Fresno City Council

We attended the Thursday morning meeting of the Fresno City Council to listen as Petanque Week was designated by mayoral proclamation. That is Victor Trataf, our visiting trainer from France, with the microphone in the last picture.

Fresno, California, May 19, 2010, at Cary Park

We flew into Fresno, California, to attend a seminar being sponsored by the Federation of Petanqe USA (FPUSA) and hosted by the Fresno Petanque Club. We managed to get in some pre-seminar play on Wednesday afternoon at Cary Park. It was a lovely setting under welcoming shade trees and the competition was top-notch. Fresno's club president, Joyce, and her husband, Jim, were among the first to greet and welcome us.

Texas

Pease Park in Austin, Texas. Sunday, May 16, 2010. Jeff gets the credit for the food; Shirley for the photos and the Heart of Texas club for the warm hospitality afforded on our last Sunday of play for this trip.

Wednesday in Austin, Texas

Above: Bertil and Arsene (Arsene Dupin is the president of Heart of Texas Petanque)


Above: Tony, Marie Claude, Trevor, Hal, and Thierry



Above: Jules, Ross, Kelsey, Earl, Ed, David, John, Dave, Rick, Tibor, and Earl (again)

There were more than twenty players at the French Legation Museum in downtown Austin on Wednesday afternoon. Can you believe that kind of crowd in the middle of the week? It's a tribute to the good work that Arsene Dupin and Sasha Evans have done as the two main organizers of the HoT (Heart of Texas) club. Sorry we missed getting a picture of Sasha. She was there too but had to leave early for another engagement.

Arsene and Trevor killed us (Shirley and myself) in the first game of this trip. We fared a little better in the triples that followed for the rest of the afternoon, managing to hold our own.

Mothers' Day

Here's Shirley up at her Mom's old homeplace in Lincolnton, NC, on Mothers' Day, 2010 (that's her on the right!) . As you can see, she looks pretty happy this particular day. We are within minutes of leaving for a quick trip to Texas to see the grandkids. No petanque on Shirley's mind today!

Hope ALL you Moms had a wonderful day.

May 2, 2010, in Lexington

Hot, hot, hot! That was the general sentiment about Sunday's play in Lexington. I believe you'll be able to tell that from the photos. Shirley's idea of towels soaked in a bowl of ice water proved to be a very popular choice as neckwear. And it was probably no more than high 80s, maybe low 90s. We've got a long, hot summer still to come, guys!

The final two games of the day's play saw Khalid and Augustine defeat Shirley and me in two straight. Unfortunately (for us), Khalid said he felt like he was returning to his old form, both shooting and pointing. Add to that the fact that Augustine played very well (many of you know you have to point well to hold your own against Shirley) , and we were overmatched. Wait until next time!

May 1, 2010, in Lexington

We had a good group of players and nice (though a little warm!) weather for Saturday's play. Our friends Bobby and Peggy came up from Wadesboro, NC, and played with us for the first time in quite a while. Danny and Sue were down from the NC mountains. Bob and Pam were back in NC after wintering in Texas. Terry and Sue had a wedding to attend (don't they clean up nicely?), but made it over later in the afternoon.