It’s a lazy afternoon. More family has arrived, mainly from Moses Lake Washington, and our little group is about complete. We’ve dropped from 44 members – at one reunion – to mostly the ‘brothers’ and ‘sisters’, their mates, my two traveling companions, and Neomi’s brood – that brings us to 19 people. Neomi is the oldest of our clan, married and has three children, and they have children. Her brood is the only one makes it every year – not all of them because emergencies do happen, but some or most of them make it each year without fail. They live about three hours from here and show up for the weekend, the main event – when we all do poker, food, pictures, reminisce, and share a brief moment of our lives.

The poker game is cranking off after one more meal…another Campsite Food Orgy. The food supply never ends. I’ve eaten more in a few days here than I would in two weeks at home. It seems to be an obsession. Possibly because they have families and kids and everyone eats on a fairly regular schedule but in my world food can be out of sight, out of mind. Sure you wouldn’t believe it if you looked at the body fat on my middle but it’s true. And on that fat around the middle – the older I get, the more difficult it is to shed the baby fat. Ugh!!! But back to the food, it’s incredible. Everyone’s cooking, everyone’s contributing, and everyone’s eating. I stay away from the cooking, I contribute, and unfortunately, I eat! It’s a given when I get here, that I refuse to prepare meals. A sandwich, a hot dog, a burger, or some such trivial sustenance suits me perfectly and that’s what I would do if it were up to me.

*Food break*

Much later, I set up the picnic table with a green flannel sheet (hey…looks like the green felt I spend most of my time on) and get out three racks of chips. We are playing for 5c a chip. Previous years we played for 25c a chip but this year it’s all the young bloods and I want them to have fun, not go broke.

There are only four of us starting the game; Ken came over later and joined the group making it a five some. The players: Ryan, Justin, Kyle, Ken, and me. Neomi came over and stood behind Kyle and Justin, offering advice from time to time. I’ve seen worse play at a poker table but I honestly can’t remember when. *laughing* One of them called all the way with 9 high and finally made a pair of 8’s on the river. When he won the pot, he exclaimed, “I knew he was bluffing!â€?

Yup! He was bluffing with the best hand. It was all a learning experience for me as I tried to explain that you can raise on the River with 6 high but you can’t just flat call with it. Oh well! We are going to email during the year and hopefully we will have more opportunities to face off at the Campfire Green Felt.

It rained earlier, and while we were under cover and still had campfires raging, the temperature dropped way too low for me. I was freezing during the poker game and I just never seemed to warm up after that – maybe it’s my desert blood. Or it’s possible Idaho jumped from summer to winter in one day.

Ken, Vickie, and me were wearing our Wal-Mart Plastic Bag hats for rain protection and Vickie and me had chopped holes in garbage bags so we could walk around in the rain. Ken insisted that we had to look ‘grim’ – like we were street people…this is our best sad look while we are laughing our butts off.

And even while it was raining, Vickie ran around with a glass of wine and a cigarette and Kayanna held an umbrella over her head while The Camp Chef-ette prepared the evening meal.

This night produced some stress, mainly for Kayanna. Josh, her dad, was supposed to have arrived hours earlier – enroute from Portland – and we finally got a late phone call from him. He was ‘broke down’ out of Spokane. Crap! My cell phone was ‘out of service’ at the campground and I was bumming phones from Neomi and her brood. Finally…around 11 p.m., I just gave up and asked Miss Kayanna if she wanted to take a ride into Spokane. Her sad face broke into the warmest thing I’d seen in hours; that beautiful smile even lit up the entire camp ground as she jumped at the chance.

*Post-poned until tomorrow*