Carolina Petanque in Denver, Colorado

Lori Beth, Umpire Larry Creasy, Angie, Julie Jo, Juanita, and Rebekah

I hope to have some pictures at some point, but I'll go ahead and report that Rebekah, Songmi, and Lori Beth won all four games in Saturday's qualifying rounds in the USA National Championships in Denver, Colorado. Their wins included one over the eventual National Champions, Angie Gleason, Juanita Celix, and Julie Jo Fehrle.

Rebekah's team was eliminated in Sunday's play-- here's her synopsis:

We lost both games on Day Two to Bekah Mo’s team [ with Gerda and Christine ] and then to Angie/JJ/Juanita, who went on to win the entire thing.  We had beat both these teams the day before, but they played better on a Day Two. I appreciate everyone’s support in this journey.  It’s not the end.  Just the beginning.  Onward and upward!

-Bek

Won 4 / Lost 2. Against some of the best players in the USA. Great showing Bek!!!

Lazy Sunday

Small crowd (maybe 10-12) Sunday at Miller Park. We were glad to have John and Mary Hayes come over from Greensboro again, And Fred was able to work a slightly longer than usual session into his Sunday responsibilities. Sherry Crane, who used to play with us once in a while, stopped by with a friend and they practiced for a while. Hope we'll see more of them. Kerry and Maria showed up and stayed for the first time in a while.

We missed Nelson and Rebekah as she was off representing Carolina Petanque at the USA National Triples Championships in Denver, Colorado. Early results there were outstanding for Rebekah's team, which included Songmi Keating from Amelia Island Boules Club and Lori Beth Creasy from Boules de Leon (Sr Augustine, FL).

They won all four of their qualifying games on Saturday, besting quite a few nationally-recognized players. Outstanding performance!

Bo turns 39 (maybe a little more?) !

Bo Edwards had a birthday! She and Kirk hosted a birthday get-together and buffet for a group of her petanque-playing friends at Michel Baudouin's newest restaurant, serving French comfort food, at RendezVous located at 184 New Haw Creek Road in Asheville, NC.

It was great! There had been a significant afternoon thunderstorm just before we arrived around 3:30 and the courts were pretty well flooded. By the time more of the crowd started rolling in, we had toweled down all the outdoor furniture, and Michel had done a little excavating of some temporary drainage channels on the terrain which had improved things considerably.

Still we had to search out the dry areas for games. It worked out okay and there were three or four active games going at a time by the time we had to leave for the drive home.

I'm sure Bo had a happy birthday, and that was the whole idea,

Hickory Doubles

Our photographer

Yours truly

We were in Lincolnton for a couple of days, so Shirley reached out to Marc and asked if he and/or Juan and/or Kathy wanted to play a couple of games. So, we made the trip to Hickory and took on Marc and Juan on their home court. It did not go well. We lost two in a row (both games ended 13-10) after blowing early leads.

Oh well, there's always next time.

Greensboro group getting started

We played again Thursday at Tanger Gardens in Greensboro. Ryan, of Parks and Rec, stopped by and again promised that the next fiscal budget (begins July 1st) will include funding for two petanque courts and suggested that he would work with Carolina Petanque to find the best location in the park.

Things may move quickly. At least, we hope!

Another Wednesday session at Miller Park (W-S. NC)

Regular Wednesday play (9:30 AM, 2500 Queen St, Winston-Salem, NC).