Too hot? Not!

Danny, Fred, Shirley, and I spent the hottest day of the year so far (96 degrees, but that must have been in the shade!) playing doubles at Miller Park. We had a little shade at the beginning of the afternoon, around 2:00, over by the picnic table, but that evaporated like spilled water as the sun won out. Still, we managed to play until 5:30 or so when our water jug started to run low.

Hot Thursday in the mountains

We went back to the mountains for Thursday's play in an attempt to escape the high 90s heat of the foothills. We were only partially successful; it was still plenty warm in the parking lot of Sugar Mountain Ski Resort. There were ten of us for the weekday session. Danny & Sue hosted. Augustine & Susanne drove up from Hickory and brought their friends Francis and Chantal. Local players included Walt and a new player, Jarrett. Shirley and I rounded out the field.

They were doing a little parking lot repair when we arrived and it looked, at first, as though we might have to find another venue. Shirley asked the workers if we might use the extreme end of the lot without disturbing their work and they agreed. The young man, Jarrett, in the pictures above was a walk-up player whose dad was among the maintenance workers.

We also attracted the attention of local law enforcement officer Anthony and Security officer Casey. They visited with us for a few minutes and showed interest in coming back sometime when they were off duty to join the fun. Hope it works out.

We're looking for a more permanent place for our mountain play and stopped by the Parks and Recreation Departments of both Morganton and Newland to ask about the possibility of terrain construction. We'll keep you posted.

Sugar Mountain on Dwellable

At home

Shown at our Lexington, NC, home is the new club banner that the FPUSA authorized. Many thanks to John Harris of the FPUSA and Philippe Boets of Petanque America. John provided the program requirements and approved the design. Philippe assisted with the design, production, and procurement.

At the beach

June 19, 2010. Carolina Beach, NC. Bobby & Peggy were the hosts.

In the country

June 14, 2010. Lincolnton, NC. Carol prepared homemade pizza.

In the mountains

Above: Sue's mom, Juanita.

June 10, 2010. Sugar Mountain, NC.

Sugar Mountain on Dwellable

Tuesday-- Lincolnton, NC

On Tom's birthday, Tom, Augustine, and Wesley were the triples winners (2 of 3) against Gary, Susanne, and Matt. The doubles champions of the day were Augustine and Susanne with three convincing wins against Gary and Shirley.

From the Promenade

Terry, Sue, Danny, Khalid, Shirley, and I made the drive over to Greensboro yesterday for the French Fair, Parisian Promenade, festival. With temperatures in the 90s and good crowds, it was a warm but pleasant experience. We really enjoyed exposing the kids and adults to our game. We were instructing people from 3 to 92 (literally!) years old on the basics of petanque and encouraging them to explore CarolinaPetanque, Petanque America, and FPUSA websites. It would be great if we got a few new players from the hands-on instruction and hand-out of literature.

The crowds seemed to be very appreciative of the play of our club members (Khalid put on a dazzling demonstration of precision shooting!), and we had several good games by pairing a novice player with a club player to form a team. Many of the novice players did very well indeed.

If there should happen to be anyone in the Greensboro area reading this posting who would be interested in playing at Bicentennial Gardens (on Hobbs street) in the near future, drop us an e-mail at carolinapetanque@yahoo.com . Shirley and I are more than willing to travel in order to play and/or instruct the game of petanque. This is also true if any of you Carolina French teachers out there would be interested in a demonstration for your classes. Or if any of you with ties to a group home or senior center would be interested?