July 27, 2007

Favorite Book Friday

My feet still hurt.

Yesterday, I took our niece, who is visiting from Philadelphia, and our two sons to a rocky beach nearby. When our boys swam so far off I couldn’t see them, I left my sandals and my good sense behind and ran along the sand – the hot sand – the scalding hot sand – to find them and tell them to come back before the undertow swept them away or they were smashed into the jagged rocks or a shark ate them for a midday snack. The farther I ran, the faster they swam. Tall, jagged rocks separated me from them. The boys couldn’t see me or hear me. Up ahead, I noticed the end of the rock formation where I could enter the water and, I hoped, find our boys swimming safely. Once I saw the boys emerge from the water, I called to them and plopped down in the sand. My feet were burnt so badly it brought me to tears.

In the end, everyone was fine. (Except my sore feet.)

There are some things I love about summer in South Florida – the relaxed pace of life with no school schedules, the ability to get a table at my favorite breakfast spot without waiting in line and no traffic because tourist season is still several months away.

But there are some things I do not love about summer in South Florida – scalding sand, slithering snakes and shocking storms. (We’re the lightning capital of the world.)

But there’s one thing I love any time of the year – Scrabble.

Hubby and I play competitively with each other whenever we get the chance, studying two-letter words, working puzzles from our Scrabble calendars and keeping the scores of each game we play in a notebook, marking who won and if either of us got any bonus (7-letter) words.

Oh, look. Here’s one of our games now:





Even Vanessa, the flat-chested, forever fumbling, spelling bee whiz in my new novel, loves to play Scrabble with her mom (when she’s not busy campaigning to become president).


Vanessa learned that the man who invented Scrabble was named Butts (B-U-T-T-S). Alfred Mosher Butts. To learn more, check out this site.

And for all you Scrabble Word Nerds, have fun at this site.

And because it is Favorite Book Friday, my character’s favorite book about Scrabble (and mine and hubby's, too) is Everything Scrabble by Joe Edley and John D. Williams Jr. (I’m going to go study it now so I can get an advantage over hubby. Sh (acceptable Scrabble word) -- don’t tell!)



10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I envy you! My dream is to find someone to play Scrabble with during a hurricane. Since this paragon has yet to show up, I make sure I have a few good books among my hurricane supplies. John Dunning (Booked To Die, The Bookman's Wake, etc...) is among the authors who have kept me company during a storm!

Anonymous said...

man was that sand scorching hot! i would have followed you but my feet couldn't take it! the water felt so much better! that sure was a adventure eh!?

LindaBudz said...

Hi, Donna! Found you from Verla's boards. I love Scrabble ... in fact, I love all word games. And they play a part in the mystery series I'm writing.

Have you ever seen this hilarious video? (At least, I think it's hilarious.)

http://www.zefrank.com/theshow/archives/2006/11/112706.html

(If that link doesn't work, you can just go to zefrank.com and do a search for the "scrabble" video. I think it's on his favorites page, too.)

Wild About Words said...

lindabudz, great video. Thanks for sharing and thanks for stopping by!

Anonymous said...

My new favorite Scrabble word is "ZA." I think it is short for "PIZZA." All I know is that it's acceptable, and comes in mighty handy when you are stuck with a "Z" at the end of a game.

Ta-Ta and Za for now, Donna!

David LaRochelle
www.davidlarochelle.net

Anonymous said...

Zowie! Perhaps I spoke too soon! I looked up "ZA" on the online Scrabble dictionary and it wasn't there!

I guess I've been duped by the person who told me it was legitimate.

I don't want to steer anyone down the path of unacceptable words, but if you discovery that ZA is OK after all, let me know!

David who stands tall and corrected
talldave@ix.netcom.com

Wild About Words said...

"ZA" is in my Scrabble dictionary. And it can be a plural as well. And if you're stuck with an "X" try "XI"--a Greek letter and "XU"--a monetary unit of Vietnam.
Now, is it any wonder we don't finish writing our books?!

Anonymous said...

How lucky you are to have a live in scrabble buddy. My husband plays scrabble with me occasionally, but I know it is only out of kindness--or sympathy--I must look so pathetic begging.

Anonymous said...

I love the Scrabble documentary and book (especially the book) WORD FREAK. It follows the top players as they get ready for the Scrabble championships.

Wild About Words said...

Debby --
Yes, we have Word Freak. It's a very interesting book, a great insight into the world of competetive Scrabble players.
BTW, have fun in Italy. (Only slightly envious.)
Donna