The Little Wooden Chess Set

Jim and I spent hours playing chess on this little wooden folding board when we lived in a small, one-bedroom apartment nestled into the side of a mountain large dirt clod on the northern end of the Phoenix valley. That was 19 years ago. Before children. Before homemaking. Even before we knew our Savior.

Our best evenings at home were usually spent listening to music and either playing chess or putting together puzzles. There was a brief Nintendo Tetris phase, but it was addictive, unprofitable and not otherwise compelling.

Making choices...Tetris doesn't live here anymore, but the checkers set does.

Cuddlebug gets some good council from big sister, Dumpling. Oh wait, maybe she's just screeching, "King me!"

A day later, something inspires Jim to try and teach these two whirly birds to play chess.

And to my delight and surprise, they learned it pretty well. In one sitting.

In the end, Dumpling took the King and won the match. And then she and Cuddlebug hunkered down to compare counts on their opponent's captured pieces. And in that case, the tables turned and the match was lost! Because they are 6 and 8 that way.