While hoeing out cupboards, closets and drawers at The Old Lilacs this summer I came across this book on Mah Jong, and it started bringing up a bunch of memories that had been hidden somewhere in the recesses of my mind. It began with Aunt Chloe. I must have been about 4 or 5 years old. Grammie and Grampa Schlosser took Billy (3 0r 4 years) and me up to Granville with them to visit Aunt Chloe. We were probably visiting Gramma Tripp as well, but because of what happened I only rmemeber Aunt Chloe. When we got out of the car Billy shut his fingers in the car door. This resulted in many tears and much loud crying. Aunt Chloe took us into the back room downstairs and bandaged his hand and as he was still upset she took out this little wooden box and let him open the drawers and take out the colorful little tiles that were in there. That was my first acquaintance with Mah Jong. I don't remember exactly when I became the owner of that little box. Obviously when Aunt Chloe died Grammie Schlosser inherited it. I think it was after I was married I saw the box in Grammie's house and mentioned how I remembered that incident at Aunt Chloes and she asked if I would like it. Luke and I used to play different games (Scrabble, Battleships, Mastermind) to wile away the evenings before we had kids, so I said yes. It went with us to Belgium and in typical Luke fashion, he eventually researched Mah Jong and found the rules in Dutch as well as in English. We played it at home, trying to teach the kids on rare occasions, but after we built our house in Deinze we had these Dutch neighbors, Otto and An Kuitenbrouwer, and in the mid 1970's we started playing weekly with them. They even bought their own game and we played one week at their house and the next week at ours. When I got out the little box this morning to take the pictures for this blog, the first thing I saw when I pulled open the top drawer was the score sheet that Luke so carefully kept updated and saved. Maybe it's time to re-read the Mah Jong rules and teach my grandchildren to play.
5 comments:
One of the few things I remember about my youth was getting my fingers shut in the car door. I do not remember anymore than that though.
I remember the box being kept in the dutch oven. So if Grammie inherited it she must have returned it to Granville after Dad and Mother bought the place. Glad you found the book and the score sheets. Positive memories are special.
You're right Kay, I do remember that box being in the Dutch oven. I know the house was totally empty when we moved in. I do remember telling "someone" what I remembered about mah jong and being asked if I wanted it. Hmmmmmm. Anyway, I know I had it before we moved to Belgium.
That is a beautiful little box. I will have to remember that at X-mas.
It would make a nice family gift.
Let's see it this works.
History of Mah Jongg
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