New Year's Eve 2013!

Hola darlings!

I hope you are all enjoying this final day of 2013 in your own particular way!  Here in Milwaukee it is bitterly cold and snowing (it started about 3:30 p.m. or so, as I was leaving the supermarket with New Year's Eve supplies), the snow forecast to fall continually through Thursday noon.  Not that I would be out and about for New Year's -- haven't done that in YEARS!  I celebrate at home in a quiet fashion and while I try to stay up until midnight, I don't often make it, LOL!

This time of year is filled with nostalgia, as well as hope as we look toward the unknown future.  We (and now just me) of Goddesschess, have always tried to do our best to make things better in whatever ways we could reach out and touch people.  Now not so much writing and researching and posting articles (and writing our own) and publishing information not then readily available in the early days of the internet.  But time changes things, and we change, too.  Today, it's mostly about funding prizes and trying to encourage people to take up the game of chess, especially girls and women but, really, anyone of any age!  Chess has so much to offer. 

Our credo, and my personal credo, is to live the best life I can, and that means trying to make the lives of others better in whatever ways I can.  For me, these days, it's all about chess, darlings! 

A little trip down 2013's memory lane:

2013 opened with Goddesschess sponsorship at the Grand Pacific Open, a regional tournament hosted in Vancouver, British Columbia that draws from a wide area and, I like to think thanks in part to Goddesschess sponsorship, has hosted some very fine female players the past few years!  At the 2013 tournament (traditionally held over Easter weekend) WGM Kateryna Rohanyan, who received sponsorship funds, finished in 4th place overall, just missing out on a share of the tournament prize money, but she did take top Goddesschess honors -- $80.  Hardly the kind of prize worthy of a player who has participated in several U.S. Women's Chess Championships, but I as so happy she played.  Four other female chessplayers also took home Goddesschess cash prizes. 

On April 13, 2013, the Hales Corners Chess Challenge XVII took place.  I had intended to play in Challenge XVII after withdrawing from Challenge XVI in October, 2012, which took just a few days after the death of Don McLean, my dear Mr. Don.  But I just wasn't feeling up to part in April while continually wrestling with health issues.  I hated missing Challenge XVII -- let me tell you!  Goddesschess paid out $540 in prize money to the chess femmes, including prize money to my chess buddy Ellen Wanek, pictured here with Tom Fogec (left) and Robin Grochowski (right):

On the heels of Hales Corners Chess Challenge XVII was the U.S. Women's Chess Championship in May, 2013, hosted at the beautiful Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis.  Goddesschess sponsored a "Fighting Spirit" (I call it the "Fighting Chess") award of $500.  Twelfth Women's World Chess Championship GM Alexandra Kosteniuk, once again agreed to serve as judge and selector of the Goddesschess prize winner. 

Ultimately, she chose Anna Zatonskih as the winner of the Goddesschess Fighting Spirit Award.

June 15 - 16, 2013, Goddesschess provided prize money for the Second (2013) Milwaukee Summer Challenge, hosted by my adopted chess club (Southwest Chess Club).  Honestly, I don't have a clue who ultimately won the best game prize money for the sections, but I know for sure the folks at Southwest Chess Club would have worked hard to ensure that all was fairly done and that the prize money went to the best game in each section, regardless of the winner's actual rating. 

On October 12, 2013, after a summer of on-line training games with chess buddies Shira Evans Sanford and Ellen Wanek, stern but fun task-masters, I played in the Hales Corners Chess Challenge XVIII.  Looking back, I can't believe I actually did it. LOL!  Maybe not such a laughing matter, because October 12th is the anniversary of Mr. Don's death.  But if he'd been here, he would have egged me on to go play (and I'm sure he was thinking maybe I'd make a fool of myself, because we were that competitive when it came to our chess and he HATED it when I won the occasional game against him), and I would have tweaked him as a chicken-heart because although I challenged him to come and play, or at least stand around and take excellent photos of the players at one of the Hales Corners Chess Challenges many times since Goddesschess had begun sponsorship (back in Challenge VIII), he always backed down.  Ha!  See, I'm still tweaking him up in Heaven. 

So, it was with bittersweet memories that I met up with Ellen Wanek at Challenge XVIII at the playing venue.  Ellen surprised me with a gift of a lovely chess tote bag! 

I immediately put that tote bag to use, and I put my chess training to good use too, drawing one game against a player rated almost 2x higher than I (and he was cute, too), and giving what I felt were good efforts in two other games.  The last game, I totally crashed and burned.  It was my fault, as my head was hurting (felt like my brain was going to explode) and I was exhausted.  I should have given my opponent much more of a challenge.  I'm embarrassed by what happened!  I should have told the TDs that I was withdrawing after R3.  Oh well.  That's the way it goes, sometimes. 

I will not be stupid and say that I do not mind losing games, because I do - terribly!  But if I lose a game after what I consider a damn good effort on my part, well, that's a different story.  At least I can take pride in my effort, if not the result.  At present, I just do not have the stamina I need to put forth what I consider a decent effort to play four intense 60 minutes on each side chess games in a single day.

Hales Corners Chess Challenge XVIII proved to be very lucrative for the chess femmes in terms of Goddesschess prize money -- $800!  A NEW RECORD!  The chess femmes came through and rose to my challenge made after Chess Challenge XVII, to break a record in prize money awarded to them!  I was soooo fricking happy!  Poor, but very very happy!  LOL!

And, in honor of Mr. Don and all that he meant to Goddesschess, I put up one-time cash prizes (in the form of Visa gift cards) of $100 and $50, respectively, to the top male finisher in each section (Invitational and Open). Don would have been so tickled about that!  A Goddesschess $50 best game prize was also on the table, open to all players. 

The photo above is of Mr. Don's corner of my desk in the front room, decked out for Christmas 2013, with glittery bird perched on a photo of a handsome Mr. Don in his prime (1999, when we first met), the one-armed warrior made out of a clothspin that Mr. Don rescued from the curbside outside his apartment and gifted to me one lovely Christmas visit, a pine cone from the grounds of St. Joseph's Basilica in Montreal, we spent a leisurely morning exploring there on December 7th after our memorable trip to Amsterdam in November/December 2001, the Queen Bird (moi, of course).  A precious photo of Mr. Don and I at the end of a carriage ride in old Montreal on that mild December 7, 2001 day, taken outside the Notre Dame Cathedral of Montreal. The lamp, embellished with the royal fleur-de-lis, is suitable for such a royal couple, don't you think!  Oh, and my version of the Eternal Flame, in the shape of a red glass heart that is either filled with an actual burning votive candle or a battery-operated votive candle.

Call me sentimental...

Like magic, I am reminded of the immortal words of the poets 'come live with me, and be my love...(Marlowe) ...the best is yet to come...'(The Scorpions):



In 2014:  Live your life doing good for others, in whatever way you can, in whatever way makes you most fulfilled.  Hey, darlings -- it's really not that difficult.  Just fricking do it, okay?  None of us lives forever, and we do not know what tomorrow holds. 

I'll once again be sponsoring these wonderful events (one in honor of Mr. Don's Canadian homeland). 

I love you all!  Here's to a fantastic and absolutely wonderful 2014!  The best is yet to come! 

Happy New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!  May the Goddess bless all of your endeavors and you and your families this new year.

The word for today is - WINDY!  Like triple windy!  Early this morning a front came through and with it strong winds and some mixed rain/snow.  The snow will not amount to anything, barely a measureable trace.  However, the winds have only gotten stronger as the day has gone on and tomorrow and Tuesday the temperatures will drop to accompany strong winds.  Brrrrr.  Wind chills will be in the single digits.  Yesterday Mr. Don and I were enjoying temperatures in the high 30's/low 40's F.  Today we're staying in (the Packers game with Detroit is on at noon), but we may have to venture out tomorrow because I'm out of eggs and we're going to need some more groceries -- I don't know how but I did manage to forget how much food Mr. D can tuck away in those hollow legs of his!  That means braving truly COLD weather for me for the first time this winter season.  Not looking forward to that.  And, get this, by the end of the week the temperatures are forecast to climb  back into the low 40's during the day AND no snow for at least the next 10 to 14 days.  In fact, we will have mild temperatures, so the weatherman said this morning, for the remainder of January.

This is just straight out strange weather for southeastern Wisconsin, people!  But I like it, I like it!

I got up early yesterday morning (before 5:30 a.m.) -- judt didn't sleep well.  I spent the quiet dark hours before sunrise cooking and reading.  I had three sirloin strip steaks that needed to be used but I felt they were too thin to try to grill or attempt to pan fry and oven-finish, so I cut them into beef tips and tossed them into the crockpot with some special secret ingredients, since Mr. D and I were going to the museum to see the Search for Cleopatra exhibit.  We were gone much longer than I thought we might be (we didn't get home until 6:30 p.m. after leaving the house shortly after 9 a.m.) so I patted myself on the back for turning the crockpot down to "warm" rather than keeping it on the "low" setting before we left the house yesterday morning. 

When we arrived back home I turned the crockpot back to "low" first thing when I got in the house.  The beef tips were soon ready but it was close to 9:30 p.m. when we finally sat down to east (Mr. Don was HUNGRY) to melt-in-the-mouth tender beef tips and a nice gravy with sour cream mixed in spoonful at a time in our own dishes as we spooned everything over noodles. I cooked up some frozen peas and we were good to go!  The secret to good cooking is making sure you're really hungry when you finally do eat.

While supper was coming together we downloaded our photographs and Mr. Don's videos from the museum to my laptops (for various reasons).  Later we drank home-made wine coolers and we actually stayed up talking, laughing, making vicious fun at Carson Daly and his guests in Times Square that we had on the t.v. (although Blake Shelton's performance beamed in from LA was good), and after celebrating midnight the tv went off and smooth jazz went on!

I'm sure Mr. Don spoke at least 10 million words yesterday... I expect by the time we get back from Spain my ears will have fallen off from over-use.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, darlings!  May 2011 be healthy, happy and prosperous for all of you.

I spent the day cleaning, doing laundry, and working on various family tree projects.  Right now I've got the Rose Bowl on the radio.  The Wisconsin Badgers are playing against Texas Christian University (what is it about Texas and teams, heh?).  When I started this post it was half-time and Wisconsin was down by 1, now it's into the 3rd quarter and we're down 21-13 so obviously TCU scored sometime while I took a short break and was down in the basement on mouse patrol.  Yes, the mice are back and I tried to plug up the hole they tunneled through CONCRETE BLOCK from the outside and through supposedly inpenetrable foam insulation I had installed last year around this time.  I discovered, much to my horror earlier today, when I trekked downstairs to put in a load of laundry, that not only did I somehow manage to grow a crop of gigantic house flies that were hibernating on the west-facing basement window right above my dryer  which were not, I repeat, were NOT there a week ago -- I also discovered a HOLE that the mice (I assume they are mice, as I have had battles with them in the past...) managed to chew into the foam insulation which was sold to me not only for its insulating qualities (and I have to admit, it is much warmer in the basement now) - but also as "mouse-proof" -- said hole being positioned on the upper left-side of the window frame and, as far as I could tell by poking around inside it, not through the window frame!  Said hole also was not there a week ago - I'd have seen it -- it was very noticeable!  I don't mind mice, as long as they stay the hell out of my house!  And so, once again, it appears I am at war.  And, you can be sure, on Monday I will call the insulation company to get a rep out here as soon as I can manage it - and that will certainly not be a fun meeting (for the rep), let me tell you.  In the meantime, I climbed on top of the dryer several times and stuffed mothballs, fabric softener sheets and the odd puff of stray foam I found around the basement into the hole to try and clog it up.  The damn thing seemed endless - probably there is an entire network of  tunnels by now around the entire perimeter of my basement - and so I shall tell that insulation rep when I get him here.  Looks like I will be having entirely new foam insulation and fiberglass batting re-installed - for free - or I will take that company all the way to the Supreme Court, if necessary, I am that pissed. 

The Fearless Foursome of Goddesschess will be re-uniting in Las Vegas sometime after April 15, 2011!  Mr. Don will be coming to Milwaukee to play in his very first OTB chess tournament when he and I, and perhaps Shira Evans and her significant other Crispin Sandford make our appearance at the Hales Corners Chess Challenge XIII, on April 16, 2011.  Shira and Crispin may not be able to make it - their plans are very much up in the air at the moment including planning a marriage. That is why I drafted Mr. Don whom, I  hope, will be taken down a peg or two chess-wise (he usually defeats me when we play OTB).  It's no fun ego-wise to be defeated by 8 year olds who wipe you all around the board, but - I have to tell you the truth - it is funny!  And fun!  I had a lot of fun at the HCCCXII in October.  Hmmm, maybe I should adjust my attitude to take this all a bit more seriously???

NAH!

Checking the score Badgers - TCU:  21-13 TCU nearly end of third quarter.  Damn!

Our Year in Review

Greetings from some of the "Goddesseses" from Goddesschess :) Isis, Michelle and yours truly, taken at Battery Park during our May, 2009 visit to New York for Goddesschess' 10th Anniversary!!! We're so gorgeous! Here is a look back at Goddesschess' 2009. Wow - going over it again in this format really brings it home. Every year since our founding, our goal has been to reach just a few more people and touch them in some chessly way. This year, we outdid ourselves! Happy New Year blessings to everyone, and here's a toast to you (sip sip sip). Ahhhh, that's good wine... 2009 saw us celebrating Goddesschess' 10th anniversary online -- May 6, 1999 saw the debut of our first website! We made our second visit to New York City - and that reminds me, I never did finish the travelogue of our anniversary visit. Well, I finally managed to restore internet connection to my old laptop upstairs, so perhaps I will take a turn tomorrow at finishing that article -- after I finish some touch-up painting of windows and complete the clean-up of the basement windows that Mr. Don started before he had to leave. Mr. Don and I were in New York from May 12 - 19, 2009, and we had a wonderful time! I blogged from New York on my little Acer netbook and published lots of photos. Isis and Michelle joined us a few days later, after Michelle finished her final exams at UNLV. We all got to see the Statue of Liberty up close and personal. We also visited the 9/11 building site, which was a beehive of reconstruction activity. We spent most of two afternoons exploring lower Manhattan, Wall Street and Battery Park. We visited the Met, the Brooklyn Museum, the Asia Institute and - my memory fails me. We took buses and the subway for the first time. We ate off street vendors' carts. The weather was great! Applejack's Diner is still the same, as is Joey's in the basement of the Da Vinci Hotel, and we had excellent meals at both places. I can't wait to get back to Manhattan. Here are links to various photos from our New York adventures: http://goddesschess.blogspot.com/2009/07/some-more-new-york-photos.html http://goddesschess.blogspot.com/2009/05/new-york-back-home.html http://goddesschess.blogspot.com/2009/05/new-york-in-search-of-board-games.html http://goddesschess.blogspot.com/2009/05/new-york-some-street-scenes.html http://goddesschess.blogspot.com/2009/05/new-york-some-fav-photos.html http://goddesschess.blogspot.com/2009/05/new-york-more-game-pieces.html http://goddesschess.blogspot.com/2009/05/new-york-statue-of-liberty-and-ellis.html http://goddesschess.blogspot.com/2009/05/new-york-arches-and-arches.html http://goddesschess.blogspot.com/2009/05/new-york-wearing-ourselves-out.html http://goddesschess.blogspot.com/2009/05/new-york-shopping-mackenzie-childs.html http://goddesschess.blogspot.com/2009/05/new-york-3.html http://goddesschess.blogspot.com/2009/05/new-york-adventures-2.html http://goddesschess.blogspot.com/2009/05/new-york-new-york.html http://goddesschess.blogspot.com/2009/07/brooklyn-museum-unwraps-four-mummies.html 2009 saw our largest financial commitment for sponsorships yet to various chess events. We started out the year sponsoring prizes for the chess femmes in the Hales Corners Chess Challenge IX in late April. http://goddesschess.blogspot.com/2009/05/hales-corners-challenge-ix-interview.html http://goddesschess.blogspot.com/2009/04/hales-corners-challenge-ix-goddesschess_27.html http://goddesschess.blogspot.com/2009/04/hales-corners-challenge-ix-goddesschess.html http://goddesschess.blogspot.com/2009/04/hales-corners-challenge-ix_8052.html We finished out the year sponsoring prizes for the chess femmes (including special prizes furnished by current Women's World Chess Champion GM Alexandra Kosteniuk) in October for the Hales Corners Chess Challenge X. http://goddesschess.blogspot.com/2009/10/hales-corners-chess-challenge-x_18.html http://goddesschess.blogspot.com/2009/10/hales-corners-chess-challenge-x_22.html http://goddesschess.blogspot.com/2009/10/hales-corners-chess-challenge-x_2852.html http://goddesschess.blogspot.com/2009/10/hales-corners-chess-challenge-x_5727.html http://goddesschess.blogspot.com/2009/10/hales-corners-chess-challenge-x_19.html http://goddesschess.blogspot.com/2009/10/hales-corners-chess-challenge-x_6506.html http://goddesschess.blogspot.com/2009/10/hales-corners-chess-challenge-x_17.html Since 2007, Goddesschess has sponsored a special prize for the U.S. Women's Chess Championship, and we did so again this year in October, when the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis hosted the Championship for the very first time, and also sponsored the largest prize purse ever for the Women's Championship. Goddesschess' $500 prize this year was awarded to IM Anna Zatonskih after her outstanding performance in winning the Championship with 8.5/9, taking clear first. GM Susan Polgar once again agreed to select the winner of the Goddesschess prize. http://goddesschess.blogspot.com/2009/10/2009-us-womens-chess-championship_04.html http://goddesschess.blogspot.com/2009/10/2009-us-womens-chess-championship_12.html http://goddesschess.blogspot.com/2009/10/2009-us-womens-chess-championship_6788.htmlhttp://goddesschess.blogspot.com/2009/10/2009-us-womens-chess-championship_13.html http://goddesschess.blogspot.com/2009/10/2009-us-womens-chess-championship_16.html http://goddesschess.blogspot.com/2009/10/2009-us-womens-chess-championship_17.html http://goddesschess.blogspot.com/2009/10/2009-us-womens-chess-championship_22.html Normally, funding the prize of the U.S. Women's Championship is our largest financial commitment, but this year we went the extra mile and committed to assisting in obtaining the appearance of a WGM at the Montreal Open Chess Championships held in September, as well as sponsoring class prizes for the chess femmes who played in the Championship. We thus had the pleasure of meeting WGM Melia Salome of Georgia, who won the Women's Title and very nearly won the overall title. This was Salome's first trip to Canada. She fell in love with Montreal and Montreal (at least, the chess-playing part) fell in love with her! Since the event was held in Mr. Don's hometown, he was on-site during the entire event, filming video and taking lots of photographs, many of which were published here and the entire tournament captured in video and photos reported on at Goddesschess. http://goddesschess.blogspot.com/2009/06/2009-montreal-open-chess-championship.html http://goddesschess.blogspot.com/2009/07/we-need-female-gm-or-im-or-wgm.html http://goddesschess.blogspot.com/2009/08/2009-montreal-open-chess-championship.html http://goddesschess.blogspot.com/2009/08/2009-montreal-open-chess-championship_22.html http://goddesschess.blogspot.com/2009/09/2009-montreal-open-chess-championship.html http://goddesschess.blogspot.com/2009/09/2009-montreal-open-chess-championship_12.html http://goddesschess.blogspot.com/2009/09/2009-montreal-open-chess-championship_5153.html All of us Goddesschess folks wish you and yours a healthy, happy, safe and prosperous 2010. The best is yet to come - that's our heartfelt belief.

Happy New Year!

2008 is here with a roaring north wind, darlings! May the new year bring all of you many blessings, love, peace, and prosperity - and NO ice dams! It's not fit outside for man nor beast right now. The wind is howling, several inches of already fallen snow has landed in the corners of my porch and driveway, and the icicles I knocked down this morning are growing again. ICE DAMS! Fortunately, I stocked up on my supplies yesterday early evening, so I didn't have venture out today any further than the deck - to feed my critters. The office actually closed down early (3 p.m.) - I was in shock! I decided about 3:30 p.m. to make my exit. After jumping on the 3:51 bus and running my errands, I was home at 5:15 p.m. - and snuggled under my nice, warm sheets about 9:15 p.m., drifting off to dreamland. LOL! So much for my resolution to stay up until midnight and email everyone in my address book with new year greetings. This being winter in Wisconsin, change is constant and inevitable - the January thaw is coming early this year - as soon as this weekend, in fact, when RAIN is forecast and temperatures near 50 degrees F. Eek! Of course, darlings, you know what that means. ICE. Lots of ice. The ground is frozen, the more than foot of snow ground cover will have nowhere to go when the rains come. More ICE DAMS too. Sigh. My house hasn't sprung any leaks (that I know of) - yet. But the warmer air won't be here until Saturday. So, for the trek back to the office tomorrow and the rest of the work week, I will wear my heavy duty ankle-length down coat with hood and the super-sized mouton mittens under which I can comfortably fit gloved hands. This year, instead of the extra wool scarf, which I love for its beautiful blue and red plaid, but which is itchy, I have a four-in-one-fleece hoodie or, as they called them in the old days, a balaclava. With my 50 pound Sorel boots, I shall be toasty warm, although I won't be able to move faster than half a mile an hour... The Badgers lost the Outback Bowl - boo, hiss - the game was rigged, the referees were bribed, I just know it! Usually I take down the Christmas tree this day, but I just couldn't bring myself to do that this year. I am not yet ready to remove my beautiful tree for another year. Perhaps this weekend, when the January thaw rain is beating against the house from the southwest, I will feel motivated to pack everything away. Right now, I'm going to head downstairs, get a fire going in the fireplace, and spend the rest of my holiday watching television, eating good food, drinking Christian Brothers egg nog, and relaxing. I already feel incredibly decadent - I had a nice 3 hour nap earlier :) A final note - does anyone REALLY care about the Iowa caucuses other than the national television networks?