A Game of Cards

I don't have an idea of what to write about but John sent me this meme and it got me to thinking about card games.  I know very little about them. The only time I ever played cards was on family vacations at the lake.  We would go up to the Lodge and a bunch of us would sit around and play cards.  When we first started going it was one game and then later we learned another one and played it for awhile.  Funny thing is, I can't remember what the names of the games were, nor the rules.. What I do remember is the people who played.  My mother, of course she of the "Ruth can't wait to get up there and gamble" fame as stated by her older sister,  My uncle Harold (the older sister's husband) Morrie, Joe, Maryjane, Paul, Bob, and a myriad of other who stayed at the resort.

There were also a lot of people who sat around the outside and watched or got in and out of the game.  Funny thing is though it wasn't about the gambling. It was more about the sociability. Bets were never high and you won about as much as you lost.  You wouldn't get rich or poor because of playing cards -- basically it was just to have fun.

Some people, being more competitive, had to win,  It was more fun to beat them because they made such a big deal out of losing but by in large they were not as much fun to play with.  We just enjoyed each other and being together at the most beautiful place on earth. Or at least one of them.  We could fish, and swim and take road trips and have a wonderful time and then enjoy our friends.  That was heaven. And we didn't even know it...oh I imagine that Mom and Ginny did because they both cried for about 30 miles as we left.  I didn't because I had to drive.  Want to know where - here is a picture.  I think my cousin Loren took it.

Sometimes friends from the lake would come to visit us or we would go to visit them and we would play cards. Again not for the card playing but as a vehicle to enjoy each other's company and to have a grand old time.  I miss those days.