Beneath the Wraps

       When it first came out I remember being interested in seeing the TV series “ This is Us ” but did not start watching it until this year for whatever reason.  Normally I don ’ t enjoy constant flashbacks but have been intrigued with this series about three siblings who have become adults.  We see pieces of memories as they enter the world and grow up.  We see their parents struggles as well as their own.  It ’ s been interesting to watch as their characters are developed based on these memories that the audience members see only glimpses of. Each episode provides a recap of what memories were provided from previous episodes.  The first episode starts off with four different cast members reacting to birthday celebrations.   The first story shows a pregnant woman holding a cupcake while her husband (Jack, the birthday boy) waits for her on the bed.   Her water breaks and they rush to the hospital where the woman is expec...

          Monopoly is still not my favorite game, but it is one of the few that Roland will agree to play with us.   However the rules vary quite drastically depending on whether he or Jenna are banker.   One of the last times we played, each of us had monopolies but Roland was banker hoarding houses and we were not allowed to buy hotels until we slowly built up and then traded in.   When Jenna’s banker, hotels can be purchased without having to first build up a housing empire.   There aren’t enough houses – at least there weren’t.           Roland found some extra houses at good will and purchased what appears to be vintage pieces.   Not original 1936 pieces but a remake done in 1947.   We decided to incorporate the extra housing in with our game pieces that were made this century. We played a came the day after Christmas. The hotel sizes are different and the house ...

            Every once in a while I will search for a particular blog post using a single key word or phrase that I think are mentioned in the post.   Yesterday I typed in the word " pieces "   just to see what would come up.   I was surprised that I had used that word in over 50 posts in reference to several topics.   That does not include the 20 plus posts where piece was used singularly.   The top   " pieces "  post  references referred to candy, other foods, luggage, lessons, toys and games.    Other posts included actual breakage or used in a metaphorical way.             I have used the word " pieces "   in about ten or so December entries posted on different years. One post mentions a four-piece measuring cup set that we had purchased as a white elephant gift.    ...