Monday - March 28, 2011

Visitation and Viewing1:00p.m. to 3:00p.m.
Short prayer service at 3:00p.m.

Michels & Lundquist Funeral Home
5228 Trouble Creek Road
New Port Richey, FL 34652
Telephone: 727-845-1957

The Easybridge course has been completed. Many of the current participants are snow birds who will be leaving for the north soon.

We had to make a a choice between repeating the series through the summer or taking a hiatus and starting the course again in the fall. It was decided that the participation throughout the summer would be too small to warrant opening the center, and the directors and presenters could use a well deserved rest.

The Presentations, Newcomer's game and Social game are cancelled as of March 24th. Thanks to all who participated in this program. We're looking forward to running the program again in October. I'm sure we'll see many Easybridgers in our 299er games.

Bill Martin passed away unexpectedly yesterday afternoon. For those of us who played with him and enjoyed his bridge "sharings", he will be remembered well.

Diane Linindoll is in touch with his wife and will let us know the funeral arrange­ments and their wishes regarding condol­ences. We will inform you as soon as we know. As a community, we all feel the loss and wish Mary well at this time.

The Martin's home address is 4120 Passport Ln #201, new Port Richey, FL 34653.

Election of officers is scheduled for March 21st through March 25th. Anyone who has played in an NCBC sanctioned game since March 21st, 2010 is eligible to cast a ballot. The list of nominees, to this point, is posted on a white board at the club.

Check early for the candidates and do your homework before you vote. Your officers are the work horses of the organization. They not only serve in their position to make decisions, but fill most of the chairmanships of committees and assist directors whenever needed at games. If you know someone who is willing to serve but has not been nominated, call Paul Lauer at 352-683-6446.

Amazon.com and Barclay's are now offering Mary Ann and Marion's latest book, Bridge With Bells and Whistles. You can order it from Amazon by clicking this link.

Amazon describes it this way: "There are plenty of bridge books for serious players, and also numbers of books for raw beginners. However, very little has been published for the player who has completed the basic course and is now ready to add a few 'bells and whistles' to his or her game. This book conducts a thorough review of all the bidding ideas and concepts that are encountered in a beginner's course on bridge, and takes the reader beyond them, gently but firmly, to the second stage. The reader's ideas on bidding will be refined, and a number of useful conventions suitable for this level of player are described and recommended. The material has been written by two very experienced bridge teachers, and includes features such as end-of-chapter reviews and quizzes to help reinforce the concepts." 

Karen Alpaugh's son Cole has written a book, The Bear In A Muddy Tutu, which will be available on Amazon.com at this link.  It will not be released until February 20, but until then you can pre-order.

Quoting Amazon's description, "Lennon Bagg's daughter has been stolen away by his ex-wife, and he's just learned the newspaper he reports for is bankrupt. While on his final assignment, Bagg knocks a policeman unconscious to save the life of a runaway circus bear, and suddenly finds himself responsible for a band of stranded roustabouts who've pitched their tents on a small island along the New Jersey shore. Eight hundred miles away, a young girl searches for her dead father on the beaches of Bermuda. Dead people, after all, become birds -- a theory she derived from her mother's explanation that when you die, you grow wings and fly away. A hapless cult leader and the sulking newspaper reporter hatch a plan to save the circus, which includes a plane ride into the Bermuda Triangle accompanied by a man who holds the record for being struck by lightning. And it's starting to cloud up . . . In The Bear In A Muddy Tutu, hope is something vigorously avoided because it usually means someone is about to be run over by a speeding car."