Recent play

First of all, let me apologize for having no pictures of Wednesday's play in Spruce Pine.  We had six players, but Shirley was unable to join us due to another commitment, and I failed to carry her camera.  Anyway, thanks, Kirk and Bo, for hosting.  Danny, Sue, Kirk, Bo, Uijin, and I played from 5:30 until dark.  The kids, Parker and Sophia, played around in the park and did not join in the petanque this time.  As is rapidly becoming our custom, we topped off the evening with pizza and beer in downtown Spruce Pine.

While I'm at it, I must also apologize for having no pictures of Sunday's play at Miller Park.  This time Shirley was there and took pictures as usual, but I accidentally erased them from her camera before getting a successful download.  Sorry!  We again had six players.  This time it was Danny, Sue, Shirley, Fred, Michael Mardis, and myself.  Michael is new to our group.  He had contacted me a few weeks back about the possibility of play in Greensboro.  We haven't yet been able to coordinate our schedules for Greensboro, but he made the drive over to join us in Winston-Salem.  He played the game many years ago in France and just decided to look into getting started again.  He was on the winning team as often as not on Sunday, so he did very well.  Hope it works out for him to join us again soon.  Or that we're able to join him in Greensboro.

Finally, we did manage to get pictures of Saturday's play in Lincolnton.  I believe I counted 22 people in the crowd!  That's a great turnout considering that many in our group have to make quite a drive to play.  We were particularly glad to have Tom and Carol's French visitors join us.  Michel and Christiane were able to see the French game as played in the Carolinas.  I don't know whether they were very impressed, but we were certainly glad to have them.  A dozen of us made the trip uptown to have dinner at FATZ restaurant after play.  Thanks to all who came and we hope you can come again soon.

From Bob Moyer in Germany

At  Mirko Klause's Fifth Annual Mondial la Kasselaise a Petanque

Bob losing

Mirko posing with the winners

At a castle in Hesse

 Bob sent a few pictures from Germany.  They sure have nice places to play in the "Old World"!

From Francois

http://chapel-hill-inn.com/

 Francois submitted these photos of recent play at the Inn at Bingham School, his bed-and-breakfast near Mebane, NC.  Follow the link above for more information.  Check with Francois if you'd like to get in on play at the Inn or schedule an overnight stay.  It's a really beautiful place!

Nice crowd at Miller Park

View from above

Georgie, Kristi, and Cruz arrive from Boone, NC

Cruz, Sue Wien, and Gail

Me

Bertie and Ed

Marc giving instructions

Col. Phil Newman and daughter Phyliss visit with Terry Wien

Parker and Kirk Edwards

Joe and Juan

The slightly cooler weather brought out the players yesterday at Miller Park in Winston-Salem.  We had four courts active for most of the afternoon.  Players came from Lexington, Boone, Spruce Pine, Hickory, and Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Friday in Spruce Pine, NC

At the Edwards' Home on Saturday Morning

Preparations

Early arrivals

Taylor and Kirk

Cruz and his little guy, Georgie

Our lodging overlooking the park where we played

Cruz, Kristi, Gary, and Taylor

Augustin and Steve

Concentration

I dunno, whataya think?

Our banner

Starting young

Leader of the Spruce Pine Group-- Kirk Edwards

Pizza & ...

whatever.

Rides

We made the trip up to play with the mountain group of CarolinaPetanque on Friday afternoon.  We had been invited by Danny and Sue to use their Crossnore home as our base for the night, but they were going to be traveling, so we decided just to drive up and then back home to either Lexington or Lincolnton.  Then Kirk and Bo graciously invited us to stay over at their home in Spruce Pine.  We finally decided, rather than imposing on them on short notice, that we would stay over after all, but we'd stay at the Pine Bridge Inn.  It's an old school house that has been converted into a motel.  Very unusual and interesting-- it sits up on the hill looking down on Riverside Park where we planned to play.  We actually had a good view of the field from our second storey window.

Kirk had managed to get a good group together and the play was lots of fun.  Pizza and beer after play capped our evening (thanks, Marc, for treating!).

We got up early on Saturday morning and drove to Kirk & Bo's for a game on their home terrain.  They only had time for a single game-- Parker had soccer in th AM-- and the two of them managed to beat Shirley and myself, soundly I might add.  It keeps getting more amd more difficult for us to win a game now and then as the group play improves.

Gary (and Shirley)

From Bob Moyer in Germany

Bob sent this snapshot of petanque with his, and CarolinaPetanque's, friend, Mirko, "In his Pétanque America t-shirt in front of a castle in Kassel."