Yesterday was my first day back home for nine days in Minnesota and, since my ten year high school reunion next weekend was cancelled for lack of interest, the motivating factor in coming home right now. My friends Don and Sarah lived in Boston until recently and they got married there this March. The three people in attendance were Don, Sarah and the priest. So they decided to have the reception today in a park in St. Paul. Thus I was in a cab and on my way to O'Hare at 8:00 am yesterday morning for my 10:50 flight.
The actual reception was very chilled out. It was just a summer barbeque except at one point two of the people cut a cake together. I saw Don and Sarah for the first time in two years or so and I also saw other people I hadn't seen in almost as long like Holly, Marcos and Jamie. It was also good to get a little time with Patrick and Morgan Mae as we were riding in the car to the park. It's good to get back on radar back here in Minneapolis.
The highlight of the day was The Viking game. No, I'm not talking about the professional football team who play their home games at the Metrodome. This game involved sticks, blocks and a metaphorical viking. If your interest is piqued, here are the rules.
Set four posts to set the boundaries of the field. You can set the posts wide or close together based upon your skill level. These posts were about ten feet apart at the ends and fifteen to twenty feet apart lengthwise.
Along the end lines set five to seven woodblocks again based upon your level of skill. It will be your goal to knock down these woodblocks from the opposite end line. To knock them down you use six closet dowel rod sections about six inches long.
Finally set a much more sturdy wood block in the middle. This is The Viking and in the game I played it was an old coffee table leg. This serves as the metaphorical eight ball in that once you've knocked down the rest of the wood blocks your objective is to knock over The Viking. The catch is you have to do it facing backwards and through your legs.
You start by throwing the dowels at the blocks from your end line. All the throws have to be underhand and end-over-end. No overhand, no sidearm, no bowling it, etc. I was accused of (and may've done) a few of those manuevers so I know they're out. Once you knock over a block, the other team throws it to your side on their next turn. They then have to knock over that block as well as the rest of your original blocks.
Here's the catch. If they don't knock over the newly set block, you can advance as far forward as that block to make your throws. So there is a mix of strategy between throwing it close enough that they can hit it easily on their turn throwing dowels (which follows the block tossing) and not so close that you're too close throwing dowels at their blocks. The extra wrinkle is that if you throw a block and it strikes another block, those two blocks are stacked and easier to tip over.
So it's a game a little like bocce ball except more complex. We played a whole game and it took us an hour. But unlike bocce ball there were teams and therefore it wasn't every man for himself.
There were two times that I was the person lined up to knock down The Viking and both times I missed. The first time I was the last person in our rotation and just missed it high. The second time I was the next to last person, I overcompensated, skipped it about two or three feet behind me and missed even more egregiously.
Up stepped Holly. Despite wearing a skirt and having to throw between her legs, she was a dead aim on her first try. She clipped the top of The Viking and our team won the game. Everyone cheered. I was kind of bummed because I'd had two chances to win the game and blown it each time.
Sarah's mom Karen had the best words of consolation. I told her, "Man, I could've won the game twice and I missed both times." She told me, "And wasn't it gracious of you to leave that honor for Holly." Touche, Karen. Touche.
After the sun went down all of the kids went to Merlin's Rest in the Longfellow neighborhood where we had drinks outside and enjoyed the wonderful night air. My brother, Hillary and Charlie all came by and joined the party too. After the 11:00 curfew on outdoor food and beverages, Dan, Hillary and I came back here to Dan's place and played a quick game of Scrabble. I may've scored the least points but I'd like to think I also did the best work for expanding the board.
Day 1 down, 8 more to go.
Update: My friend Kate says The Viking game is also called Kubb. Here's the Wikipedia link.
No comments:
Post a Comment