As a confirmed “word nut,” I much enjoyed the article about the Orland Open Spelling Bee (Metro, Oct. 20).
I have not competed in a spelling bee for many years, but I fondly remember the weekly spelldowns of grade school days. (I’m a much better speller than my children.)
I became a crossword puzzle addict as a preteen many years ago, progressing through more and more difficult puzzles, including the beloved patternless ones on Thursdays in the old Chicago Daily News–worked only in ink, of course, and never with a dictionary at hand.
In later years my husband and I whiled away lots of evenings at another word game, Scrabble. Word games as a hobby are easily available, inexpensive and so entertaining for a lifetime, as witness this octogenarian.
