“Climate is what we expect, weather is what we get.” Mark Twain.
Spring has officially been with us for about 3 weeks, but you wouldn’t know it judging by the kind of meteorological conditions we experienced yesterday.
The day started fairly well, but little by little the wind picked up and by mid-afternoon we were engulfed in a real windstorm.
As we say in my native land “Il faisait un vent à décorner les boeufs » (the wind was strong enough to dehorn cattle).
The wind knocked down chairs and attempted to steal anything not properly secured.
Dust flew everywhere blinding people and making babies cry.
This sorry state of affairs didn’t stop pétanque enthusiasts from participating in our annual Lentils & Sausages/Tournament.
The field looked great, thanks to the efforts of some dedicated club members (Claudie Chourré, Emily Etcheverry and Christine Cragg) and some hired help.
We ought to have a special award to express our gratitude toward these people.
The following randomly-mated teams participated in this tournament:
- Eva Lofaro/Steve Jones/Claudie Chourre
- Jean Etcheverry/Carolina Jones
- Teri Sirico/Lilian Sebban
- Ernest Lucero/Luc Pouget
- Bernard Passmar/Danielle Gusella
- Bill Hansen/Jenny
- Jean Barka/Shannon Bowman
- Barbara Hall/Jean-Michel Poulnot
- Monique Bricca/Patrick Vaslet
- Joe La Torre/Dolly Ebolito
- Sabine Mattei/Alain Gusella
- Henry Wessel/Philippe Arnaud
- Minette Etallaz/Alain Efron
- Tamara Efron/Pierre P.
- Gustave Foucher/Jean-Claude Bunand
- Bleys Rose/Christine Cragg
- John Morisson/Jean-Claude Etallaz
- Helga Facchini/Jean Krauer
- Calvert Barron/Gilles Karpowicz
- Joss Krauer/Emily Etcheverry
- Etienne Rijkheer/Mireille Di Maio
- Christine Jones/Carlos Couto
But before the competition started we enjoyed sausages and lentils expertly prepared by maestro Jean-Claude Etallaz. Wine will always improve any dish!
It would be unpardonable of me to forget mentioning that Jean-Claude was assisted by René (jack of all trades) Di Maio.
Rene helped! I can testify to this!
The tournament started after lunch and was orchestrated by Dave Riffo.
I forgot to mention that the format of this particular tourney was “a la mêlée”. Not my favorite arrangement.
I understand that is done to allow “newbies” to mix with seasoned players, but if luck assigns you a third-string partner, you could be in for a rather frustrating afternoon.
The games started around 1:00 p.m. and ended around 5:00 p.m.
There were no official winners and no cash prizes were awarded. Bottles of wine were instead randomly given away to participating players.
To everyone surprise (to mine anyway), the Mardirossian family had arranged a little party to celebrate Colette Mardirossian’s 80th birthday.
At the end of the day, flowers, a large cake and plenty of fine champagne (Veuve Cliquot) were bought to the field and served to everybody.
Happy birthday Colette!
And that’s the way it was in San Rafael, on Sunday April 14, 2013.
Alain