We'll have five special games this week, offering double points, and a quarter of the points will be gold. This is a great time to earn gold points without the time commitment and budget needed for travel to tournaments.

We also want to tell you more about our new life master, Sue Swanson; bronze life master, Sylvia Miller; and a ruby life master, Fran Maughan Meyers.

Jo has known Fran longer than she has known any other person now living in the Wood River Valley. They met 35 years ago when Jo was visiting from Oakland, California. Jo's host in Sun Valley couldn't ski one day, and asked Fran to show Jo around the mountain.

Jo and Fran quickly became friends. Fran and Jo have traveled together, including two trips to Nakhodka, Russia as part of an Oakland Rotary Club project to teach high school students about the free enterprise system. (Nakhodka is Russia’s commercial port on the Pacific Coast, about 80 miles from the military port of Vladivostok. It also is a sister city of Oakland.)

Fran later became Chuck’s first bridge partner. He and Jo were looking for a way to entertain Jo’s mother, Sara Bumbarger (now age 100), who was visiting after Jo had moved here. Chuck had never played bridge before, but agreed to be the fourth. The most memorable comment was when Fran asked Jo's mother to explain a bid to Chuck. Her reply: "The way my friends and I play, it doesn't mean a thing."

--Chuck Abramo and Jo Murray

Sun Valley Bridge will host five special virtual games March 23-28. Cost is $7 each.

Games will be at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, March 23; Wednesday, March 24; Friday, March 26; Saturday, March 27, and Sunday, March 28. All who place will receive double points, and one-fourth of them will be gold.

We'll have addition games with double points the week of April 12.

Join your friends at an online lesson.

Click here for the complete online lesson schedule.

 Where have you lived – both now and in the past?

Since I was familiar with cattle feeding, I started a business where I sold molasses as a feed supplement for cattle and other livestock. I later built mini-warehouses in Twin Falls and sold real estate Sun Valley.

(Photo above: Fran, at right, at last year's YMCA party with Mary Colhoun (left) and Peggy Hollitz.)

Congratulations to Ron Bloom, Sun Valley Bridge player and part-time resident who placed fourth in both the 2020 Ace of Clubs and Mini-McKenney competitions in Los Angeles. The Ace of Clubs honors the players who earned the most masterpoints in club games, and the Mini-McKenney honors those who earned the most total points in both club games and tournaments. See our past e-newsletter for local winners. If you won an award in another geographic area, please let us know.

“Easley Blackwood was known throughout the world of bridge for the Blackwood convention, which he devised in 1933. This simple method calls for the partner of a four no-trump bidder to show the number of aces he holds by steps at the level of five. The idea was offered to Ely Culbertson, the great authority of the day, but it was rejected. Culbertson did not wish to see a rival to his own more complex, four-five no-trump convention, but within a decade almost everyone was using Blackwood and the Culbertson variety was all but forgotten.”

Join us for four days and three nights of bridge lessons, duplicate games with masterpoints, gourmet meals, fun and fellowship in the spectacular setting of the Idaho Rocky Mountain Ranch this summer. The June retreat is sold out. Three cabins are left for the Aug. 22-25 retreat. We will offer day passes for lessons, games, lunch and dinner if health conditions permit.