Pictures from New Mexico- Thursday

Thursday on the Turquoise Trail, in Santa Fe, and in Rio Rancho.

Large Turnout at Miller Park

Superstar in the making?  Parker shoots.

John was a walk-up.

Uijin drove down from Boone.

Ronnie and Faye

Marc and Augustin

Bob, Kevin, Pablin, Gary

Juan

Doing a little recruiting?  Chris and Melissa look on.

We had one of the best turnouts-- probably THE best turnout if you exclude tournament play-- of the year at Miller Park on Sunday.  Maybe two dozen people?  Weather was near perfect, and people are starting to realize that the Lexington Barbecue Festival tournament is coming soon.  To be followed by the Petanque America Open in November.  Practice!!!

Saturday in the rain

Saturday afternoon play with Danny and Sue in Lincolnton, NC.  The rain was steady.

Miller Park on Sunday

Gail, Fred, Terry, Sue Wien, Bob Moyer, James, Rom, Barb, Ronnie, Faye, Ed, Bertie, Bob Pelc, Pam, Joseph, Shirley, and I enjoyed a pleasant, late-summer Carolina afternoon at Miller Park in Winston-Salem on Sunday.  Temperatures are still warm, but the sun is beginning to be less intense as autumn nears.

We were particularly glad to have Bob and Pam surprise us by rejoining the club for the first time in months.  They have now made their permanent residence in the southern part of Texas and only occasionally get back to the Carolinas.  They may be around for a couple of months on this trip to finalize the sale of their North Carolina residence and many of their possessions as they downsize for their new location.

Sue Wien continued to play well left-handed but is looking forward to resuming play as a natural right-hander in about two more weeks.

Faye Rierson played very well for one who rarely plays.  Her usual inclination is to join the group for the social aspects, but  she often leaves the playing up to Ronnie.  We "twisted her arm" and got her to round out a team on Sunday.  We hope she will do that again from time to time.  By the way, Ronnie and Faye had recently talked with Carol who, along with Tom, is still in France until around the middle of November.  Things are going well there and they routinely play with some of the French locals.  We look forward to their return.

Finch Park

Sue, Danny, and I standing on one of the three baseball fields

 Shirley, Danny, Sue, and I went out to Finch Park in Lexington, about two miles from our home, to check out the facilities in anticipation of holding our 2013 Lexington Barbecue Festival Open Petanque Tournament there on October 27th.  It should work nicely!

 

On the way home

While making our way back home from Carolina Beach, we decided to make a quick stop to check out Fearrington Village  http://fearrington.com/village-shops/ in the Raleigh-Chapel Hill area..  Shirley had seen in a magazine article that there were bocce courts there and wanted to check them out for possible petanque play in the future.  There were two nice, decomposed granite courts measuring about 5 meters by 20 meters each.  They should work great for anyone in the area looking for a nice place to play.

At the beach!

We went down to Carolina Beach, NC, to spend a couple of days with our friends Bobby and Peggy Huffman at their beach house on the intracoastal  waterway.  Danny and Sue rounded out the group.  Lots of fun visiting and we even got in a little driveway petanque.  The guys beat the girls 3 out of 4!!!