Yesterday at the French Legation

Pam and Earl

Lovells' front yard!

Though we've been in  Texas for a week now, we just yesterday found time to make our first trip into Austin to play petanque with our Texas friends. We played at the beautiful French Legation in downtown Austin, Texas. It was great to see everyone again and we hope to play several more times while we're here.

After play, Earl and Pam Lovell, along with their sons, Trevor and Trey, had us over for some REAL, homemade Texas chili and tamales. It was a great finish to the day. We were very happy to see Pam mobile without her slings and wraps. Though she is still using a cane for a while, she looks to be progressing quickly and we look forward to her complete recovery.

Sunday, Dec 6, 2015

At Miller Park in Winston-Salem, NC

 Here are a few pictures that I failed to post after play on December 6, 2015. This was our next-to-last play in Winston-Salem prior to leaving for Texas for the holiday season.

Better late than never, I hope.

Sunday in Winston-Salem

Attached are some photos for the blog from Sunday's play in Winston.  It was understandably a small crowd since most people are preoccupied with the holidays.
--Rebekah

Sunday in Burnsville

Hey!

Sunday's play in Burnsville was a success. The pathways are suitable for playing and are difficult, which is good. We received a fair amount of exposure to the public from people in the park as well as drive-by traffic. I would assume there will be a lot more exposure in the warmer months.

Kera Yonker came out and will be a nice addition to the club. She has expressed interest in becoming a member and wants to be added to the email list.

Rich Cundiff from Asheville also showed up with his family, and we got to talk for awhile. He did not play but wanted to check us out and see where we were playing. I think he will return. I also feel that in the spring we need to make a real effort to reach out to the Asheville group and play with them and hopefully get them to join. I have been in contact with Michel in Asheville several times this week concerning various topics.

I will be back in touch with the parks and recreation department about regular play in Burnsville and having them promote it through their channels. In addition I will try to work out some sort of arrangement to having access to the bathrooms and open use of the picnic shelters. I will keep you informed as this new location develops.

Thank you,

Kirk 

And here is the write-up Kirk posted to Facebook:

Carolina Petanque played in Burnsville North Carolina last Sunday and we had great time enjoying the warm winter weather. This was our first time playing at Ray-Cort Recreational Park in downtown and with a little cleanup the pathways were great for playing. The surface was fairly hard with some irregularities that made it challenging. It was also fun to play free form games which we do not get to do at our other locations. We had participants from Burnsville, Spruce Pine, Asheville, Crossnore, and Hickory NC join us and based on everyone’s opinion we should start playing regularly there. We will try to work into the Yancey County Parks and Recreation Department schedule in the spring. We hope to see you there in 2016!

Burnsville, NC

It is s great day! Found a new place to play pétanque at Burnsville NC downtown park.
-- Kirk

Three new players and James returns!

James Stevens

Sue, Kera, Rom, and Kerry

Scott

Clay pointing

Sunday at Miller Park in Winston-Salem, NC, saw the return of James Stevens to our group. James has been unable to play for about six months due to complications from abdominal surgery. We were all really happy to see him again. Though he lost some weight in his convalescing period, he looked healthy and played well. He said it was a little bit tiring, but that's to be expected for his first time back with the crowd.

Speaking of the crowd, we had seventeen players on Sunday-- definitely a nice crowd for an overcast, but still pleasant, day. We were particularly glad to entertain three new players on Sunday. Kerry brought a friend, Scott, who seemed to enjoy himself while learning our game. And Rebekah's MeetUp efforts continue to pay off-- we had two players who traveled in from opposite directions to play, Kera joined us from the west (near Asheville) while Clay came from the east (Chapel Hill). They were old friends who made the effort to meet sort of in the middle and play with us, though they had previously played in Brooklyn and were not first-timers to petanque.

Both Kera and Clay took membership application forms to look over, so don't be surprised if we see more of them in the future. Rebekah promised to make them aware of play in both the western and eastern parts of NC, so you people in Spruce Pine, Boone, Asheville, Crossnore, Deep Gap, Morganton, Hickory, Newton, Mebane, and Raleigh should keep us informed of play in your areas and we'll try to pass the word.
--Gary