'Twas the day after Christmas...

Shirley and I had a few things to do around our Texas campsite, so we did not make the drive into Austin to play with the gang.  Instead, after we finished our obligations and just relaxing for part of the afternoon, we found a likely spot in the campground and tried to get in a little practice.

We were happy to be joined for a while by one of our fellow campers, JR, and his daughter, Kaylee.  You know us-- we're always on the lookout for new players!

The day after

Championship Form

We had a small crowd on Sunday at the French Legation Museum in downtown Austin, Texas.  It was the day after Saturday's Heart of Texas Club year end tournament and that, coupled with the general business of the Christmas season, resulted in only nine or ten people showing up to play.

Deep in the Heart of Texas

Link to the Heart of Texas blog

Shirley's picture of the group

Tournament Director Rick Armstrong

(L) Jeff & Linda Schryver were Consolante Runners-up

Terry and Mike were Consolante Winners

Arsene and Jim were Concours Third Place

Michel and Nico were Concours Runners-up

Thierry and Hasu were Concours Champions

Link to the Heart of Texas blog

Follow the link above to see Arsene's write-up of the event.

I'll just say that Shirley and I had a lot of fun.  We played reasonably well, winning three out of our four qualifying games.  Our one loss was to Michel and Nico, who went on to finish second in the tournament.

We lost to the tournament's eventual third place team, Arsene and Jim, in the Concours single-elimination.

Though the day was gray and cold, we enjoyed ourselves among our many Texas friends and look forward to the next event.

Wish we could have been there!

While Shirley and I are in Texas visiting the family, petanque continues back in the Carolinas.  Many thanks to Fred Marchant for hosting and to Bo Edwards and Sue Wien for the photos!

Our last Carolina's play for 2014

Shirley and I got our last chance to play in the Carolinas on Sunday at Miller Park in Winston-Salem.  We'll be heading out to Texas for the holiday season to visit Lynda, Rob, and Marin, Maeve, and Myles.

At the Edwards

Kirk and Bo had some friends over for socializing and petanque on Saturday, and they were kind enough to include us.  It rained-- sometimes very hard-- all the way on our trip up the mountain to Spruce Pine.  But then, just as we arrived, the sun started to peek out just a little.  We started play and hoped for the best.  There were some more showers and a misty, cold day was our fate.

BUT, we had FUN!  Thanks, Kirk and Bo.