28 in Cribbage

I just had the best hand I have had in a lifetime of playing Cribbage. I held the Queen of Hearts and three fives. The Five of Clubs turned up when the deck was cut.

Any combination that adds up to 15 counts for 2 points. Face cards are worth 10. So each combination of the Queen and a five counts for 2, and each combination of three fives counts for 2, for a total of 16 points. Additionally, each pair counts for 2 points. There are six pairings of fives, for 12 more points. The total score was 28.

The only possible better hand occurs when you're holding a Jack and three fives, and the cut turns up a five in the same suit as the Jack. Such a Jack is worth one extra point for a total of 29. A hand worth 15 points is excellent and anything over 20 is unusual, in fact I've never seen a 28-point hand before.

Danny dealt the hand. Leading by about three points, with 20 to go, he was in an excellent position to win the game. In fact his hand was worth 21 points and he had more in the kitty, but counting first I went out.

Light along Guelph's two rivers

I had just finished telling Danny that I have felt less interested in photography since the summer ended. I spent two days in Toronto this week and took no photos. I told him this as we walked along the Eramosa River at noon, camera hanging listlessly at my side. It was last summer that I splurged on a new memory card, allowing me to experiment to my heart's content. So I have completed the full cycle of a year with the Eramosa. Most of what I see now I have tried to photograph before.

The words were barely past my lips when we passed through a meadow full of goldenrod, asters, jewelweed and butter-and-eggs. My apathy evaporated like dew in the hot September sun. I call this flower porn. There's little compositional merit to this photo. It is just a riot, and I love it.





After that, everywhere I looked I saw things in a new light. Monet light, you might call it: wonderful effects in the sky and water. I pondered aloud to Danny that still images can't capture moving reflections the way the eye sees them.

This afternoon I had to drop Danny off at the bus station. But before he left for home, we drove over to The Boathouse, one of places that contributes to Guelph's peculiar, almost European charm. It had stood derelict for decades on the bank of the Speed River until someone renovated this 1930s building and opened it as a tea room. As a special bonus, it's the only place around this part of the province where you can buy Kawartha Dairy Ice Cream. If you visit Ontario cottage country regularly and like ice cream, you'll know this was a good business decision. The Boathouse closes for several months during the winter, but otherwise is open for light lunches and special events such as poetry readings.

I had some fun with the next image. I took two photos with Danny djjo in precisely the same pose. The other was taken a little further back, his figure was smaller in relation to the building, and the composition didn't appeal to me as much. But in this shot, the woman in the doorway was missing. I loved that woman. So I cut and pasted the contents of the doorway into this photograph. I don't manipulate photos very much other than cropping, but this pleased me.





Despite my complaints about losing interest in photography, I had trouble choosing what to post today, so there are six more photos behind the cut. The first three were taken around the boathouse, the next one on the nearby covered bridge, and the last two were taken on our walk along the Eramosa River earlier in the day.

In my peculiar state of mind, the first scene reminded me of Georges Seurat's painting, Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, or Bathers at Asnieres. In my experience, most North American cities do not bother to create waterfront spaces like this.

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To anyone who follows my journal regularly, the last scene will be familiar by now. I missed all of August without seeing it, so this photo represents my homecoming. It was a hot, sunny day; in fact we have had more deep summer weather this week than in all of July and August combined, it seems. With this cheerful aspect on the pond at my favourite place along the Eramosa River, I look forward to a long, pleasant autumn.