Most of last week was being lost in Sudoku. Two, three, and, sometimes, four hours at a time, I was distracted only by making meals, eating, doing minimal errands and chores, being just a bit creative, and combing gnats and fruit flies out of Molly's fur. No excuses for my slacker activity, not even the few days of high temperatures.

It wasn't until recently that I learned to play Sudoku. So far I've been able to solve a puzzle every eight games or so. I'm indiscriminate: I play easy, medium, hard, and very darn hard games, whatever happens to by lying around in a newspaper, magazine, or Sudoku book. Whatever its level, the puzzle I'm playing is difficult. I like the process so it doesn't bum me too much when my solution doesn't work.  Solving Sudoku reminds me of doing algebra problems once-upon-a-time in high school. I loved solving for x's, y's, and z's, regardless of whether I got the correct answers. The chase! (Cue wicked grin.)


Do you kn…

In YourFace
 Face to Face
Face It
PokerFace
Open Face
Face Mask 
Face Value 

Cat Face FaceUp to It

Face Down
Face in the Crowd
Let's Face the Music and Dance
Happy Face
Check out other letter F posts at ABC Wednesday and other lists of 13 at Thursday Thirteen!

Despite the current state of our world and the fruit flies in the backyard, I am enjoying the summer with the Husband, Molly the Cat, and Friends.  Yes, that is a bureau in front of the house. It was Mama's, one of the first pieces of furniture Daddy bought her in the late 1940s. I brought it outside earlier this year but only got around to painting it in June. I like to think Mama's Spirit is okay with that.

On Saturday, my high school graduating class held its annual Class of 1971 Scholarship fundraiser. For the past 10 years or so we have awarded a $2,000 scholarship to a graduating senior. We're the first, and still only, class to have established a scholarship at our high school. Pretty good for us, slackers. Yes, we were when compared to the achievers in the class on either side of us. That's okay, look at us now. Go '71 HayBalers!

For the fundraiser's silent auction, I donated this one-of-a-kind, perfectly imperfectly handcrafted coffee cup cozy.  It to…

1. My last name starts with the letter E. When I spell it to someone, I sometimes say "E as in Europe". I'm not trying to trick the person. That's simply what pops into my head.

2. I figure customer service people can spell Europe. Am I wrong to think that?

3. Mama pronounced the letter E as "A". That's how she learned it as a kid in the Philippines, a U.S. territory (then), which had been a Spanish colony in Mama's grandparents' time. "The old-timers spoke Spanish. They tried to teach me," said Mama. I wonder what Mama was interested in instead.


4. The silliness it was when Mama asked 12-year-old Susie to spell a word that has one or more letter E's. Oh my gosh! Let's suppose, Mama asks, "How do you spell Elephant?"
    "E-," I start.
    "What kind of E?" she asks.
    "E." I say.
    "E as in A. or E as in E."
    "E!"

5. Before I understood that she pronounced …