Au Cochonnet Marin

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. “

*************

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!

I think that I mentioned this word before, but it will do me good to repeat it.

Procrastination is the action of delaying or postponing some action.
Something that I find particularly annoying.
Either you do it, either you don’t. No in-between.

“Procrastination is like masturbation. At first it feels good, but in the end you’re only screwing yourself”.

 

Hamlet, (besides my wife) was one of the world’s most famous procrastinators.

 To be or not to be?

 Do you remember that interminable soliloquy? Of course you do.

There is no question that The Prince of Denmark was  a Great Procrastinator.
Have you ever noticed by the way that Procrastinator rhymes with Refrigerator, Hibernator, Oscillator, Percolator, Evaporator?
Just a passing thought…

Hamlet dillydallied for most of the play (over 4 hours in the original version) about what to do about his father’s murderer. Should I kill Uncle Claudius or not?
Come on Hamlet… give us a break. Either you do or you don’t.
Dispatch the SOB and stop bleating about what you should or should not do.
It is tiring and annoying.

Another famous procrastinator was Victor Hugo.

If my sources are correct the great man was quite a horndog, or as the French would say, « il aimait courir la gueuse. »

While writing the Hunchback of Notre Dame, he had a tendency to drop his pen and leave the house to look for tender loving care.
Finally, hounded by his publisher, he decided to strip naked and told his valet to hide his clothes to prevent him from going out before finishing a certain chapter.

It worked, and Victor finally finished the book, but not before (in a fit of peevishness) bumping off Frollo, Quasimodo, Esmeralda and Clopin Trouillefou.

That’s what happens to people afflicted with chronic hesitancy. They frustrate their entourage and end up doing hasty, foolish things.

Alain

“Procrastination is like a credit card: it’s a lot of fun until you get the bill.”
Christopher Parker