A Dribble

The hummer omens didn't lie - a respectable .60 today - a crack in the dam.  We are off to the Richardson Regional on Monday and our partner/friends Jay and Paula will join us there for some KOs in the continuing hunt for gold.  Thanks to Paula for the nice game today.  Now, if it would only rain!

The Plateau

Great player (and newest Grand Master - kudos!), Greg, says that all players, old and new, bad and good go through a series of steps up and then have to walk miles across a flat plateau before finding another step up.  After rolling along through 2010 with an average of about 10 points a month, August, so far, has brought almost 1 whole MP.  I'm trying not to whine too much at the club so I decided to whine to the blog and spare my playing friends and partners.  Husband/partner is whining louder, although he is now 3 points or so ahead me and, I don't think, has any reason to complain.  We have played with a number of different partners and together but with less than stellar results.  I feel like those commercials that have the big, giant arrows with flashing neon lights, and the arrows are pointing directly at me "THE PROBLEM". 

Husband/partner and I decided to play 2 over 1 to jump start our game and it seemed to work for a while.  However, when the rain stopped here in San Antonio, our points became as drought ridden as our grass.  However, here is the good news folks.  I have always been a big believer in omens.  Latin scholars (4 years in high school qualifies in my book) are big on omens.

All summer and for the past 4 summers since I started putting up hummingbird feeders, we have had one little brown hummer who comes to the feeder every year and fights off any other hummer which dares to get near his food source.  Our friends and neighbors have tons of hummers at their feeders but not us.  Here is my omen.  Ready?  We looked at the patio feeder after dinner and there were hummers swarming the thing.  One was a ruby throat in full, red throated, glorious color.  The others were the usual black chins but also starting to get their mating colors with the purple collar band.  There were 6 of them or so doing acrobatics, running each other off the food source, sucking at the flowers, and otherwise doing the things that make them so much fun to watch.

So, this is the first swarm of probably migrating hummers we have ever seen in our yard.  Maybe a swarm of masterpoints will follow tomorrow when I play with my friend and new director Paula.  Stay tuned.

Apology

A nice aplogy has been accepted from the person who, in the heat of the moment, did not chose her words wisely.  End of story.

New Orleans National

Hot, dirty, smelly and loud.  That's about it for New Orleans.  Oh yeah - and great food!  It was not my fave National though.  We were playing pairs and the women near the door all jumped up and started screaming.  The men, of course, laughed.  One 80ish guy got up with a large, heavy cane and started to head over there - theoretically to crush the poor little mouse which had been running around for three days.  Some smart dude opened the door and it ran away into the hallway.  It was difficult, in most matches, particularly consolation KOs to find a direcctor.  The conference rooms were jammed with KOs and pairs in the same room which upped the noise level considerably when one of them ended while the other was still going.

Still, we did manage to scratch out 2.5 gold from a consolation KO as well as a bunch of red, doing well in two pairs game, much to our surprise.  Best of all, we learned new stuff.  We met pro teacher, Lisa Berkowitz, in the bar and, after treating her to a glass of chardonney, she told us what to do over 2 club opener interference.  We had not encountered that before and we were stymied in our bidding, ending up in a really bad contract of 6 hearts, down 2.  Now, we will know what to do next time, not that we won't end up down anyway but we thank her for her kind advice and patience.  She really is a gifted teacher.

Club owner, Marilyn, and her partner, Jerry, explained how we could have used a maximal double to get to a game we missed.  Great info!!  We thank them and friend/partner, Rebecca, for our two and half gold.  We feel that we should have done better, but are grateful for what we have.  It gives us more opportunity to continue to travel to regionals and nationals for a while.

Biig Al and dementor Robert played a couple of KOs with us but we were KOed.  However, Biig Al won BIIG at the casino and took us out for a great dinner.  We finally walked to the river on the morning we were leaving and scarfed down some beignets.  Diet starts Monday ........  again.

Most interesting sight in New Orleans:   a gorgeous girl in leather mini and boots with legs starting at her neck and which were covered in fish net hose, on the arm of not one but two older gentlemen.  Think she's a bridge pro or really a guy?  We had fun.