Au Cochonnet Marin

Yesterday la Pétanque Marinière (Marin County) hosted the NorCal Regional Select Doubles tournament and it turned out to be a great day for the ladies.

Various clubs from all the corners of the empire sent envoys and everybody had nice words for our field’s updated look. We owe this to a few good men, particularly Mark Shirkey, Henry Wessel, Mike O’Leary, Charlie Davantes and Akira Okawa. Thank you very much gents!

The Fresno club sent a strong delegation and so did Sonoma, and Sacramento. Dave Riffo came Eugene Oregon, long lost Honor Woodard from St Augustine Florida and Mickey Coughlin from Oakhurst.

Altogether, 24 doublettes (half composed of women) elected to participate in this tournament. They were:

M. Shrikey & T. Efron                         B. Rose & S. Shirkey
P. Mathis & Manu Le Bihan              J-M. Poulnot & D. Cuneo
By Vang & Fue Vang                             C. Couto & B. Lysten
A. Efron & F. Moser                               K. Evoy & C. Sarafian
M. Dang & Phominik Lee                    P. Yang & Jer Thao
E. Porto & D. Riffo                                  D. Lanter & H. Sammons
L. Toulon & K. Lee                                  S. Bowman & P. Vaslet
T. Wetzal & M. Lane                              H. Kurz & N. Sonet
P. Kos & Mike Dyar                                C. Xiong & Xua Yang
T. Lee & Chan Xiong                              L. Moran & H. Woodard
J. Harris & M. Coughlin                        T. Harris & J. Bissonette
JC Bunand & Jacques Gautier

With Mother Nature’s seeming cooperation, the day started well. It was 72° at noon and some optimistic people started sporting shorts.

After lunch, the tournament started in earnest.  The contestants found themselves assigned to 2 categories: Concours and Consolante. For some, being in the Concours was like a death penalty and for those in the Consolante it was a relief.

After a disastrous beginning, my team was quickly eliminated and I reverted to my true calling: photography. I followed one captivating team (Liza and Honor) from the beginning until their coronation at the end of the tournament.

Half of all the contestants were women and they did very well. They snatched 1st place in the Concours and 1st and 2nd place in the Consolante.

The tournament chugged along all afternoon with some games taking an inordinate amount of time. Around 5 pm, it seems that Mother Nature lost patience with the procrastinators and started blowing a cold Northerly wind to kick them off of the field.

By 6:00 pm, half of all the spectators had disappeared. Bundled up in my second jacket, I stayed until 7:00 to watch the victory of Liza Moran and Honor Woodard over Erin McTaggart and Barbara Hall in the Consolante.

By 7:00 pm, with a freezing wind, relentlessly attacking from all sides, 90% of the people (including myself) had gone home.

Very few people (six I have been told) stayed until the end (probably around 8:00 pm) to watch Tish Harris and Janice Bissonette narrowly defeat (13/12) John Harris and Mickey Coughlin in the Concours.

Bleys Rose took the final pictures of the tournament that I incorporated in my own album.

A great day for the “weaker sex.” Congratulations ladies! Well done.

Concours
1^st place: Tish Harris & Janice Bissonette ($210.00 ea)
2^nd place: John Harris & Mickey Coughlin (120.00 ea)
3^rd place: Peter Mathis & Manu Le Bihan (75.00 ea)
4^th place: Hans Kurz & Noah Sonet (75.00 ea)

Consolante
1^st place: Liza Moran & Honor Woodard (72.00 ea)
2^nd place: Erin McTaggart & Barbara Hall (48.00 ea)

Alain

I have an idea that the phrase ‘weaker sex’ was coined by some woman to disarm the man she was preparing to overwhelm. — Ogden Nash

Pictures available

“What one believes to be vanity often results from an inferiority complex.” Roger Peyrefitte

Are you vain? Yes? No? Well, let see…

Do you frequently look at yourself in mirrors or display windows in the street? Do you wear clothes according to the weather or to showcase your assets? Do you regularly take selfies?

If you do any of those things, you are vain my friend. You are excessively proud or concerned about your appearance and few people would call this an asset.

In Western art, vanity is often symbolized by a strutting peacock, or in the Bible by the Whore of Babylon, “the Mother of Prostitutes and Abominations of the Earth.”
Ahem… That sounds a little excessive to me…

Most women are generally concerned about their appearance and try to emphasize what they believe to be their best assets. Which sometimes leads to laughable situations.

Every winter you can spot young women, who regardless of the weather are exposing their midriff. In July maybe, in December it is a little more difficult to fathom. Do they have a particularly interesting navel or are they promoting some new kind of a diet?

Guys on the other hand (after shelling out big bucks and spending countless hours in gyms) like to show what they paid for: an impressive muscularity. And they display this awe-inspiring brawn in skimpy Stringer Tank Tops.

Some men also sport some peculiar hairdos that like magnets attract and distract. It might be a way to draw attention away from more pressing problems.

Vanity is a monkey on anybody’s back. It prevents many people to be taken seriously. Applying for a job with outrageous make-up or a ring in your nose might deter prospective employers from giving you a job.

It would be good to remember that “the only person allowed to be vain is your boss” … or somebody who was chosen (?) by plebeians to be their ruler.

Cogito, ergo sum

“The only cure against vanity is laughter, and the only fault that is laughable is vanity. Henry Bergson

Alain

“I have the absolute right to pardon myself” is the latest ridiculous statement emanating from the Casa Blanca.
Who would possibly “pardon“ himself? A deity? And isn’t this a blatant admission of guilt?

This is not the first time that a president is subject to delusions. Nixon (with disastrous results) followed the same line of reasoning.

“When the president does it, that means that it is not illegal.” Richard Nixon in an interview with David Frost in 1977 

Could it be possible that power (like the locoweed) produce intoxicating side effects? Psychologists seem to agree.

Emperor Caligula (37–41 AD) after a smooth beginning seemed to lose control of the situation and declared that he was a living god. To the dismay of his entourage, he also planned to make his favorite horse Incitatus a consul. Needless to say that his eccentricities did not end well.

A powerful man (or woman) is always surrounded by acquiescing minions. Fearing for their jobs, none of these flunkies have the nerves to disagree with the big cheese giving him the impression of omnipotence.

This, in turn, reinforces the man’s conviction that when you are in power, you become a godlike figure with unlimited authority and the ability to pardon anybody at will.

He might also be tempted like Mobutu to change his name to “The all-powerful warrior who, because of his endurance and inflexible will to win, goes from conquest to conquest, leaving fire in his wake.”

Zeus (the top God) was always jealous of his authority and did not pardon easily. He could be very vindictive and transform the most powerful man into a toad in the blink of an eye.

Zeus who has been napping for a while could suddenly awaken and chastise the usurper. He could hit the “Fake God” below the belt and leave him penniless… a fate worse than death for a showy operator.

“I am the punishment of God… If you had not committed great sins, God would not have sent a punishment like me upon you.” Genghis Khan.

Sigh…

While POTUS is unconcernedly playing golf in Mar-a-Lago, the world is anxiously scrutinizing the horizon for a sign of the Golden Horde.

Alain