Meanwhile, in Florida

We decided to make a day trip down to visit some of our friends at the Sarasota Petanque Club. The weather was in the 60s and very pleasant, even in the nice shade of the trees in Lakeview Park where the club plays its weekly games. Gilles Canesse and his group play petanque at a high level and the competition was fierce. The group made us feel very welcome and seemed genuinely glad to have us there. We had some really good games and were even able to win a few!

The lunchtime picnic was a treat, since it's been to cool to do much outdoor picnicing in North Carolina. Shirley was happy to see the flowers and honeybees as a sign that spring is starting to make an apperance.

After playing almost continuously from 9:00 AM until 4:45 PM (except for the brief lunch break), we made the one hour (plus) trip back to camp just in time to grab a quick supper and make it to the nighttime session of petanque!

Today's petanque in North Carolina

The crowd was sparse and the weather was cold at Miller Park for Sunday's play. Carol advises that she, Tom and Bob threw a few games but no one else dared the "nippy" weather. From the looks of Carol's faithful companion, it must not have been fit weather for man nor beast. When even the dogs don't brave the outdoors without a good heavy coat or blanket, it makes it a little hard to get too enthused about petanque. Right?

Friday night lights

Still in Dover, Florida. The courts are sand (I believe they were built over unused shuffleboard courts?) and very soft. Easy to get fairly close most of the time, but the shooting must be on the iron to move anything much. Good change of pace and good for our game I'm sure.

February 26, 2010, in Dover, Florida

We decided to go south looking for some warmer weather and larger petanque crowds. Here is the link to a nice place just outside of Tampa called Tampa East RV Resort (formerly Green Acres):

www.sunrvresorts.com/tampaeast

They have an enthusiastic crowd of good players who play every morning at 9:00 AM and every evening at 7:00 PM. We arrived a little too late to get into Thursday night's play, but we watched for a while as a crowd of 22 players battled it out on the courts. We were warmly welcomed for Friday morning's play, though the really warm weather still eludes us as you can see by the attire.

February 21, 2010, in Lexington

Tom D., Marly, Tom C., Carol, Augustine, Bob, Shirley, and Gary played in 55 degree, sunny weather.

Happy Valentine's Day!

From us to you.

Is it Spring Yet?

Sunday, January 31, 2010. Lexington, NC. Small crowd for today's play. Me. (And Shirley to photograph my efforts.)