Saturday in the Rain

Lori Beth and Larry

Suzanne and Marie

Ridha

Stan's unique shooting style

Mary Poppins?

Sue D.

With Danny D.

Check out the terrain!

Look closely at the lines to get an idea of the slopes

Richard of Oh La La

Maybe the fact that it's raining here in Sanford, Florida, will make our friends back in the snowy Carolinas a little less jealous of our vacation days and our visit over to see our good friends at Oh La La Petanque Club.

But, it's supposed to be around or above 80F here tomorrow for the doubles tournament-- even though there's still a likelihood of rain.  We may be wet, but we won't be cold!

SUNDAY

The temperatures never got out of the low 30s, so only five of us managed to make it out to play on Sunday at Terry and Sue's place.  Lexington residents--  Terry, Sue, Shirley, and I -- were joined by Fred from Winston-Salem.  No one else braved the cold.  It seems as though the weather is the main focus of every gathering this time of year in the Carolinas.  Guess it's time for our (nearly) annual late winter getaway to Florida!

Our new 2015 Sport Director, Rebekah Ricardo, will be hosting play for the next six weeks or so.  Go out and give her your support.

Best,
Gary and Shirley

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

 Eight of us spent a cold, windy afternoon at Griffith Park (Georgia Taylor Recreation Center) in Winston-Salem last Saturday.  The terrain was a little soggy from recent rains and, mostly, from frost heave rising up then melting.  Nevertheless, we had a lot of fun and played for several hours.

Carolina Petanque in France

Gary,

Carol and I just played with the Petanque Club today - they play every Monday and Thursday, 1:45 until dark - YEAR ROUND!  I played last week both days - this was the first day for Carol to play.  

We play on the  nine courts of which Carol sent pictures.  They started promptly at 1:45pm, (all who wanted to play had already dropped one ball in a 20 Liter/5 Gal bucket) - the leader spread the balls out single file along a barrier, divided up into teams just like we do - every other ball is a team playing against the alternating two.  We played about 45 minutes each match.  Someone signaled with a whistle that we should be finishing up - those who finished quickly played a second/partial game while waiting.  No scores are kept.  We threw all balls in the bucket each time and repeated the matches. Carol and I lost track of the number - we think we played 5-6 matches.  I counted 36 balls one round today (9 even matches).  Met a lot of people and had fun.

Wish you and Shirley could fly over and join the fun!  

Tom

Maggie's pictures

Our friend and fellow member of Carolina Petanque, Maggie Sweeney, took quite a few pictures at the Super Boule Party we had at Terry and Sue Wien's home on High Rock Lake in Lexington.  Here are a few examples of her work:

Rick and Maggie were also able to attend this past Sunday when we again played at Terry and Sue's beautiful terrain.  Once more, Maggie managed to get a few pictures and has been kind enough to share some of them.
 

Thanks, Maggie!

Progress

We stopped by Miller Park to check on the construction project to rework the bocce courts and create a new dedicated petanque area.  There's a lot going on.  Exciting days!

Nicest day of 2015?

We had a great turnout at Terry and Sue Wien's home in Lexington, NC.  There were fifteen players taking advantage of 2015's best weather to date.  I played in shorts and a Carolina Petanque t-shirt!  Okay, I did add a Carolina Petanque sweatshirt as the sun started to set.

Players from across North and South Carolina came together and had a great afternoon and evening (they have lighted courts!) of play.  Thanks, Terry and Sue!