A hot day in Sonoma

You might wonder why it took me so long to publish this little report.
First of all, we had to celebrate the win of the French national soccer team.

Then I had to call president Macron to congratulate him. Next, I had to give a buzz to POTUS to caution him about a certain fellow who spent most of his life in a KGB environment and whose IQ (or wiliness) is probably vastly superior to our man.

And thirdly, my cat went on a hot pursuit of a cheeky squirrel munching on our nectarines, and I spent a great deal of time tracking the wily beast. I finally recaptured her before she harmed anybody in our neighborhood.

Back to business.
To the utter delight of French fans worldwide, France beat Croatia 4-2 in the finals of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Moscow.
For the second time in 20 years, France grabbed the title of World Champion.
As the poet said: “A coeur vaillant, rien d’impossible” (To a valiant heart, nothing is impossible). Vive la France!

Our friend Jean-Michel won’t stop bragging about this for the next 3 months… maybe even longer. Be prepared.

Yesterday in Sonoma, 15 triplettes (45 people) battled for the title and the glory of winning the 2018 Bastille Day tournament. I am not familiar will all the contestants and since no last names were printed, I am incapable of giving you the complete list of all the competitors. In the future though, it would be very helpful for outsiders to see the first and last name of every player.

The contest was advertised as a “mèlée” event and as luck would have it, I was paired off with “Le Facteur” and another French fellow called Jacques Perret.

Jean-Michel is undeniably an excellent pointer, but to be a great player, he absolutely needs to remain cool under fire. Regardless of what is happening on the field, a player has to keep a stiff upper lip and his feelings in check.
If not, it will affect his game and the performance of his partners. No matter how dire the situation, a contestant has to keep his mouth in check and his powder dry.

And as I always said, no game is ever lost until the last point has been homologated. You need to fight hard until the last cartridge has been spent.

Our team started well though, winning our two games in the morning and qualifying for the Concours.

At noon, decked in Bleu, Blanc, Rouge, Jean-Michel gave his traditional spirited rendition of “La Marseillaise”. He also warmly encouraged everybody to watch the French soccer team in action.

In the afternoon we won one more game, propelling us to the 1/4 finals.
Our 4th game against Ed Clay, George and Tamara was a hotly contested match that we achingly lost 11/13. I need to talk to my wife about this.

Our 5^th game at the end of the day (for 3^rd place in the Concours) did not fare so well. I believe that we lost 5-13.

Being kept busy on the field, I could not take a lot of pictures. I shot sporadically with my iPhone, my little Canon G7 and my Canon EOS T 2i. Some pictures turned out OK and some not.

I also want to thank Carlos Chavez (a fellow photographer) who took some rare pictures of myself. Tamara also managed to take a few good shots. Thank you both.

Concours
1^st place: Ted, Debbie K. & Linda
2^nd place: Ed Clay, Tamara Efron, George

Consolante;
1^st place: Johnathan Dalmau, John Morrison, Henry Wessel
2^nd place: Mike Menefee, Joe La Torre, Steve D.

Thank you for your attention.

Alain

Watch the pictures… Some are very good.