Category: Fourre-tout

 

I hope that you didn’t forget to set your clocks one hour forward on Saturday evening and showed up on time Sunday morning. Then, when you arrived to the Marin pétanque field there is no doubt in my mind that you must have exclaimed: Leapin’ lizards, what a beautiful court!

Well compadres, you owe it all to a bunch of club volunteers who spent the best of Thursday morning toiling on your behalf.
These lovely people are (yes, yes I must name them) Charles Davantes, Liv Kraft, Christine Lemor-Drake, Henry Wessel, Calvert Barron, Sandra and Mark Shirkey, Honor Woodard, Marc Di Maio, Evan Falcone, Monique Bricca, William Lavelle, Tamara Efron and your faithful paparazzo Al.
I hope that if you played against any of these people, you were kind enough to let them have an extra point or two to show your appreciation.

After these dreadful/blessed interminable days of rain, it felt good to stomp on a dry ground and under a sunny sky.

Many people came to Marin to vie for the privilege of having their names engraved on the Commemorative Cup, but Lady Luck is notoriously capricious. Without her assistance you can forget the honor that you crave.
Personally, before a tournament I burn the sacred Nag Champa incense on her altar to seek spiritual enlightenment. It works… 50% of the time.

The contestants were:

1. Patrick Vaslet/Shannon Bowman
2. Carlos Couto/Beth Lysten
3. Le Facteur/Claudie Chourré
4. Doug Colleville/ Nancy Jencks
5. Jean-Claude Bunand/Connie Lewis
6. Hans Kurz/ Teri Sirico
7. Brendan Cohen & Lynda Evans
8. Antoine Lofaro/Eva Lofaro
9. Alain Efron/Sabine Mattei
10. Rob Houghton/Maggie Lane
11. Brigitte Moran/Herb Moran
12. Henry Wessel/Calvert Barron
13. Serge Hanne/Carolina Jones
14. Charlie Davantes/Susan Wyatt
15. Louis Toulon/Monique Bricca
16. Evan Falcone/Honor Woodard
17. Mireille Di Maio/Marc Di Maio
18. Jean-Claude Etallaz/Minette Etallaz

As usual 3 timed games were played before lunch to separate the elite from the scum. Six teams qualified for the Concours and the rest went to the Consolante.
Unsurprisingly my partner (Sabine Mattei) and I ended up in the scum category.
We started poorly but later on (thanks mainly to Sabine’s excellent pointing) we redeemed ourselves and took 1^st place in the Consolante.

There is no secret that in order to succeed a team must get along. And we should always keep in mind that a little local tournament is not like a church service. We should be respectful of the other players, but not bring this compliance to extremes.

By the way, the organizers (Christine and Liv) kept scores (along with manual scoring) through a new software application conceived by Mark and Sandra Shirkey. The system still has few bugs, but I am pretty sure that it will be fixed soon.

In the finals, Louis Toulon and Monique Bricca faced Patrick Vaslet and Shannon Bowman. All Accomplished players.
It was an evenly matched game with the final result in balance until the end.

This was not a game full of fireworks. There were no spectacular “carreaux” or unexpected moves. It was in my opinion a very technical game with a lot of excellent pointing.
Ultimately luck favored the MDT (Marin Dream Team) and the cup remained in Marin County.

Now… darkness is the enemy of photography. Toward the end of the tournament (around 7:00 p.m.) daylight dropped significantly and it became increasingly difficult to take focused pictures. You can notice this when you look at the photo album.
When the tournament ended (around 7:30 p.m.) images were becoming blurry, especially when the subjects were moving.

At award and picture taking time, despite my repeated exhortations, the winners didn’t hurry enough to have their pictures taken and the final images were definitely blurry or unprintable.
Sorry about this but I tried to warn you. Next time, listen to Uncle Al.

Concours

1^st place: Louis Toulon & Monique Bricca
2^nd place: Patrick Vaslet & Shannon Bowman
3^rd place: Doug Colleville & Nancy Jencks

Consolante

1^st place: Alain Efron & Sabine Mattei
2nd place: Henry Wessel & Calvert Barron

 Heartfelt congratulations to the winners, and thanks for keeping the Cup in Marin County.

Alain ?

To look at photos of this event and listen to the accompanying background music, turn your computer’s sound on, and click on the link “My Photos” located on the right side of this page. For best viewing, go Full Screen.

Feel free to download any picture, but if you use those photos in another publication, please be kind enough to give me credit.
Thank you

 

I was indulging in the guilty pleasure of reading a Hollywood celebrities’ column when I stopped in my tracks like a pointing dog, my snout sniffing the following sentence:

“This relationship just ran its course.”

So if I understand this properly, it means that all relationships (like electric batteries) have a limited lifespan and are bound to run their preordained course, before ending up in the romance recycle bin.
I am not naïve. I know that about 80% or more of all relationships end in breakups and 50% in divorce, but it seems that celebrities have a much easier time coping with this setback.

First, they have the moola, the pull, to lubricate a smooth retreat. They all have alternative living quarters and it is often just a matter of taking your makeup kit and your toothbrush back to a fortified position prepared in advance.

Most of us don’t have this option. When we live communally, one the parting couple has to find a new place to dwell and it is always a major inconvenience.
Depending on your age, you could go back to your parents, relatives or friends but as the old saying goes “a guest is like a fish; after three days it starts smelling.”
Not a good option.

And celebrities also have a much better chance to “hook up” with somebody new. They evolve in a fairyland candy store full of beautiful people and it is just a matter of picking a new item off the shelf and taking it home for consumption.

If you are an average Joe working in an office or a factory, your options are much more limited and you are therefore much more careful about breaking up and flying the coop.

It is not fair, is it? No, it is not.
Everybody should have the same breakup opportunities and if President Trump (it sounds odd doesn’t it) wants to be a Uniter instead of a Divider, he should issue an executive order (followed by a tweet) stating that anybody who breaks up with somebody will get federal housing assistance for a period up to a year.
This would do a lot to rally and unite many of his countless detractors.

But the other side of the coin is that there is more temptation and more chances of breaking up in La La Land than in a normal working environment.

When you have to kiss someone for a living, it is much easier to get involved with your coworker than when you toil in a car factory.
To be on the safe side, nobody should ever get entangled with a celebrity and many of the “golden people” know it. The smart ones will pick up a barrista, a secretary, a lawyer but not anybody linked to showbiz.
For instance Matt Damon, Aaron Paul, George Clooney, Scarlett Johansson, Meryl Streep, Jerry Seinfeld, etc. all married “Ordinary People” and seem to be much better off for it.

Breaking up is hard to do and it is sometimes better to stick it out rather than splitting up, but when worse comes to worse, it is good to remember that “When one door closes, another opens.”

Alain ?

 

 

Anyone who believes what a cat tells him deserves all he gets. -Neil Gaiman

? ????

When I said “bitch”, I didn’t mean a nice female pooch, but a malicious, spiteful, vindictive she-devil feline. She is a certified bitch, “an attractive female who is capable of manipulating men into getting her way” and I have the scars to prove it.

Attractive she is. No denying it. She is a stunner and that’s what originally drew me to her when I first spotted her in the animal shelter. So I took her home.
You would think that she would be grateful for that, but this is not the way of a bitch. Gratitude is definitely not one of her endearing quality.
She gets away with murder because she is pretty, very pretty… and she knows it.

But under a glamorous appearance, lurks a quick-tempered female who can switch from pleasant to aggressive in the blink of an eye.
One minute she kisses you, the next she bites you. I am starting to think that might be bi-polar.

A cat basically sleeps, eats and grooms, not necessarily in that order.
My cat likes to find a sunny spot to lounge, with preferably a daiquiri within reach. Like a Hollywood starlet she pretends to snooze, but her moving ears betray her. Through half-closed eyes, she is perfectly aware of what’s going on around her and appraises her admirers. Loser… loser… maybe… loser… dweeb… nerd…
No, no autographs today. Speak to my agent.

Once in a while though she wants to play. That’s when it becomes tricky, because with a bitch “You can play but you will not win.”
In her overwhelming desire to win, she reverts to her true personality. Doctor Jekyll disappears and mister Hyde enters the room. She will stop at nothing (bites and scratches) to be victorious.
To play with her, you better wear chain-mail gauntlets and a catcher’s facemask.

“Cats are notoriously sore losers. Coming in second best, especially to someone as poorly coordinated as a human being, grates their sensibility.” ~Stephen Baker

She is definitely not your idea of a “normal” cat. She does not like to be petted and does not purr. Purrs are for sissies.
She will cuddle but on her own terms. At night she might sneak on our bed and cuddle next to me. Not because she particularly likes me but more likely to appropriate my body heat… with formal interdiction to move anymore.

She is a bitch, but damn I would find it difficult to live without her.
And that’s the timeless problem with bitches. It is extremely hard, if not impossible to serve them with their walking papers.
You want to get rid of me buddy? It’s going to cost you big time.
You better get a good lawyer, and for your information Gloria Allred and PETA are ready to back me up.

How can you not love respect such a Machiavellian bitch?

Alain

? PS: Watch my latest photo album.
To look at these photos and listen to the accompanying music, turn your computer’s sound on and click on the link “My Photos” located on the right side of the home page. For best viewing, go “Full Screen”.
Thank you ?