Snooker, Curling, and Bowls

The weather continues to alternate between cold and warm, snow and rain. We’ve been spoiled in recent years with mild winters, but it looks like the weather is back to normal now.

Our friend lives a couple hours away and often stays here when he has an appointment in the area. He had an appointment today so we “babysat” his new dog, Cletus. Hannah Joy adores our friend so we call him “Hannah’s Favorite Uncle,” which would make Cletus “Cousin Cletus.” This is the second time Cousin Cletus has been to our house. During his first visit, Hannah Joy complained constantly. She complained this time as well, but it was far less than last time. I expect that eventually Hannah will calm down more, understanding that Cletus is a guest, not a resident.

This afternoon I watched a line of about 9 deer come over the hill into our apple orchard. After a short stop, they moved on, but about an hour later I saw them moving back up and over the hill. I’ve never seen so many deer together before. EJ says that they are yarding up, which means very cold temperatures are coming. I looked at the forecast and, yup, we are going to get to the single digits in a couple of days.

At our library’s big book sale in late November, I found three books in a four-book series called “Thursday Murder Club Mystery” by Richard Osman, a new-to-me author. The books are about four elderly residents of a retirement community in the UK who get together (on Thursdays) to solve old murders. The characters are quirky and likable and the stories are interesting and humorous. I’ve finished my three books and need to find the last one in the series, as well as Richard Osman’s other books. Normally I would borrow the book through Michigan’s interlibrary loan system, which involves me ordering a book on their website, which is then sent from a Michigan library who has the book to my local library for me to pick up. However, with all the snow that keeps getting dumped on us, it hasn’t been easy to get to the library. When we are getting a foot of snow or freezing rain, we’d prefer to stay home. So instead, I am “borrowing” the book as an e-book. However, there is a 16-week waiting list so I will have to wait a while to read it. Until then, I’m reading other books I bought at the book sale.

In the third Thursday Murder Club book, called The Bullet That Missed, one of the characters played a game called “Snooker” with a man he was trying to get information from. They played it more than once, which got me curious about the game. I asked EJ, “Have you ever heard of a game called ‘Snooker’?” He replied, “Yes. It’s a type of pool game.” (Table pool not swimming pool.) I went to YouTube to see if I could find a video of Snooker. Yup. First I watched a short video that described the rules then I watched a competition. Actually, as soon as I started watching the videos, EJ became interested so we watched the videos together. It’s a very interesting game to watch. It takes a lot of skill and strategy because a player has to not just take his current shot, but plan for his future shot as well.

I mentioned to my Canadian friend that we were watching Snooker games and she suggested we watch Curling. I was already aware of Curling–we even have a team in a nearby town– but I’ve only ever watched a few minutes of it on TV during the Olympics. However, we found YouTube videos and watched a competition. It was also interesting.

I was searching YouTube for Snooker and Curling competitions to watch when I noticed the search results had brought up a game called “Bowls.” I wondered, “What on earth is “Bowls”? I clicked on the link and found yet another type of game that I had never heard of. There are two types: Lawn Bowls, which is played outside, and Indoor Bowls, which-duh–is played indoors. Like Snooker and Curling, it is also very interesting to watch. We watched some top-level players and it was amazing how accurately they could roll the “bowls.” EJ searched the Internet to see if the game is played in the USA. There a no Indoor Bowls game here and only a very few outdoor ones.

So now on the weekend evenings when EJ doesn’t have to work, we are watching games of Snooker, Curling, or Bowls. We are wondering what other games exists in the world that we are unaware of. We are keeping our eyes open for them. If you, my Readers, know of any interesting games, feel free to let me know in the comments.

I reminded EJ that because I read the novel by Richard Osman, I learned about Snookers, which led to Curling, which led to Bowls, which led to enjoyable evenings watching them. One of the reasons I enjoy reading novels is because I always learn new things–things that the characters experience that I would never come across in real life. Whenever I read something in a book–whether it involves history, traditions, items, movies, games, etc.–I look it up to see if is a real thing or just imagined. This sends me down some interesting rabbit trails.