Originally, we played on Wednesday from about 10:30 am until about 2:30pm. We would break for lunch. The location we play is an apartment complex with a restaurant. We use one table to play and then move to another table for lunch. Now we are usually playing on Wednesday and Saturday and at times play to 5:30 pm.

As I stated, in Bridge, you are part of a team and you bid for the contract. A bid is a code, but a code everyone knows. You cannot make up secret codes only known to your partner. Not as in Spades where each player gets a point for each trick won, in Bridge only the team takes wins the contract counts tricks. The bidding tells your partner and the other team approximately how many points you have in your hand and which suit you want for trump. There is also a No-trump bid where there will be not trump. A bid means you will win 6 plus the number you bid, so One Spade means you will win seven tricks. In addition, the different suits have higher value than the others for bidding. A Club is the lowest, and then comes Diamonds, Hearts, Spades and then No-Trump. Spades and Diamonds are major suits and Diamonds and Clubs are minor suits.  If you bid one Club, then next player can bid one Diamond. After one No-Trump the next higher bid is two Clubs. As I stated a bid of One means you will need to win seven tricks and a bid of two means you will need to win eight tricks to complete contract.

The bidding convention, or rules and meanings of the bidding terms have changes over the years. Now most play “Modern Standard American” bridge. In this version, to open a bid you need a

That is the easy part, the confusing thing is some bids do not mean as they sound. First, after you look at your cards you need to value your hand. To do that you count high card points, an Ace = 4, a King = 3, a Queen = 2 and a Jack = 1. To open, or the first of your team to bid and not pass, you need a minimum of 13 points in your hand in most cases. If you have a long suit of 7 or more in that suit and have 5-9 points, you can open the bidding for your team.

Once you open, when the bidding comes to your partner, he can do a response bid to let you know if he has any points, the approximate points and if he likes your suit, or wants to let you know if he prefers a different suit. This is all accomplished with a bid. For instance, I have 13 points and five cards in a major suit or 4 cards in a minor suit I can bid one of that suit. Now if my partner has 3 or more cards in the suit I bid, he should reply with a two bid in that suit unless he has opening points and wants to let me know he has a different suit he wants the contract.

If this all sounds confusing, it is a first. Over time and playing a lot, you get to remember and understand the bidding. It takes time, but it is fun and an enjoyable hobby. For me it is almost an addiction. I downloaded Bridge tutorials and then bought Hoyle’s Card Game, which has Bridge. Now I can sit for hours at home playing Bridge.

In my teens my father got the aquarium bug and bought a large tank with all the items needed, the filter, aerator, the gravel, artificial plants and of course tropical fish. He did not specialize; he just had a few of different types. As well as I can remember he had guppies, black molly’s, swordtails’, neon’s and others I cannot remember.

He would sit for hours just looking at his little fish. If a female looked pregnant, out came the breading tank to put the momma to be in to save the little babies.

We did have a neighbor who was into the fancy fantail guppies. He would keep track of which females and males would develop fish with the longest and brightest tail fins. He also would enter them in competitions.

Eventually all the work cleaning and maintaining the tank got too much work and his tank joined my little glass goldfish bowl in the depths of the basement storage area.

Well about a week ago Elena decided she wanted an aquarium for the house. We went to the mall and looked at the sizes and costs. We picked a 6 gallon tank with a complete setup including tank, light, filter, gravel, plastic plants and 2 figurines. We also bought a “janitor fish” 2 tetras, 2 swordtails and 2 tiger barbs.

All was well until we noticed the female swordfish was dead and most of its tail nipped off. Researching the fish I read the tetras might nip at tails of fish with flowing tail fins. Then one of the tetras died, maybe of eating too much of the swordfish tail. (Joking)
We decided we would replace the missing fish and ad a few more. We bought 3 swordfish and a replacement of the tetra. Today we bought 2 black mollies to join the family.

I am surprised with myself, when I was young I had no patience or found any enjoyment watching little fish swimming around but now when in the Sala I just listen to the TV and watch the fish. Elena and our nieces will sit there and watch them for long periods too.
I know that fresh water aquariums are easier to maintain but maybe someday I will graduate to a sale water aquarium if they are available here. Some of the salt water fish have brighter vibrant colors but the care of that kind of system is a lot of work.

If you are looking for a decoration for your home and need something to look at and relax, an aquarium might be the thing for you.