UVSC Session Report Monday, December 16, 2019 (Session #257) (authored by BJ) We had a SCRABBLE PARTY Monday night, thanks to our very own co-directrix being on the brink of completing her current circuit around the sun on spaceship earth. There were cakes, candles, singings, lots of food, guests from afar, and a new player too. Oh and words! Yes, there were many words. Iliana played GUNNERAS, which I had to look up. She knows her plants well; GUNNERA is a category of them, some of which have ginormous leaves! Mike and Jeri joined us from the southlands, and Jaci was our new player; she played three games and expects to return next month -- hooray! Along with Ellen, Margaret, Marilyn and myself, the eight of us, plus Sherry and Adelie who dropped by for the celebration, had a joyful Scrabbly time. We all had cake, but Mike took the figurative one with a 580 game that included the 3x3 play of STARTING for 131 points. Some of the other interesting words spotted around the boards were: BILANDER -- a two-masted cargo vessel DIRK -- a small knife (also a verb) ZOEAE -- plural of ZOEA, the larval stage of crabs REDD -- to neaten or clear up JAKE -- all right (adj) or a yokel (noun) COOEE -- to cry out shrilly Shown below is (s)iliana, birthday girl, and a gunnera plant: