Of Scenic Sojourns, Board Games and Breakthrough Alzheimer's Treatment
Oct 01, 2023
Marcy Backhus
Gear up for an exciting journey as I recount my trip to the serene landscapes of Alaska and Canada. Wrapped in the awe of the stunning inside passage, the charm of tea at the Empress Hotel, and the mesmerizing beauty of Butchart Gardens, this voyage, unfortunately, took a turn when a COVID diagnosis hit. But fear not, as we transition from travel tales to an exhilarating discussion about board games. If you're seeking ideas for your next game night, prepare to be intrigued by suggestions ranging from kingdom domino to wits and wagers and Time's Up.
We're not stopping at games; we're also bringing some much-needed optimism. Have you heard of the latest breakthrough in Alzheimer's treatment? Medicare is now covering a drug that can slow the disease's progress, a monumental step forward that could impact millions of lives. We'll dive into the importance of discussing this option with your doctor. As we navigate these crucial topics, we also remember our dear friend Bernie A G Napersissey. Tune in, whether you're a travel enthusiast, a board game lover, or someone seeking updates in the health world - there's something for everyone.
Gear up for an exciting journey as I recount my trip to the serene landscapes of Alaska and Canada. Wrapped in the awe of the stunning inside passage, the charm of tea at the Empress Hotel, and the mesmerizing beauty of Butchart Gardens, this voyage, unfortunately, took a turn when a COVID diagnosis hit. But fear not, as we transition from travel tales to an exhilarating discussion about board games. If you're seeking ideas for your next game night, prepare to be intrigued by suggestions ranging from kingdom domino to wits and wagers and Time's Up.
We're not stopping at games; we're also bringing some much-needed optimism. Have you heard of the latest breakthrough in Alzheimer's treatment? Medicare is now covering a drug that can slow the disease's progress, a monumental step forward that could impact millions of lives. We'll dive into the importance of discussing this option with your doctor. As we navigate these crucial topics, we also remember our dear friend Bernie A G Napersissey. Tune in, whether you're a travel enthusiast, a board game lover, or someone seeking updates in the health world - there's something for everyone.
Speaker 1:
Hello and welcome to the AJ Napers Sissy's Podcast. My name is Marcy Bacchus and I am your host. On today's episode we are going to I'll finish up my trip to Alaska and Canada and then today we're going to talk about fun and games. We're going to talk about board games game night, whether it's just with your significant other or with a family. I've got some game suggestions that play riff on old games with a twist of a new game, so I thought it'd be something fun to talk about. So let's get started, alright. Well, let's see, I left you when I was on the high seas and that part of that trip came to the end.
Speaker 1:
We had a great time on the cruise, a lot of fun. Just, I don't know, I enjoy a cruise, so it's a good relaxing place for me. Once we got off the cruise, we went down to the other end of Vancouver and we caught a ferry from Vancouver over to Vancouver Island, which is a beautiful hour and a half ride. If you've never done it, I've done it a couple of times. It just winds through all those beautiful islands. We saw wildlife. We saw whales, lots and lots of whales Just a beautiful, beautiful sight. Oh, I know we did finish the inside passage on the cruise and the inside passage was beautiful. The inside passage is when you start coming through the San Juan Islands. As you're coming through that passage into Vancouver, we hit some very low fog, couldn't see anything for a while and then that opened up again. So we finished that part again.
Speaker 1:
Then we got on the ferry over to Vancouver Island, stayed at a great hotel right there in Victoria, took an Uber from the ferry landing into Victoria, got into Victoria on Friday afternoon, friday night what did we do Friday night? I'm trying to think oh, you know what we did do. We got to have tea over in the Empress Hotel and the last time I had tea at the Empress Hotel was 50 years ago with my mom and dad, when we were there with the kids. We did not do tea, but I did have it with my mom and dad. Maybe we did have it with the kids, don't remember, but it was kind of exciting and it was fun. So our big group, we got to pick five teas and have the tea sandwiches and all of that and that ended up being our dinner. So I was trying to think of where we went to dinner on Friday night. I woke up Saturday with COVID, yay. So was not feeling great, didn't know I had COVID, I was not feeling good.
Speaker 1:
We did go to Bouchard Gardens. It was raining, but those gardens are beautiful. If you've never been there, this was my third trip to Bouchard Gardens. They are magnificent, the most beautiful gardens in the world any time of year as far as I'm concerned and a lot of other people are concerned as well but it was not crowded. It was a great day. Everybody loved the gardens.
Speaker 1:
We got home, we took the bus home and if you, when you're traveling, if you don't use the local buses, you're missing out. There was all kinds of costs to get out to. We didn't have a car, obviously, and there was a lot of costs, different costs, like $70 for this, you know to get out to Bouchard Gardens and we grabbed a city bus took us about 50 minutes to get out there, no big deal, and it was five bucks round trip. So if you're not using local buses and trains and those kinds of things when you're traveling, you're really missing out If you're constantly paying for a taxi or an Uber. Look at some alternatives. And we enjoyed that and then we could all sit and talk and nobody was driving.
Speaker 1:
But when I got off the bus I did not feel well. We went to the local Rexall just telling you this story because it's kind of interesting. So the Rexall is obviously a drugstore. We used to have them here in the United States. I don't know if there's so many of them now, but in Canada there was. And I was looking for a particular cold medicine and I talked to the pharmacist and she says have you tested for COVID? I said no. She said Well, it's running rampant. Again she says here, here's a box of five free COVID tests. That's how Canada does it. They just have them at the local drug store and they're free. And there were five tests. So I tested positive. Another person in our group tested positive and then the rest were negative. So I stayed in bed the rest of the day and night.
Speaker 1:
The next day was Sunday. I did the same. They went to a museum, came back and I walked with them outside to the outside fisherman's wharf there. And that evening we got on what's called the fast ferry. It's a hydrofoil ferry, people only, no cars, and it goes for. It takes about three hours to go from Victoria into Seattle and in Seattle we all split up and Craig and I spent the night downtown Seattle and we flew home on Monday and we came home to a family emergency which I was not able to go to. So I stayed home. Craig flew back to California and our son, alec, joined him at our best friend's house and they handled the family emergency. Right now everything is copacetic in the family emergency, so we just hope it stays that way.
Speaker 1:
It was a long week last week so I was home here in Chicago, stayed inside getting over my COVID. I'm COVID free as of today. The funny thing about that is I went in for my physical before I left, a couple of weeks two, three weeks before we left and she said go get a COVID shot. I said, great, got my flu shot from them, went to CVS, made my appointment, got to my appointment and she said oh no, I'm sorry we can't give you a COVID shot. I said, well, I'm going on a cruise, I'm going out of the country. I'd really like one. No, no, no, no, there's a new one coming and you're not over 65. Well, I'm glad I'm not over 65. So I'll take that as a win.
Speaker 1:
But so I knew. I just knew on this trip I would end up with COVID which I did Not a horrible just like a bad, bad cold and lost taste and smell for a couple of days. But I'm doing well and the good news about that is now I have the antibodies going into my next two trips, because I am flying to California in a week for my dear friend is having a very big surgery, so I'm going to be supportive in that, and then when I get home from that I am leaving for Israel for 11 days. So now I know I can't get COVID because I've had it. So that is one nice thing, but I would have liked to have had that shot before I left.
Speaker 1:
But you know, this is I don't know about you guys, but I don't understand the new COVID rules. I don't know what they are. I don't know how often we're supposed to get a shot. Are we supposed to just wait for new shots? I it's, you know, for all those years of getting all that information constantly. It's like radio silence from the government. Now nobody knows anything and I thought it was very interesting that they wouldn't give me a shot.
Speaker 1:
It's a good one, gorgeous, gorgeous time here in Chicago. It is October 1st. We just went downstairs and had our building through a big Oktoberfest and the weather is 80 degrees and sunny. We couldn't ask for more in the beginning of October, since we all know what is to come, trying to enjoy the outdoors as much as possible. I'm sorry for my raspy voice and if I do a little sniffling, I'm sorry, I'm trying not to. I do have a tissue here and I may have a little cough occasionally, just a little bit leftover residual from that lovely COVID.
Speaker 1:
But I thought it would be fun this week to talk about something fun and that's why I picked a board game. So sit back, grab your iced tea, grab whatever you want, sit back, relax if you're in the car, just enjoy something fun. Let's talk about how to get in the game. All right, so let's get in the game. So I was looking at the local AARP the local, the newest AARP magazine, and they did have this great article on new games that kind of not mimic our old games. I don't want to say that, but they kind of have the same flavor as our games that we love. So let's talk about the first one.
Speaker 1:
Well, first of all, are you a game player? Do your family play games? Do you and your spouse play games. I know my sister, cindy, and her husband Don have a game night I think it's Friday nights, maybe Saturday nights or maybe both that they always have Sydney makes hors d'oeuvres and they play games and I think that's great and there's so many great games that we can play. I know Craig and I do play Scrabble a lot, we play Backgammon and he doesn't really like Yachty, but I love Yachty. Yachty was my family game. Yachty brings back memories of camping at Leo Carrillo Beach in California and playing in the evening with that sound of those gas lights that we used to have and the smell of Leo Carrillo campgrounds and it brings back a lot of good memories for me. So I do love that. As a family we played games on and off and do enjoy them. Craig can be a little competitive. I'm not competitive at all so I don't really care if I win or lose. I try to win but I'm not wholeheartedly in it for that. I like the social aspect of game playing.
Speaker 1:
I know that my friend Lynn, her boys love to play risk and would play risk when they were at our house. And there's a new risk. This is called risk legacy. The game turns the classic risk formula on its head with a big twist Each time the game is played, permanent changes will be made to the board cards and more Wow. Okay. So it's a constantly changing risk. Just as the real world evolves over time, so does risk legacy, with changes in the gameplay, rules and story. No two copies will be alike. That's a really interesting concept of gameplay, and especially when you're talking like like you're talking about risk, war and taking over the world and all of that, it does change things and things have changed in our world. So I think that's kind of an exciting thing. But again, that's called risk legacy. I will try to get all of these up on my website so that, if there's any of them that sound interesting to you, you can go to aging8forcissiespodcastcom and go to my resource page. They should be there, okay. So dominoes A lot of people love to play dominoes.
Speaker 1:
Dominoes is a worldwide game, so what could they do different to dominoes? Or something that would have the flavor? So it's called king domino. This takes the satisfaction of matching dominoes and adds a colorful theme. Players choose a domino that has one or two types of terrain on it and add it to their kingdom by matching to a domino they already have. Creating bigger groups will score you the most points At the end. It's fast, fun and beautiful to behold. So it's a riff on dominoes. Obviously, you get these colors and these different terrains and you try to make the biggest terrain. That sounds interesting. I think it sounds fun. It sounds like something you could play with kids also little kids, colors and that type of thing.
Speaker 1:
I like games that everybody can play. What do we have here? Okay, trivial pursuit. Try wits and wagers. So this is a riff on trivial pursuit. A key difference between these two games is that the wits and wagers that know it all friend or husband will have trouble dominating, which is a great thing, because that's a hard one to play with younger kids that don't have a world of knowledge. So obviously, this gives you some additions to it. So, in addition to earning points by answering difficult questions, players score by betting on each other's answers. This simple change keeps everyone involved. I think that's a great idea and you can always bet on the know it all and make some money or move some points, or however it works. But that one's called wits and wagers. So we've talked about risk legacy. We've talked about kingdom domino or king domino, I don't know how to say that Kingdom mino, kingdom mino, I don't know, but anyways, and we've talked about wits and wagers, which is similar to trivial pursuit and the asking of questions. So you have to have the wits, but then you can also make the wagers. So there's that.
Speaker 1:
If you like charades, try Time's Up. Time's Up is a modern party game that borrows from charades taboo and the concept of inside jokes. All teams use the same set of answers and take turns giving clues to their teammates. Each round, teams are limited to fewer and fewer verbal clues until they can only pantomime. Sounds fun, sounds similar but different. Sounds like something. If you do like charades and you do like a party game, sounds like something new to add to your party trunk. That's called Time's Up.
Speaker 1:
If you like spades, try the crew. Now, I never have played spades, but if you are a spades playing family or group the crew. The quest for Planet Nine is a cooperative card game, meaning all players work together, but players can convey only so much information. We are going to keep this short because I am having coughing tacks here and there. I've had to stop a couple of times. So again, we're talking about the crew. If you like spades, you work together, but players can convey only as much information to each other which can spell the difference between victory and defeat. Lovers of trick-taking games will be able to learn this quickly. So that sounds like an interesting one.
Speaker 1:
And then we have if you like chess, try Onatoma. I'm not sure if I'm saying that right. I'm not sure if I'm saying that right. Many games have tried to reinvent chess, but none have been as successful as Onatoma. The pieces do not have set movements. Instead, cards are passed between the players to dictate how each piece moves. This creates a game with different strategies, endless replayability and tense gameplay. I like that. So instead of a piece having only set rules, it can do different things depending on the cards. So again, these are six new games Risk, legacy, king, domino, whits and Wagers, time's Up, the Crew and Onatoma, onatema, onatoma.
Speaker 1:
Some games that were here in the AARP magazine that might be fun for you. There's a lot of fun games out there. If you haven't played a game in a while, I suggest taking one out and doing it. It's a lot of fun. My kids like to play games. Well, not Kyle so much, alec does, and his friends as well. So if you haven't played a game in a while, I hope this gives you some ideas. If you don't look into these new ones, if you think about an old one, even just break out the Yahtzee. There's nothing more fun than yelling Yahtzee, so I hope you've enjoyed just this little version. Today I do have a senior moment. It's kind of exciting. It's some information that I found out as well, so hang in there for the senior moment. Well, I think this is a pretty exciting senior moment.
Speaker 1:
It is Medicare's to cover widespread use of the Alzheimer's drug. So if you haven't, I think we talked about it a while ago, but this for the first time, the Food and Drug Administration has approved that for general use, a drug found to slow the progress of Alzheimer's disease, opening the door for people over 65 in early stages of the disease to have most of their expenses covered by Medicare. It's a big deal. This is a big deal. This is a good thing. Today's action is the first verification that a drug targeting the underlying disease process of Alzheimer's disease has shown clinical benefit in this devastating disease, and the fact that Medicare is going to cover it for us is great.
Speaker 1:
It opens as far as I'm concerned, it always. Anytime something good happens, it always opens the door for more good. So talk to your doctors. I'm not sure when, when this is going to be. Let out, talk to your doctor, doctors and find out, but just know that Medicare is going to do some covering of this drug, so I think that's great news. I will be back with you next week. I hope all is going well for you and remember Bernie A G Napersissey.