Sarasota SE Regional Triples

All pictures courtesy of Juan Garcia; thanks, Juan.

(Above L to R: Marcel, Juan, Christian, Brenda, Salem, Gilles, John, David, Eric)

(Above: Marcel points____________________________________Brenda shoots)

(Above: Pam relaxes__________________________David, John, Brenda, Marcel)

Congratulations to Gilles Canesse, Salem Touati, and Juan Garcia. They won the SE Regional Triples tournament last Saturday in Sarasota, Florida.

Our friend and new CarolinaPetanque member, John Hayes, played with Brenda Green and David Bloom of the Sarasota group as a team. It was John's first time to play in an FPUSA sanctioned tournament. Here is what Juan Garcia of the winning team had to say about John's efforts:

"John is a natural. He played very well. When he had to shoot, he was very accurate. Very impressive!"

Way to go, John!

Monday Evening Session

Then, about the time Tom, Khalid, and Bob had to leave, Terry and Sue showed up with Jim, a friend and business associate of Sue. The five of us had a picnic supper that Terry and Sue were kind enough to provide and then played for a couple of hours. Jim did very well for a first time player and we hope that he can come back soon.

Monday Matinee

Tom and Khalid rode over together to our Lexington location to challenge Shirley and me on our home court. We won the first game (Khalid said it was only good manners to let your hosts win the first game), but they won the second. In the meantime, Bob, from Winston-Salem had arrived, so he and I tried our luck against Tom/Khalid in the third game. They won handily, so we recruited Shirley to join our team for the fourth game. The team of Bob/Gary/Shirley (playing two boules each) won. That set up the showdown fifth game. Tom/Khalid jumped of to a big lead (5-0). But we battled back to win!

It was great to have Khalid back in action. He hasn't been able to join us in quite some time due to his work schedule. He said that he practices his shooting in his back yard but never has a chance to practice his pointing.

Loser rakes

Gary and Amy lost, so Gary rakes. Winners Steve and Kevin (with Calvin) look on.








Shirley's cat, "Petanque"

Tom and Terry talk it over


Weekend petanque in Lexington. The predicted storms didn't amount to much, so we played!

Spring Day (and evening) in Lincolnton, NC

Moonlight Petanque!

Our newest member, Ronnie Rierson (and his wife Faye)

Night is coming.

Has Augustine nodded off?_____Bob leaving on Sunday morning

We started around 1:15 PM or so and played until almost 10:00 PM on Saturday, April 17, in Lincolnton, NC. We kept both courts busy for most of that time and had people sitting and waiting for their turn to play.

With Philippe now in Florida, Michel in Belgium, Josh working most weekends, and Bob planning to do some traveling this summer, our Winston-Salem connection is dwindling. We may try playing in Lincolnton and Lexington more often this summer. And, don't forget, we're always open to playing in other Carolina locations. Just invite us, and we'll come!

Augustine's Birthday -- April 11

Miller Park on Augustine's birthday. Sunny. 70s. Great.