QUEEN OF HEARTS

Two recent second prizes

Alone again... well, not quite yet... my granddaughters are here this evening, eating, watching TV, giggling, chatting with me and now finally doing some homework!

My husband is a good poker player - a good card player in fact - and this evening he was off to Dublin to participate in the annual Norwegian Championship. Because professional poker playing is not allowed in Norway, they organise the national championship abroad. It's a huge arrangement, and for the second year in a row it's taking place in Dublin. I have never been to Ireland, and I so much want to go! I suggested to my husband I would come with him last year, but he said "Then you'll be alone all the time," and yes - I realised it was a silly suggestion as soon as I had made it.

Cufflinks bought in Manly, Australia

My husband comes from a card playing family. I don't. So playing cards is definitely not the glue that's held us together these 32 years. He once tried to teach me a card game - onboard a plane no less - and the other passengers ended up coming to my rescue as he pulled his hair in exasperation over my "slow" learning.

When I once proudly told him that I'd learnt a card game over the weekend I'd spent with a friend and her son and Sophie, he said "Show me then," and proceeded to tell me how useless I was. He has absolutely no patience with people who're hesitant and unsure at the card table. So I've given up, and to be quite frank - it's no loss for me. On the contrary, I was just trying to please everyone by learning a few games. He can always play with all the other twenty or so card-interested family members.

Handcoloured litograph by Norwegian artist Tonje Strøm - 40th birthday gift from me to my husband

And he can always play with his poker mates. One of his best friends is Thor Hansen, the godfather of Norwegian poker, and also well known in gambling circles in the US. Inviting him for a meal and spending some non-poker time with him leave us all starstruck and gawking - his tales of Tiger Woods and Larry Flynt and many more certainly give us a glimpse into an unknown and crazy world.

My husband has been to Las Vegas a number of times to play in the World Poker Championship, and he has presented us with some tales of his own. I watched the film Casino with him, which starts with a group of Japanese gamblers who're held back at the airport after having won millions. Yes, held back by the Casino owners because they want their money back, so they offer them a free stay and more gambling. They lose the money they won. Apparently this is the way it's done!

The cut-out poem above depicts me as I used to be - well, maybe three or four times in my life. Not any more! My visits to the Casino started and ended with those few times, and to be honest, they were too many.

I'm more than happy enough to be the Queen of Hearts.

Went to see my dentist today - my brother-in-law. He makes Big Mama a very kissable Queen of Hearts!