Rummoli, here are the rules and a picture of the board:

Rummoli can be played by two to eight players on the "Rummoli" playing surface with a standard deck of playing cards (minus the Joker) and counters or chips.

To Start the Game-The players cut the cards to determine the dealer of the original hand- Ace is high. The playing chips or counters are divided evenly among the players. Each player places a counter on each of the nine sections of the playing cover and the dealer deals out the cards, one at a time, dealing an extra hand which is known as the "Widow". Some players may have more cards than others, but this is of no consequence.

After looking at the cards in his own hand, the dealer may, if he so desires, exchange his hand for the "Widow", but must not look at the cards in the "Widow" before the exchange is made. If the dealer decides to play his original hand, he may auction the "Widow" to the highest bidder among the other players, and he, of course, keeps the proceeds.

Any player making an exchange of his hand for the "Widow" must accept the "Widow" even though it should turn out to be a poorer hand than his original hand. The hand which is exchanged for the "Widow" is dead, and not used at all in the play. It should be placed face down so that the cards are not known to any other player.

Method of Play-There are two parts to the game which are described in detail as follows:

Poker Play-Each player selects from his hand the five cards which he thinks will make the most powerful poker hand and lays aside, for the time being, the remainder of his cards face down.

This part of the game may be played in two different ways and the players should agree beforehand which method is to be used.

Method No. 1. The players may arrange to have a "showdown" of the poker hands, each player placing his hand on the table face up, and the player having the hand with the greatest poker value takes all the chips in the "Poker Pot"

or
Method No. 2. The players may bet and raise the bet as in a regular poker game and all bets should be placed in the "Poker Pot". The player who forces all other players out of the game or who has the best poker hand when hands are shown takes all the counters in the "Poker Pot". A player who has been forced out of the betting cannot participate in the Pot even though he discovers later that he had the best hand.

Rummy Play-The players now pick up the cards they laid aside for the Poker Play and arrange their entire original hand in suits. The winner of the Poker hand now places on the table face up the lowest card in his hand calling it aloud. The play passes to the left and the player having the next consecutive card or cards in the same suit plays it or them face up before him. The play continues in this manner until the ace of the suit has been played or until the continuity of play is broken by a card being in the dead hand. When a suit is closed by the playing of the ace or blocked by a card being in the dead hand, the player who played the last card now plays the lowest card in his hand in a suit of a different colour to the suit last played and play continues in this manner until all suits have been run out. If a deadlock occurs, that is if no player is able to change the colour of the suit, the hand is finished and each player must place in the "Rummoli" section a chip for each card he has left in his hand.

Pay Cards-On the Rummoli playing cover there are seven spaces marked with certain cards or combination of cards. As a player lays down one of these cards or sequences he collects the chips on the space marked the same as the card or cards he has played.

The first player to get rid of all his cards collects the chips on the space marked "Rummoli" and this marks the end of one hand. All other players pay the winner a chip for each card left in his hand.

The deal passes to the left and at the start of each new hand each player places another chip on each of the nine spaces on the cover.

At the end of a hand it is quite likely that chips remain on some of the spaces owing to the fact that the cards are in the dead hand, or that no one player held the proper sequences in his hand, or that one player has got rid of all his cards thus ending the hand before another player had a chance to play his pay cards. Such chips are allowed to collect from hand to hand until a player can play the right card or cards to claim them.

To End the Game - At the conclusion of the game the players must decide among themselves how to dispose of chips remaining in any of the spaces. This may be arranged by simply cutting the pack and high man taking all the chips, or dealing to each player a poker hand (five cards) and the best poker hand wine all the chips remaining on the board.

Latest News

Last week was my 3 month check up with Dr. Oehler.  At that time she did another PCR test, which came back as undetectable.  This is fantastic.  It means that the drug is working, and has shut down the production of the BCR-ABL protein (the protein that turns the bone marrow on to produce the malignant white cells).  So my drug is working on two levels: it is stopping the production of the protein AND if any is produced, it is stopping my bone marrow from accepting it.

The bad news?  This is my new normal.  Dr. O was hoping that I would get more of my old self back, but has come to realize that it is almost a year, and this is probably it.  So each day is a challenge in figuring out what I can do, what I have the energy for, and whether I can focus enough to get any work done.  And what kind of medical issues need to be dealt with each day.

We are not discussing changing drugs since the Sprycel is working so well, and each of the TKI drugs has a bunch of side effects, mostly the same as the others, but with some major differences as well.

She also thinks that I am de-conditioned physically from this past year and wants me to take a physical class, to give myself more energy.  So she prescribed golf lessons!  And my fabulous husband was so excited, he paid for them!

The lessons started last night.  I had found a group lesson that meets twice a week for 3 weeks.  I had hoped to take an intermediate class, but the only class available is a "Women's Golf" class, and I was the only one there who had ever hit the ball before.  Sigh.  This is a very very basic class.  But I told myself not to be upset, and that going over the basics can be enlightening.  Each trainer has their own way of describing things.  I have loved one trainer, hated one, and been indifferent to two others.  This one is ok, and she gave me advice worth the price of admission.

The hardest part of playing golf with JR is that he LOVES to give advice.  Whether I want it or not.  And mostly I don't.  I need to figure out how to do this myself, or I won't learn it.  I am the one who needs to make the mistake and then correct for it.  Sadly, this irritates him.  He really really wants to "help" me and tell me what I am doing wrong.  I really really don't want to hear it.  It is one of the few times when we clash.

And then Molly (the golf instructor) said the most beautiful words ever, "Under the rules of golf, giving unsolicited advice is a two stroke penalty."  OMG.  Are you serious????  He isn't ALLOWED to give advice.  That rocks!

She also managed to fix the fact that all my shots go to the right.  I was holding my hands slightly wrong, and then she said, if your feet are lined up with the hole, your shot will go to the right.  Well, I could have sworn that I had been told by virtually everyone to line my feet up to the hole.  And I have a horrible habit of hitting to the right.  It is very discouraging.  But not now!  Now I will line up to the left of the hole.  And go straight.

I am actually really excited about getting out on the course again.  But I think the next lesson tomorrow is on how to swing your 7 iron.  Sigh.  Back to basics is good, back to basics is good, back to basics is good.

Also today, while walking the dog along the Puyallup River, I noticed a little head popping out of the water.  It was a harbor seal.  And then there were two, and then three and then five and then there was a baby pup swimming with its mama.  I stood there fascinated while the dog just wanted to go go go.  Sadly for him, we stayed and watched the seals for while.  I didn't realize that harbor seals would come up into fresh water, although maybe that part of the river is a mix of both, the estuary area, and perhaps there is yummy fishing there.

--Caroline