By: Rebekah Ricardo

Hi Gary!

Greetings from stormy North Carolina!  Attached are several photos Nelson and I took yesterday.  We had a GREAT turnout!  We were really pleased at this, because usually when you and Shirley aren't there, the interest just doesn't seem to be there either.  Well, not yesterday!  We missed you like the dickens and you both were mentioned several times throughout play.  The weather was just lovely.  And by about 3:00 PM, there were no clouds in the sky!




Nelson and I arrived at about 12:30.  We set up the picnic table (cheap plastic tablecloth--we needed Shirley's lovely cotton fabric!) in a Mardi Gras/Lent themed purple.  I brought oatmeal raisin cookies and some chips along with raspberry lemonade.  Gail arrived at 1:00 and then shortly thereafter Cheryl and Stump arrived with a gigantic cooler full of ice and drinks and several packages of cookies and snacks.  Jean and Junior came right after them.  Jean's hand was bruised, so she wasn't able to play.  Bob, Fred, and Joseph arrived next, and then later Rom and James joined us too.  We also had some new players!  Two of Jean's grandchildren came to play (brought to Miller Park by Jean's daughter Samantha), and so Fred took them aside and with Samantha's help, taught them how to play.  Then, late in the day we had two  new persons, Sean and LaLa (prounounced "LayLay") walked up.  They'd thought we were playing horseshoes, but when Cheryl mentioned the word petanque, Sean said, "Oh!  I know that game!  I remember it from watching "The Cosby Show" when I was younger!  Sean immediately took to the game after some tutelage from Nelson, and LaLa seemed to enjoy it as well.  You'll see them in the photos.  We invited them to return next week, telling them that we're there every Sunday at 1:00.  Sean seemed very interested, so we'll see....




Finally, we also had several other people who stopped to watch us play.  I believe Fred talked to a couple who had stopped to sit on the bench and watch us play.  We missed Terry, Danny, and the two Sues.  Apparently Junior was really tearing it up out there on the courts (according to Nelson).  There were so many games we couldn't keep track of the scores, but I do know that there was one "kiss the fanny" game between Nelson/Rom/Junior and Cheryl/Joseph/Gail.




By the time we all packed up to leave, we were amazed to see that our watches said 7:15 PM!  6 hours of play!  Yippee!




Miss y'all.  Hope you're having a good time!

Rebekah