Fri - 9 Jan/15

The forecast for today is totally dull. It is completely overcast with a high of 60 F and 40% chance of rain. The hourly forecast shows that the only chance for sunshine is between 1 and 2 pm. Lucky if we will be above the mid 50's.

Charlotte needed a larger table to pin her latest quilt project. Working on the RV floor is too hard on the back. There was no activity scheduled in the craft room until 1 pm. We could group tables there to make the task easier, so we were off to the multi-purpose building.

We placed two tables together and Charlotte pinned the quilt top to it's backing.

 As I was opening and placing the pins on the quilt backing for Charlotte to fasten I was wondering why they were all bent. They seemed too strong to bend easily. Certainly fabric would not be too thick to do that. Charlotte explained that they were "Quilter's Safety Pins". They are bent to make it easier to slide in and out of the layers of fabric that are being held together. Now it made sense!

The task was completed in less than an hour and we were back in the RV a little after noon. I started making Cream of Mushroom soup for dinner while Charlotte put her quilting materials away.

Not warm or sunny enough for a drive with the top off the Del Sol. We decided to relax and watch a movie. The choice from our collection was a Bette Davis film-noire: "Another Man's Poison".

Mystery writer Janet Frobisher lives alone in a dark English country house, when she's not philandering with her secretary's fiancée. At an extremely awkward moment, she has an unwelcome visitor: George Bates, who claims to be the partner in crime of Janet's estranged husband. George insinuates himself into Janet's home and life despite her efforts to get rid of him; the tangled relationships develop into a macabre, murderous cat-and-mouse game. I like "Old" movies. They actually have a plot and dialogue.

While watching/listening to the movie I did some computer chores. I updated the banking, typed out a pattern (project instruction sheet) for Charlotte and checked the e-mail. Charlotte's sister, Catherine, sent a picture of Marty's hockey team participating in the ceremonial "Face-off" at a local "Colts" (Junior Hockey Team) game.

The RV park has Bingo on both Monday and Friday nights which is the maximum (2 games per week) allowed by law. Bingo, is regulated and licensed through a combination state and local ordinances. Bingo in an RV Park is not designed to enrich the park coffers. It is organized for the enjoyment of the participants. Most of the money (again, prize amounts are limited) is returned as prizes with much of the remaining funds used to cover the costs. Fun is what it is all about.

The Bingo cards (now actually recyclable paper sheets) come in a variety of colours. The last cards are sold 15 minutes prior to the start of the game as it takes time to fill in patterns on the cards. When you buy a card you also pick up information sheets that show the "Pattern" for each game. It is advisable to mark these on each card so that it is easy to recognize if you have won.

There are numerous "Patterns" available. One sheet has the patterns and the other tells what pattern to place on what "Coloured" Bingo card. Originally, patterns started out as simple and obvious choices such as 4 corners, diagonals and the letter X.

Today, creative folks have devised hundreds of patterns. Each with it's own creative name. Some are obvious (e.g. based on letters, numbers or shapes); others are creative ( Little Jackpot is called Sputnik on our info sheet) and some names make no logical sense at all.

Today' Bingo markers are out unless re-usable cards are being played.

Bingo Markers (ink daubers) are in for the disposable cards.

"Patterns" are usually marked by the player on the appropriately coloured card with a pencil, pen or fine line marker.  The called number is only marked if it is on the pattern line. If the above pattern "7" (top right /marked with a yellow marker on the card) were being played and the call was "B2" it would not be "daubed" for this card. Sometimes a card will be used for more than one game (e.g. "7" followed by a "Full Card")

At tonight's Bingo we met a nice couple who came to the park from Myrtle Beach, SC. Charlotte had already met Vickie at quilting. Vickie works on a number of neat projects including cutting out dresses to donate so girls in Africa can go to school. They can't attend unless they have a dress to wear and many are too poor to afford one. This was our first opportunity to meet Bill. At least one Bill won a Bingo this evening; but it wasn't me.

They said; "Perhaps we will see you tomorrow at the Pancake Breakfast". We had to confess that we usually don't get up that early (starts at 8 a,m,) which, of course, meant most will be there by 7:30 a.m.

The weather was dull, but we still managed a busy day. Tomorrow promises to be warmer and sunny!