Newland, NC, on April 10

Near the Crossnore, NC, mountain home of our friends Danny & Sue is the little town of Newland. The four of us (Shirley is the photographer, as usual) found a baseball infield that wasn't being used and got in a couple of quick games of doubles.

Last Sarasota Visit This Trip

Winning team in final game: Gary, Shirley, & John

Eliane & David____________________________________John_________

Lunch break

"Jack the Bear"_______________________Brenda, Richard, Eliane, John, & David

Brenda

Winners! Carmen & Gary____________________David, Carmen, & Richard

Easter Sunday found us once again in Sarasota for more play with the great group of folks there. Weather was absolutely wonderful with temperatures in low 80s and plenty of sunshine. There were only nine players on this holiday Sunday, but, boy, did we have fun! We had numerous really close games and can't wait to get back there again in the future.

Happy Easter!

Our grandkids (Marin & Maeve Acuna) in Spicewood, Texas.

Happy Easter from Gary & Shirley at CarolinaPetanque.

SearchAmelia Video

Here is a link to a YouTube clip that was uploaded by the gang at SearchAmelia.com. The team that they fielded was the only team to win a game against our CarolinaPetanque team of Shirley, Jeff, and myself during last Saturday's tournament. Listen closely and you'll hear someone from SearchAmelia proudly proclaiming, "We beat them!" when Philippe announces that the winning team was CarolinaPetanque.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22D3YYAtmsE

Thanks to Philippe for a wonderful tournament and to SearchAmelia for the clip.

Petanque America's Amelia Island Area Tournament

We continued our Florida adventure by driving up the coast a ways to Amelia Island, home to our good friend Philippe and his Petanque America operation. He had invited us some time back to participate in a small tournament he was sponsoring primarily for local players and players in the general area. I guess our month vacationing in Florida qualifies us as "players in the general area"? At least he was kind enough to include us as such.

We spent some time on Thursday and Friday visiting with Philippe and getting another tour of his latest warehouse offerings courtesy of his trusty sidekick and helper, TJ. I'm sure all of you who were lucky enough to make the November 2009 Petanque America Open remember TJ. Not sure how Philippe ever got along without her.

Also, on Friday evening Philippe had arranged for a large carillon ( like an organ, only bells! ) that was traveling up Interstate 95 from Naples, Florida, on its way north to stop and perform a concert for the islanders. There were somewhere around 1700 people who turned out for the performance. Very entertaining! As we understand from Philippe, his mother's family in the Netherlands has been in the bell casting business for many years, thus his interest.

Saturday saw fourteen teams of three (triples) gather for the tournament. Play began at a little after nine o'clock in the morning and lasted, with a short break for lunch, until after three in the afternoon. As is the case everywhere we go, there were some good players and lively, enthusiastic games.

It was a casual, fun tournament with some players of limited experience getting their first taste of tournament-styled play. Philippe had encouraged the teams to be inventive in their choice of team names and team shirts. Thus teams like Screwboules, Meatboules, Cool Boules Chillin' (sponsored by a local air conditioning service), Dazed & Confused, The Lonely Boules, and others of a similar nomenclature competed against each other. It made our CarolinaPetanque team name seem rather ordinary, but our "No Whining!" club motto got a few laughs and comments.

The new FPUSA club in St. Augustine sent a fine team up to play. I'm sure they'll grow into a club to be reckoned with based upon the level of play exhibited.

I'm sure Petanque America will probably have a write-up soon, so I'll just say that a great time was had by all. Our team consisited of Shirley, myself, and a local person, Jeff Barksdale, that volunteered to play with us since we were only two and his team had failed to come together. And, oh, by the way, we won!

Sarasota Sunday

Gilbert, John, Shirley, Carol, Danny, and Ed_________ John, Joey,Danny, and Pam

Richard, John, Gilbert, Danny, Katie, Carol, Ed, Eric, and Gary______ Danny&Joey

Joey and Pam ________________________________Our hosts at lunch

Fourteen of us braved a forecast that predicted an 80% chance of thunderstorms to play at the beautiful Lakeview Park home of Sarasota Petanque Club. The rains came and we stopped for lunch, hoping that the clouds would pass through. We tried once more after lunch, but then the real downpours came.