Weekend petanque

 We traveled to Mebane, NC, on Saturday to play petanque at Carolina Petanque member Francois Deprez' Inn at Bingham School . Kirk and Bo Edwards spent Friday night and Saturday night at The Inn (a Christmas present from Kirk's mom, Kaye Taliana, to help Kirk and Bo celebrate their 15th wedding anniversary-- congratulations to them!), so Francois was gracious enough to invite any Carolina Petanque members and associates close enough to make the drive to play on his two beautiful, shaded courts on Saturday afternoon.

The pictures above give some idea of the lovely venue, but fail to convey the full picture one can gather by actually attending an event at The Inn. Francois advised that he had recently hosted a wedding party of 160 people on the grounds, so that should give you some idea of the scope of amenities available. Several of us discussed making play at The Inn a more regular affair-- perhaps once a quarter or so? If we can work it out with Francois and, at the same time, assure him of a little business by encouraging some of our crowd to stay over at The Inn, it might prove to be a win-win situation.

Then on Sunday, we had a nice crowd of players for play at Miller Park in Winston-Salem. Though our Miller Park terrain does not have the natural shaded ambiance that we had experienced on Saturday in Mebane, the weekly addition of pop-up shade screens and umbrellas makes the Carolina heat bearable for play. We still hope to get a better, more permanent solution if the Parks and Rec people follow through with some of their previous promises. Shirley hopes to have another discussion this week with their Mr. Royston to get an update on the status of the project. Club officers are also considering drafting a letter to Parks and Rec and the City Council, perhaps to be signed by club members and taxpayers, expressing our concerns with the slow pace of proposed improvements.
--Gary