The game of Farkle goes back in our family for almost 30 years. While no one knows the true origin of the game (in the world, not just in our family), the name Farkle didn’t even come into being until 1982. My Grandma and Grandpa Murphy brought the game to the family when they learned it from a group of friends with whom they often played cards. At the time, we just called it the dice game.
While it has certainly been made public since those early days when it seemed that we played it at every get together, I know that I along with my family have probably introduced literally hundreds of other people to it. In fact, one year at church camp Woodland Altars, it seems that all we did was play Farkle. It was a little less active than four-square!
My Grandma Murphy had some sort of gift for always winning. While certainly the kindest and most loving woman I have ever known, she wasn’t always the smartest. However, that woman had a gift for rolling dice. It seems that any time she played, she’d win at least 75% of the games. There are certainly levels of aggressiveness to playing Farkle, but pretty much once you learn it, you’ll find that most of the winning comes from pure luck…or some other mystical power.
This is all merely an introduction to the one fact I learned the weekend of June 27-28. My Mom was passed that very mystical power that ensured a higher rate than normal of Farkle wins. And she will be the first to admit that before my Grandma Murphy passed away, she was terrible at the game.
But this was only one of the games we played that weekend. Ashleigh and I left home on Saturday the 27th at around 1:30pm. I had spent the morning diligently trying to catch up on this website after my recent travels and laying out in the Summer sun. The night before I had gone to Heidi’s for our first Summer bonfire of the year and just a wee bit of wine. Although the fire that she built was pretty weak, it still burned until the small hours, so I was up pretty late, so uncharacteristically had slept in until almost 9am.
So we headed out toward Indian Lake and the Long Island cabin owned by my Aunt Diana and Uncle Tom. It had been almost two years since my last visit at the end of the Summer in 2007 (my second of two visits that year), so I was looking forward to being there. It was actually the first time that Ashleigh and I had had the opportunity to do anything together in quite some time. We stopped at Kroger on the way to pick up some Angus burgers and bottled water.
We arrived at about 3:00 and immediately were whisked out on the lake for a boat ride courtesy of my Uncle Tom. We had missed the fish fry that afternoon, but when we returned, I helped myself to the leftovers…and the leftover pizza from the night before…and a bag of cheese puffs.
The one and only famous cabin
Our first sight upon arrival: Megan zonked out on her Grandma
Emily and Olivia hang out on the dock while Bob drifts away
As we were leaving, Dave’s boat was returning…with some familiar cargo
Tom and me with the need for speed
Ashleigh drifts…
Bryan, Kara, and Bob float; Dave and Sherry pedal
Erine yuks it up as we dock the boat
Denise, Aaron, and the kiddies were also there for the day (having slept over there the previous night), along with Mom & Bob, Bryan & Erine, Dave & Sherry, and their kids Kara and Emily and her friend Olivia. We filled the afternoon with another boat ride on Dave’s boat…and plenty of games.
Mom and Diana enjoy a ride on Dave’s speedboat
I did just fine in cornhole. Ashleigh and I solidly defeated my Mom and Denise. I didn’t even do too bad in ladder ball. I lost one to Yaht, but beat Mom by a nose in an unprecedented move of knocking my three-pointer off the ladder and getting the two-pointer on the ladder in order to arrive at exactly 21 – all in one throw. Doesn’t make sense? Try playing Ladder Ball.
Even at the lake, Aaron cannot escape the demands for Geico videos
Megan grins
Squaring off against Bob at cornhole
Ashleigh lobs one in and Denise does her best to ignore it
Dave (center) complies when I tell them to ‘look alive’. As for Bryan and Bob…well…
Just for fun, after snapping this picture of Olivia, Emily, and Kara, I told them that “one of them looks terrible in the picture, but I’m not telling which one”
But then it came time for Farkle. During group play, Mom was victorious over Diana, Ashleigh, Denise, and me. But later that evening, Mom and I went head to head on four successive games, of which she won the first three. It was ludicrous. No matter how far ahead I got, she would always come back and trounce me.
Farkle catsafterme
But I forgot about Farkle for a while when it came time for the cookout. My Angus bacon and cheese steakburgers combined with hot dogs, metts, macaroni & cheese, chips, and gooey dessert bars almost made me forget my own name as a matter of fact. What a paradise it is to sit by the lake stuffing ourselves!
The Farkle table converts to a hotdog table. Mom dominates at both.
The Bob and Tom Show takes to the high seas after dinner
Denise and Aaron headed back that evening, just in time for Adam to have a meltdown and Megan to show her drama queen side. Megan is adorable, but she doesn’t seem to like to be held by Ashleigh or me – at least not for very long. We do make her smile though when she is in Denise’s or Mom’s arms though. Farkle.
Adam conks out after a walk
After-nap meltdown that only a boat ride will sedate
Ashleigh disses the paparazzi
Adam calmed down when Tom took him along with Aaron and me on a final boat ride for the evening. When we got back, Denise and clan took off, as did Bryan & Erine, and the Dave people. Those remaining enjoyed a campfire and some s’mores…and a game of Yahtzee.
Aaron and Adam and the soothing sounds of the sea
Saying goodbye to Adam, who has dramatically perked up
Bob and Tom look on as Mom works on the ingredients to a s’more
Me and Yaht ready to tackle the job of roasting this marshmallow
AHA! Yahtzee (as seen at the top of the posting). Diana won the first game, although I was right in there. And I won the second game. Mom’s power had not transcended to all dice game apparently. We stayed up until after midnight, the time having melted away as we had so much fun.
I slept in a bit again on Sunday morning, getting out of bed at 9 (although I woke up at 6 and read for over an hour before falling back asleep) to find bacon and eggs at the ready. While Ashleigh watched the second Pirates of the Caribbean movie, I read my new Presidents book that I had bought earlier in the week. It was a nice day out again, so I laid out for a while to try to get some sun, but by 12:30, everyone was ready to head out to Mount Victory.
On the streets of Mount Victory
Mount Victory is a cute little village about twenty miles away from Indian Lake. They have a few antique shops along Main Street that were fun to browse. I didn’t buy anything but enjoyed looking through the goodies nonetheless. Ashleigh found a necklace that she liked.
Ashleigh didn’t buy this bottle
I bypassed the purchase of Gus the Great
Bob opted out of the full body underwear
Diana may have actually purchased this book
Ashleigh and me, exhausted from the hour of antique-ing
After we returned to the lake, we all ate our leftover grill scraps from the night before, and you guessed it…played one last game of Farkle. I’ll give you just three guesses who won. Ashleigh and I headed home around 4:30. It had been another great visit to the cabin on Indian Lake.
I had hoped to meet my Dad that evening so that we could finally have dinner in honor of Father’s Day, but he had also had plans for that evening. So we ended up going to the Longhorn steakhouse on that following Tuesday, June 30. It was a nice way to end June.
Dad and I enjoy a late Father’s Day dinner
Remarkably, July would be seeing even more activity than this wildly busy but ever-so-enjoyable month!
2009 will continue…
We always enjoy our weekends at Indian Lake. Bob decided he wants to get our boat running (it hasn’t been in the water for about 3 years). If we get it going, we might try another weekend if Diana and Tom can put up with us again!
Mom
July 12th, 2009