Texas and North Carolina over Christmas

 Shirley and I have been playing at several of our favorite Texas venues over the last week or so.  Here are a few pictures from the Browning Hangar, Pease Park, and the French Legation.

Meanwhile, back in the Carolinas, there has been some play during the holiday season, but the weather has been less accommodating.  Here are a few shots of play in Spruce Pine and Winston-Salem.

We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and look forward to enjoying 2014 with our petanque friends across the nation.  (And we hope Sue Wien was on the GOOD LIST for Christmas and Santa brought her whatever she was asking for while sitting on his lap.  It's difficult to say who looks happier, Sue or Santa!)

P.S.-- Nelson and Rebekah got new boules for Christmas.  We can't wait to get back to the Carolinas and see how they're enjoying them.

Yesterday in Austin, Texas

Austin has a tradition of decorating trees along the public highway            

Typical traffic

Sculpture on the grounds of the Legation

Another sculpture

And another

Check out the pebble surface!  Plays great.

Game in progress (women beating the men!)

Another view of the walkways at the Legation

We drove into downtown Austin from our Spicewood location in order to play petanque with the Heart of Texas Petanque Club.  They routinely play on Wednesday afternoons at the French Legation near the Capitol Building.   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Legation

Thierry's orange tree

Scoreboard  by Linda (with Fanny)

Jeffrey's artwork

Thierry points

Thierry shoots (Michael looking on)

Lucas after dark

Then we left the Legation and made the ten minute trip over to our friend's house in Southeast Austin.  Thierry Amisse is a Frenchman who recently completed the process of becoming a US citizen, and is a master-carpenter, producer and repairman for fine French furniture.  He has a hard-packed dirt driveway where he often hosts play and he was nice enough to have called and invited us for Wednesday evening.

Thanks, Thierry!

At Jim Schwobel's

Jim pointing

 

Shirley and I were invited to join our Texas friends Arsene, Michael, Ed, and Jim at Jim's home terrain in downtown Austin, Texas, for triples on Tuesday afternoon.  Jim has a great place very near town and the university.  As a matter of fact, he rented the home years ago when he was a student at the University of Texas.  When the opportunity later presented itself, he decided to buy the house for his primary residence.  It turned out to be a great investment, as it's probably worth six to eight times what Jim had to pay.

It's at the very end of a quiet, shady residential street, and is probably a wonderful place to play in the summer when everyone is looking for shade as a relief from the oppressive Texas heat.

Many thanks to Jim for inviting us.  We look forward to playing there again whenever the opportunity arises.  (Thanks also to Arsene Dupin for providing the above photos-- Shirley forgot her camera!) (And to Ed Priest for additional pics below.)

Sunday in North Carolina

Here is a write-up by Rebekah Ricardo, who also provided the photos, of Sunday play at Miller Park in Winston-Salem:

Nelson and I brought some peppermint bark we'd made.  All that was missing was some hot cocoa (We need to invest in a carafe!).  The sun was out, the sky a beautiful blue, but the wind cut quite the chill.  Gail, Fred, Nelson, and I played, and during the games we had a nice surprise visit from Joseph who turned up to watch/visit (He's doing better, but not completely back to 100% and ready to play.).  Weather permitting, Fred, Nelson, and I hope to be back again next Sunday.  Maybe some more will also be able to come and play.  We got in two games today and had a lot of fun!

Thanks, Rebekah!