"America is a tune. It must be sung together." ~ Gerald Stanley Lee

As I have said before, old friends fall seamlessly back into step with one another after time apart.  And so it was with Carol, Phil, Bruce and me, and our time spent together in Virginia.  Before we knew it, we were engaged in fevered "Pitch" games, first couple against couple and then men against women - I will not use the term "Gentle" men as I did in my previous post!  They whipped us!

Years ago, when Carol and Phil lived in New York, we got together every weekend to play cards.  Sometimes it was "Hearts", but almost always "Pitch".  It is part of the makeup of our friendship.  This time, we each thought that the other had remembered the cards.  You know how this goes if you are a couple - or friends of a couple - so I was charged with the duty of picking some up.  As Carol and I did around Colonial Williamsburg, I came across a deck of playing cards in one of the historic shops.  I thought that it would be a hoot to use cards from "history".  

The picture below is from the Colonial Williamsburg site.  Well - the cards were as stiff as cardboard - I guess that I can appreciate the historical accuracy.

But, not only were they thick and stiff - they stuck together.  We had a lot of laughs (kind of at my expense) as we limbered them up.  They were much easier to play with when we wrapped up our game-playing. It was decided that they are now a new tradition.  I will hold on to them tightly, as we did both Carol and Phil when we parted ways.  I have them at the ready for the next time that we are lucky enough to be together again - it can't be soon enough for me!

I will leave you with some more pictures from Colonial Williamsburg.  If you have never been here before - please go if you can. Colonial Williamsburg takes us back to the founding of our country and the patriotism that inspired our quest for freedom from a body that thought little of the people that it was governing.  As the main park closes for the day, there is a spirited recitation of the Declaration of Independence - something we all could use hearing - and really listening to - once again.

"Where liberty dwells, there is my country."  ~

Benjamin Franklin