Catching up

Well, with preparations for the upcoming Lexington Barbecue Festival Petanque Tournament taking some of our time and actually playing petanque taking a great deal as well, I've sort of let the blog slide. So, here I am at eleven o'clock at night trying to play catch up before the festivities really get into full swing. We have another day tomorrow, Tuesday, to wrap up some loose ends. Then we'll be playing at Griffith Park in Winston-Salem on Wednesday morning with anyone wanting a last chance for practice before practice on the Finch Park Lexington terrain begins on Thursday. So here goes:

Bob Moyer in Germany

The man himself

Evening play

Petanque friends

Petanque on a grand scale

Canal alongside the way to terrain

Rainy final day in Germany

Bob spent a couple of weeks at the end of September visiting in Germany and shared some of  his pictures via Facebook. Above are a few to give you a small taste of his adventure.

October 1st at Nevin Park

Too much top soft gravel-- but getting better

Gerard, Monique, and Denyse

Frank

Impromptu gathering in Charlotte drew a nice crowd.

October 2nd at Miller Park

Shirley's table

Just when we were beginning to think that we wouldn't have to do a full-fledged setup of umbrellas, shade tents, etc to combat the heat, along came another hot Sunday. We had not pulled the cargo trailer from home, hoping to get by with just tossing a sun shelter in the bed of our pickup truck, but we ended up having to borrow an additional sun shelter tent from the park's storage building. It's October!

October 5th at Griffith Park

Tom

Ronnie

Ronnie with Shirley and Marcia

Wednesday morning saw us back in Winston-Salem, this time at Griffith Park. At least morning play, we start at 9:30, is a little cooler in what's starting out to be a warm Carolina October.

October 9th at Griffith Park

Bob, Kaye, Michel, and Bill

Bek

Ed and Anne

Maggie and Bob

Bek visiting with Ronnie

Our usual Sunday afternoon play venue, Miller Park in Winston-Salem, was too wet for play after mid-week rains, so we rescheduled for Griffith Park. Courts there were very playable; for whatever reason, Miller Park drainage issues still have not been resolved.

We were glad to meet Kaye Taliana's friend Bob Roberson for the first time on Sunday. They are from Raleigh.  He's learning the game and hoping to play in the approaching Lexington Barbecue Festival Petanque Tournament,

Rick and Maggie made the drive up from Leesville, SC, to surprise us on Sunday. We also got a rare visit from some of our Asheville friends, Michel and Bill. And, Ed and Anne drove over from Charlotte.

October 12th at Griffith Park

Regular Wednesday morning play in Winston-Salem.

And October 12th in Spruce Pine

Kirk and Bo hosted Angela Kelly and Kristi Bunn for Wednesday evening play. We were advised that Kristi and Angela plan to play as a team at the Lexington Barbecue Festival Petanque Tournament on October, 23rd.

October 15th at Nevin Park

We had a really nice crowd (20+?) for Third Saturday play in Charlotte. People are starting to turn out consistently as tournament day (October 23rd) approaches.

Finally, yesterday, Sunday, October 16, 2016, at Miller Park in Winston-Salem

We were pleasantly surprised to see Terry and Sue Wien back in the Carolinas, from their current home in Florida, a little earlier than expected on Sunday. They're going to be in Lexington from now through the tournament, so we hope to visit with them several times.

We used all four lanes of our Miller Park terrain and one of the bocce courts as well for Sunday's play. It looked like we were having a mini-tournament to kick off Lexington Barbecue Festival week!