Today I received a great email from a very close friend in New Orleans. I am positive she would not mind if I shared her words with you. Just as it is so very hard to describe the culture of New Orleans to someone, it is just as hard to explain a New Orleans Saints fan. Her email is pretty right on!
Hi Lynda,
Tommy checks Facebook and showed me your menu for the game tomorrow. You and your guests will feast.
I have not heard one negative thing about this glorious ride that the Saints’ success has given New Orleans and all of the Saints fans. The games are so much fun and you hug and kiss all the people you sit with. You do high fives and jump and strut and yell. I don’t know how any people will be at work Monday.
One of my coworkers lives on Minnesota Ave in Kenner. A news team was knocking on doors to see if there were any Minnesota fans living on Minnesota Ave. Her neighbor said that could not find any.
It’s a great time! I think about my daddy and yours. I’m sure the Saints fans are marching in heaven!
Go Saints!
Love,
Joe Ann
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Friday, January 22, 2010
Wednesdays with Mahjong
I look forward to Wednesdays. I go to one of four of my friends houses each Wednesday and I am assured of fun and laughter… friendship…and very good food!
I first began playing Mahjong in my twenties. The girls I played with were some of my closest friends and with their husbands and mine, often socialized on the weekends.
I have started playing again forty years later and I am enjoying it immensely. We start at eleven and end at three. We stop for lunch and all the girls are very good cooks. I would recommend this game to you no matter what your age and for those who live close, I would love to teach you how to play. I think you would love it.
Mahjong is a game for four players that originated in China. As explained by Wikipedia, the game was imported to the U.S.in the 1920s. The first mahjong sets sold in the U.S. were sold by Abercrombie & Fitch starting in 1920. It became a success in New York, and the owner of the company, Ezra Fitch, sent emissaries to Chinese villages to buy every set of mahjong they could find. Abercrombie & Fitch sold a total of 12,000 sets.
Also in 1920, Joseph Babcock published his book Rules of Mah-Jongg, also known as the "red book". This was the earliest version of mahjong known in America. Babcock had learned mahjong while living in China. Babcock's rules simplified the game to make it easier for Americans to take up, and his version was common through the mahjong fad of the 1920s. Later, when the 1920s fad died out, many of Babcock's simplifications were abandoned.
While mahjong was accepted by U.S. players of all ethnic backgrounds during the Babcock era, many consider the modern American version a Jewish game, as many American mahjong players are of Jewish descent. The National Mahjong League was founded by Jewish players and is considered a Jewish organization. In addition, players usually use the American game as a family-friendly social activity, not as gambling.
In recent years, a second organization has formed, the American Mah Jongg Association. The AMJA currently hosts tournaments all across North America, with their signature event being at the Trump Casino Resort in Atlantic City.
I first began playing Mahjong in my twenties. The girls I played with were some of my closest friends and with their husbands and mine, often socialized on the weekends.
I have started playing again forty years later and I am enjoying it immensely. We start at eleven and end at three. We stop for lunch and all the girls are very good cooks. I would recommend this game to you no matter what your age and for those who live close, I would love to teach you how to play. I think you would love it.
Mahjong is a game for four players that originated in China. As explained by Wikipedia, the game was imported to the U.S.in the 1920s. The first mahjong sets sold in the U.S. were sold by Abercrombie & Fitch starting in 1920. It became a success in New York, and the owner of the company, Ezra Fitch, sent emissaries to Chinese villages to buy every set of mahjong they could find. Abercrombie & Fitch sold a total of 12,000 sets.
Also in 1920, Joseph Babcock published his book Rules of Mah-Jongg, also known as the "red book". This was the earliest version of mahjong known in America. Babcock had learned mahjong while living in China. Babcock's rules simplified the game to make it easier for Americans to take up, and his version was common through the mahjong fad of the 1920s. Later, when the 1920s fad died out, many of Babcock's simplifications were abandoned.
While mahjong was accepted by U.S. players of all ethnic backgrounds during the Babcock era, many consider the modern American version a Jewish game, as many American mahjong players are of Jewish descent. The National Mahjong League was founded by Jewish players and is considered a Jewish organization. In addition, players usually use the American game as a family-friendly social activity, not as gambling.
In recent years, a second organization has formed, the American Mah Jongg Association. The AMJA currently hosts tournaments all across North America, with their signature event being at the Trump Casino Resort in Atlantic City.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
