Games – Travels with Ali

The Changing Seasons – June 2021

The month of June for me started with quarantine and is ending with lockdown! Plenty of time for blogging.

WEEK ONE

The first week was spent at home in quarantine as we had been in Melbourne and Sydney the previous week. It was only 11 days as the 3 days in Sydney were counted as part of that. My daughter’s partner very kindly brought our two boys back to us from their little vacay in The Big Paws Hotel.

What to do about their walks though? Dear Hubby (DH) opened up our two side gates and created a mini circuit around the house. He very diligently walked around and around for an hour every day. At first the boys followed and thought what new game is this, but just after a few days grew bored with this as I did! He also decided that our bougainvillea needed cutting back and as a verge collection was coming up, we tackled this head on.

Somebody is protesting against no walks!

We relied on the kindness of friends and neighbours and some online shopping for our food and wine.

One day I had a surprise visit from a good friend and we sat outside, socially distanced and had a lovely chat. She brought some beautiful tulips and a small bag of exotic fruit, lucky me.

The beautiful tulips she brought as a gift.

WEEK TWO

The second week we were able to get out for dinner and celebrate our 30th Wedding Anniversary, definitely something worth celebrating. We had dinner with very dear friends at a restaurant called Dilly Dally.

This week was also the first time I had seen my two adorable grandchildren for nearly a month.

It was good to catch up with these two precious bundles. I could also get back to my weekly activities of zumba, Bridge and Mahjong.

WEEK THREE

This week was much the same as before. I did venture out with a girlfriend one night to our line dancing class. Not the boot scooting kind but more dancing in lines. Such great fun and we get plenty of exercise doing this.

Our couches are getting ruined by our spoilt boys so I ordered a couch cover for one of the couches to see if this would improve things.

WEEK FOUR

It was Book Club this week and the book this month was The Trauma Cleaner by Sarah Kranostein. This was not a book I could relate to even though it had some pretty good reviews. There are 11 of us in the club and I think most enjoyed it.

Our Girls Games Night was also this week and it was my turn to host. My son and his girlfriend bought me a Murder Mystery game for my birthday. Even though it’s meant for male and female, my friends were all okay about some of them dressing up as men. It was a brilliant evening and everyone made such a great effort with their costumes.

A Slice of Murder

Also during this last week was my Grandson, Lachie’s third birthday, what excitement that was. He sure did receive a lot of gifts.

Last of the month from today’s walk around the lake.

I hope everyone else had a good June also, look forward to hearing all about it over at The Changing Season hosted by Ju-Lynn this month. Next month Brian at Bushboys World will be hosting.

A Winter’s Day in Perth

On a Thursday I play Mahjong with the ladies from my games group. We play in a beautiful restaurant in City Beach overlooking the ocean. We meet for breakfast first and then get down to playing. I’m only just learning so I come away with a frazzled brain!

I thought this photo was perfect for Cee’s Choose a Topic from my Photo, which I took just this morning.

The blue of the ocean, waves, rocks, people, and coastline – nearly covered it!

🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊

Game Play!

Who doesn’t like a good game? Well my dear husband for one (DH), but I grew up playing them. Christmas and Boxing Day were the best days back then. Our whole extended family got together on Boxing Day and played all kinds of games. Escalado was an absolute favourite with everyone. We played the wind up version with all of us shouting and cheering, of course bets were taken.

Nowadays there are so many games out there and just over a year ago I got together with a group of likeminded ladies and we formed a monthly games night. There are seven of us and each month we take it in turns to host and we play several different games. We start around 6pm with cocktails and nibbles and a general catch up on our lives and then get started. It is absolutely the best fun and generally laugh till we cry.

The Games

I think our favourite so far is Telestrations. “Each player begins by sketching a TELESTRATIONS word dictated by the roll of a die. There is a sand timer to limit the time for drawing. When the time is up all players, all at the same time, pass their sketch to the next player, who must guess what’s been drawn. Players then simultaneously pass their guess — which hopefully matches the original word (or does it??) — to the next player who must try to draw the word they see — and so on.” This game has us in hysterics – at times we are just so stumped that only a wild guess is made. A pictorial Chinese Whispers!

Midnight Taboo

Not to be confused with just Taboo! This is a team game and they must guest the target word from your clues, but you must not say the forbidden words! An adjudicator with the buzzer is looking over your shoulder!

Qwirkle

Qwirkle a strategic matching tile game where you really have to have your thinking cap on! Where you find out who is the most competitive. We’ve played this on many occasions as the rules are easy.

Pictionary

Another drawing game, where you find out who the artists are! Also it depends what version you play, Australian, English or American. So many of the words and phrases have us baffled.

My adult children also love to play games and I try to find a new game every Christmas that is fun.

Watch Your Mouth is another game that is just so hilarious that we all end up with tears running down our face. A person has to say a phrase whilst wearing a mouth guard! The frustration that comes with repeating the same phrase but the same nonsense coming out is the funniest thing to watch. Highly recommended.

Tiny Hands is a team game and also great fun to play with likeminded souls who don’t mind looking silly. There are various stunts that have to be pulled off with your your tiny hands, catching a ball, tying a knot or serving someone a drink.

This month it is my turn to host our Girls Games Night and we will be having a Murder Mystery Evening. Everyone dressing up in the roles that they have been assigned. Hopefully a fun night.

Has anyone played any of these games, or have some that they love playing? Would love to hear.