Woooo Woooo!

Just a quick note!  Goddesschess blog has gone over 500,000 page views sometime between yesterday and today and we're very happy about that.  Yeah, that number is nothing compared to what the largest and most popular chess websites receive on a daily basis, but considering we're just a little poopnoodle blog about Chess, Goddess, and Everything, we're very happy and grateful to our fans for supporting us all these years.  Thank you, darlings!

2007 Goddesschess anniversary celebration.  Mr. Don photographed our reflections in the "bubble" at
Millennium Park in downtown Chicago, Illinois, USA.  It was damn hot and steamy that day!

The Goddesschess crew will be celebrating the 13th anniversary of the Goddesschess website online on May 6, 2012.  Since April, 2007 when this blog was started up, Goddesschess also features a weekly "Random Round-up" to provide our viewers with new and intriguing content.  We have continued to work hard to bring you new and original content on ancient board games, the development and theory of board games, cards, dice, etc., and of course, chess, by historians, writers, researchers, archaeologists, anthropologists and interested "amateurs" (such as ourselves, ahem).  Check out the latest additions to Ch'Essays, Chesstories, and Chess Quest.  Our very newest addition (not yet added to a category), is Stewart Culin's "Chess and Playing Cards" abstracted from his 1908 "report" to the United States Museum of National History, a/k/a The Smithsonian. 

Goddesschess Has a Makeover!

Hola darlings! Like any ageless Goddess, from time to time Goddesschess has a "make-over" of her home page to update Her look. In celebration of our 10th year online, dondelion has been working on a new look in top secret and now it has been - revealed! Access Mundae features recent additions to Goddesschess' selection of essays and articles on chess history, ancient board games, poetry, chess art, and chess sundry. Public Square features special announcements, Goddesschess sponsorships and - we'll see... Random Roundup features a wealth of archaeological and other information every week. Sometimes there's a theme, sometimes there are clues to follow a path. All materials are presented to provoke thought and encourage dialog. Now RR features its very own drop down menu so you can more easily access its archives! The Showcase and Classic Quotes features have been relocated to the center column. Showcase highlights matters and items of special interest to Goddesschess folks. Classic Quotes are - just that, all related to chess, of course :) They are changed out periodically (there's no set schedule) - so if you see one that you like, save it, because they aren't archived! As always, our left-hand navigation menu remains so you can zero-in on where you want to go and what you want to view. We encourage you to explore. Goddesschess is a treasure trove meant to be savored and enjoyed.

Ten Years of Goddesschess

On May 6, 2009, Goddesschess will have officially been online for ten years! To celebrate, dondelion, Isis, Michelle and I will rendevouz in New York City for a full week of fun, celebration and education. I don't know about the others, but this time around I intend to visit as many museums as I can that I didn't get to see during our 2005 visit (5 days), we're going to take in a play on Broadway (Isis is arranging the particulars), and I will drag dondelion along on various extremely touristy things, such as going to the top of the Empire State Building, taking a boat out to the Statue of Liberty, and a shopping expedition on Fifth Avenue (he is very patient with me :)). I also want to visit the main branch of the New York Public Library - on 42nd Street (?) -- I have a whole list of research projects that may be gotten out of the way quickly if NYPL has the periodicals and magazines I need to see and copy. I must start digging around online to see what they have in their catalog... To think, when all of this started back in December, 1998, Michelle was just a little girl (she was born in 1990). Now she is a beautiful young woman in college, and she really has her act together. I am feeling suddenly sentimental... Since I have belatedly discovered the joys of printing photographs on my HP printer, I have been going through reams of photos, printing out some of my favorites (mostly of Michelle, Isis and me, dondelion as photographer). I have been hanging some of the photos on the staircase wall - the space is rapidly filling and I'm running out of a hodge-podge of old frames! It sure is a trip down memory lane. I think look much better now than I did in 2005 (better hair, better body, better wardrobe); I must make sure that dondelion takes several flattering photographs, LOL! I will be off work from May 7th through May 25th (Memorial Day) - almost the entire month! Can't wait!