Back in Winston-Salem

Sunday play after returning from Texas. Welcome back, Joe!

At the Inn at Bingham School

Thought I would send some photos of this weeks Play on Sunday. We had the Saxapahaw group out again at 10am alot of the kids had grand parents visiting. At 2pm I have some friends that are Rotary members and they had a group from my home town of Lille,France and we had a nice Play on a beautiful day, Notice the cows in the background.

Francois

Recent Play at The Inn at Bingham School

http://chapel-hill-inn.com/

CarolinaPetanque member and friend Francois Deprez sent in a few snapshots of a couple of different groups playing recently at The Inn. He hosted a business retreat and, as usual, was able to promote the game and involve the group in some play as a respite from their work.

He also included some pictures of the Saxapahaw group of players that gets together fairly regularly at The Inn.

Check out the link above and plan a business or social or petanque outing at a beautiful bed-and-breakfast as a special treat!

Happy Easter!

With two of the grandkids (Maeve and Marin) in Texas. The little one (Myles) was home with Dad while sisters went to swim class. They've already swum, showered, and dressed in the Easter smocks PaPa and Nanny sent. Lynda sent us an Easter pic of Myles hunting eggs, and I wanted to add it as well.

Wishing every one of our petanque friends and extended family the best,

Gary & Shirley

April Fool's HoT Tournament

Nicolas and Michel (Third Place),
Christophe and Joe (Champions), Pascal and Juan (Runners Up)





Hanging the banner .






































The April Fool's Day edition of the Heart of Texas Petanque Club's Open Tournament was won by Christophe Chambers, formerly of New York but now Austin, and Joe Cortright from Portland, Oregon. They beat the incredibly talented team of Pascal Corchia, from Dallas, and Juan Garcia, from Miami. I'm sure Christophe and Joe are proud, as they should be, to have beaten two members of the USA National Team that will be representing the United States in world competition.

Michel Costa and Nicolas Bienvenu won the third place prize.

It was a well run and most enjoyable tournament in which 32 teams participated. The morning play consisted of three games which then determined which teams continued into the afternoon's single elimination bracket of sixteen teams.

Shirley and I played okay and won two out of three qualifying games to make the cut for bracket play. However, we ended up losing in the round of sixteen. Coincidentally, the team that eliminated us in the round of sixteen was the only team to have beaten Christophe and Joe in the morning's qualifying rounds. So, at least we lost to a good team which is always some consolation.
Our thanks to all the people who make the Heart of Texas event such a pleasure. Though we don't come here with any thoughts of winning, we enjoy playing against such good competition.

Saturday Evening in Texas

Pascal Corchia , chief cook on Saturday night

Jo, Gary, Rudy, Sandy, Juan, and Shirley

We went out to Sandy's place near Spicewood, Texas, for dinner on Saturday evening. She's only a few miles from our campsite. The guys had a nice bonfire going and the meat already on the grill when we arrived. Pascal cooked up a delicious feast of carne asada and we were all well satisfied-- both with the food and the company. Great people!

Zaytouna Lounge on Saturday Afternoon

We went out to our friend Amine Najah's lounge on Friday afternoon to hang out and practice for Sunday's tournament. Amine has made good progress on the lounge-- everything is looking great. He's got enough court space for about eight lighted lanes playable now. He has a large area behind the lounge that will accommodate many more players if demand requires.

That's Amine on the left in the photo above. By his side is a famous face that most of you will recognize despite the beard and cap. William Hurt made an appearance and played several games with us throughout the afternoon. He's the star of too many major motion pictures to mention here, but among his better known are:

Body Heat, The Big Chill, Gorky Park, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Children of a Lesser God, Broadcast News, The Accidental Tourist, Into the Wild, Too Big to Fail, and Moby Dick.

He, of course, won the Academy Award for Best Actor for Kiss of the Spider Woman and was nominated for the same award for Children of a Lesser God and Broadcast News.

He arrived with his (and our) longtime friend, Arsene Dupin, world-renowned magician-juggler-comedian and president of the Heart of Texas Petanque Club. We tried not to make too big of a deal about having such a major celebrity in our midst and were, I think, successful in allowing him to be just one of the guys.

The next picture shows William Hurt (second from the left) and Arsene Dupin (standing on the right) visiting with some of the afternoon's players. The man on the left, Jo Sanchez, is somewhat of a celebrity in his own right. In his younger days (Jo's 76), he won national championships in boules sports in both Algeria and France. He had never been to the US before and didn't speak a word of English, but he was a true delight to be around and he and Shirley became friends immediately.

On the left, above, is Ed Porto, the new president of the Federation of Petanque USA (FPUSA). He flew in for the weekend's activities and made his first visit to the Heart of Texas club. Speaking of new FPUSA officers, the tall left-hander preparing to play is Christophe Chambers, the new National Sports Director of the FPUSA. Many of you will recognize him as the Tournament Director of Petanque America's Amelia Island Open for the past few years.

Earl makes the point!

Amine prepares to toss out the jack.

Sandy in good pointing form.