Category: Fourre-tout

“All hockey (and pétanque) players are bilingual. They know English and profanity.”
Gordie Howe

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I have been playing the game steadily for the last 10 years and my motto has always been:

“It ain’t over till the fat lady sings”.

 My philosophy is that regardless of the situation, a game is never lost until the 13^th point has been recorded.
It is only when Brünnhilde has mooed her last aria that I will lay down my weapons.

 It is not uncommon by the way for a team to lead 12/3 and (as our Australian friends would say) be “pipped at the post” and lose by a final score of 12/13.

The key to any game is to keep your head cool and your powder dry. No matter how bleak the situation, there is always hope. Try to remember that there is a blue sky just a few feet above the clouds.

And never assume anything.
I have sometimes been surprised to defeat renowned players and be trounced by lesser opponents.

In a game, there is time to play defense and a time to play offense.
The natural inclination of many players is to shoot the boule hugging the “cochonnet” but it is sometimes better to let it go instead of wasting precious ammunition trying to dislodge it.
It is more sensible to lose a single point than 3 or 4.

If you are leading, never show arrogance. Forget jubilant high-fives; they are showbizzy but could come back and bite you in the “derrière” if you lose the game.

In my (humble) opinion, there should never be a long strategy discussion during a game (especially during a timed one). After a quick look, an experienced player will know what to do. Long huddles are useless and exasperating.

And I see no point in walking back and forth to check the likely path of the boule. When you release your metal ball, you never know the exact spot where it is going to land.
Unless there is a bad spot (the size of a pizza) to avoid, scrutinizing the ground is not going to do anything for you.

Above all, good sportsmanship and humility are the true marks of a champion.

That’s the way I see it. Feel free to disagree and throw boules at me.

Alain

Everybody loves a picnic and last Sunday was no exception.
Around 70 to 75 people gathered on the Marin field to feast on lamb & beans and partake in a few games of pétanque.

But before I go into the tournament itself, I would like to mention that something else happened on our field last Saturday.

The Two Christines (Lemor-Drake and Cragg) coaxed the Bay Area Citroen Club to make an appearance (with their vintage vehicles) and be introduced to the game of pétanque.

Everything went very well and the Citroen people thoroughly enjoyed the games. It is hoped that some of them will be hooked and come back to join our club.
Thank you Christine & Christine for your hard work!

Back to the tournament.

A picnic for a large number of people is a rather complex affair and it takes a lot of coordination (and hard work) to bring it to fruition.

By the way, you MUST register (first and last name) if you plan to attend such an event.
E-mailing is the most efficient way of doing it.

I want to acknowledge here the people who did the heavy lifting.
On Saturday Christine Cragg, Claudie Chourré and Verena Rytter went to Costco and purchased all the necessary ingredients for the picnic.
After this they went straight to Liv Kraft’s home to clean and stuff the lamb.
The same day, Liv Kraft, Christine Cragg and Charles Davantes also cleaned the courts.

Next time you see them please acknowledge their hard work and dedication to the club.

On Sunday, Jean-Claude Etallaz, Antoine Lofaro, Claudie Chourre, Christine Cragg showed up early (around 8:30 am) to set up the barbecue grill and prepare the lamb and the beans.

Jean-Claude Etallaz and Antoine Lofaro were the “maître-queues” and did as usual an excellent job.

After lunch, Christine Cragg spelled out the rules of the game and tearfully asked everybody to observe a minute of silence for the unexpected and tragic demise of beautiful Narin Garrett.
A tragedy that should never have occurred. Condolences to family and friends.

After the first game, a raffle was held to determine who would take my book (Pétanque Memories) home.
Francois Moser (through his mother-in-law) was the lucky winner.
I am glad to report that the proceeds of the raffle ($100.00) were donated to the club.

Three doublette games were played in the afternoon.

The participants were as follows:

1. Patrick Vaslet & Tamara Efron
2. Charlie Davantes & Claudie Chourré
3. J-C Etallaz & Paul Lacomar
4. Brigitte Moran & Mireille Di Maio
5. Philippe Arnaud & J-M Poulnot
6. Bernard Passmar & Herb Moran
7. Shannon Bowman & Noel Marcovecchio
8. Carlos Couto & Calvert Barron
9. Francois Moser & Minette Etallaz
10. Alain Efron & Eva Lofaro
11. Louis Toulon & John Morrison
12. Teri Sirico & Helga Facchini
13. Michel Ratteire & Spinace Maurice
14. Sabine Mattei & Debra Mattei
15. Larry Cragg & Steve Edmonson
16. Christine Cragg & Judy Edmonson
17. Monique Bricca & Jean-Paul Bricca
18. Tom Fair & Paulina Bricca
19. Roger Mattei & Richard Mattei

The tournament ended around 5:00 p.m. and the winners were as follows:

1^st place: Charles Davantes & Claudie Chourré $40.00 ($ 20 ea.)
2^nd place: Carlos Couto & Calvert Barron $36.00 ($18 ea.)
3^rd place: Monique Bricca & JP Bricca $32.00 ($16 ea.)
4^th place: Brigitte Moran & Mireille Di Maio $28.00 ($14 ea.)
5^th place: Francois Moser & Minette Etallaz $24.00 ($12 ea.)
6^th place: Patrick Vaslet & Tamara Efron $20.00 ($10 ea.)
7^th place: Louis Toulon & John Morrison $16.00 ($8 ea.)

I apologize for the quality of some pictures (especially of Charlie and Claudie), but as you might know, it is extremely difficult to get clear shots in shaded areas.
Still hope that you will enjoy the slideshow.

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”.

Toto Cutugno sings “L’Italiano”:

“A ship in a harbor is safe, but that’s not what a ship is built for. “

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There is an invisible field floating around each human being (and animal) and it is called the comfort zone.

“The comfort zone is a psychological state in which a person feels at ease, in control, and experiences low anxiety and stress.”

This zone expands and contracts with age and experience.
When you are young, you are eager to explore and expand your comfort zone. You will do harebrained things to see how large your zone is.
With age comes fear of the unknown and your C-zone shrinks a little (or a lot).

The problem is that modern life is a race. If you don’t run with the bulls you will be left behind; and if you are left behind, you will be at the mercy of the forerunners, robots or your smart-alecky kids.
If you want respect from your brats (and R2D2), embrace changes because you do not want to have a 4th grader explain the intricacies of iOS 9 to you.
Stay ahead of them (and your wife) if you want to remain “awesome” in their eyes.

In a time of fast changing technology, you should not be fighting changes but embrace them. You will be surprised by how much you will like the new scheme of things after you have adopted it.

When the need for something becomes imperative, you are forced to find ways of getting or achieving it.

Case in point:
I am an avid photographer and I routinely take an average of one hundred pictures a day. Most of them end up in the wastebasket, but this is not the point.

Up to now, I have been using Apple’s iPhoto to edit and organize my shots.
But recently, Apple did away with iPhoto and replaced it with “a new improved” version  called Photo.
Photo is a more powerful but more complex app and since I have about 12,000 photos to deal with I was reluctant to work with the new package.

But since iPhoto was banished from my new computer, I had to take the bull by the horns and reluctantly fight my way through the new software package.
After a few days of hard labor, I am starting to feel comfortable with Photo and I am glad I switched.

Think of changes as getting married. You will have to quickly learn the new rules or lose the home court advantage.

Supermarket check-writing people, adapt to Apple Pay or Google Wallet or perish!
You are not in Kansas anymore.

Alain

PS: Hey Apple, why does your Face Recognition feature refuse to recognize my cat’s face?
Cats matter!