Hi Canasta Lovers,
The time has come for this year's newbies to morph into full fledged canasta goddesses. The most important question they all ask at this most auspicious time is: "Where can I get the little thingies that holds the cards?" Soooo before the transition to Goddess is complete we will have to go on a little shopping trip. Grab a friend, cross the bridge and head down I95 to the Festival Flea Market on Sample Road. Take a little time to walk through the aisles, you will pass eyeglass booths, watch and jewelry booths, booths full of handbags, paper goods, cosmetics, visors and T-shirts. Eventually you will reach your destination: the games boutique. This marvelous little shop has everything you need to set your Canasta, Bridge or Mah Jong table. Here you will find the all important "Dual Deck Revolving Card Holder" aka "the tray." They also stock all kinds of playing cards. I like the Bicycle Cards best for teaching, they are large enough and not too hard to shuffle. There are lots of decorative cards here too. Talk about shuffling, they do sell a card shuffler for those of you who don't like to shuffle or have a little arthritis in your hand., Unfortunately, I do not find it to be a particularly effective helper as you must shuffle the cards multiple times and the cards still tend to come down in clumps.
What else will you need? Bridge Table Covers! Get back in your car and retrace your route back here to Paradise. You will find all colors and sizes of bridge table clothes just waiting for your monogram at Pioneer Linens on Clematis Street in West Palm Beach or at Lori Jayne Monogramming on South County Road. Lori Jayne will also make up personalized score pads for you. Many of the country clubs have great score pads with "special hand" scoring on them. Borrow a few sheets, take them to Lori Jayne and have your own individual score pads made up with your name on them. Beautifully wrapped playing cards are available at Mildred Hoyt and ,of course, you can never go wrong at Tiffany. The card sets make great gifts too.
For those of you who do not live in Paradise or have already left for the still chilly northern climes, I'm sure you can find all of this on line. Start with Amazon.com. I have bought some lovely monogrammed bridge table covers on line.
Now that your table is ready, invite your friends, sit down, deal the cards and have a wonderful afternoon playing our favorite game.
Wishing all Canasta Goddesses and your families a sweet Passover and a happy Easter. Keep in touch
Love, Barbara
