The battle of July 27

Whenever I attend a pétanque event, I am driven by two passions: my love of pétanque and my love of photography.
But since I cannot devote the same attention to both mistresses simultaneously, they don’t cohabit peacefully.
Either I play pétanque and neglect photography, or I refrain from pétanque and devote all my time to pictures taking.
A difficult choice, for alas you can’t have your cake and eat it too.

When taking pictures, I basically use two cameras named respectively Little Boy and Big Mama.
Little Boy is a tiny camera (3.9 x 1.1 x 2.3 inches) and weighing 7.7 ounces.
It is easy to carry and better suited for close-up shots.
Big Mama is much more substantial. It is bulky, equipped with a long-range lens and weighs probably fifty times more than Little Boy.
It is best used in sporting events.

This preamble to tell you that yesterday,  for the sake of convenience, I used mainly Little Boy instead of Big Mama and I am not pleased with results.
Only the pictures of the winners were taken with Big Mama and it shows.
I will rely on Big Mama next time.

But let’s talk about the main event.

Yesterday, thirteen (13) select triplettes gathered to compete for Big Dough and everlasting glory.

They were as follows:

  1. Ken Lee/Brendan Cohen/Carlos Couto
  2. Alain Efron/Henry Wessel/Calvert Barron
  3. John Morris/Cody Morris/Marie-Anne Curley
  4. Barbara Howard/Susi Garcia/Tamara Whitney
  5. Terese Pullock/Beth Lysten/Carolina Jones
  6. Larry Cragg/Christine Cragg/Claudie Chourré
  7. Erin McTaggart/Narin Garrett/Barbara Hall
  8. Bleys Rose/Bernard Passmar/Jean-Michel Poulnot
  9. Joe La Torre/Frosty Sabo/Susan Holbert
  10. PJ Malette/Antoine Lofaro/Patrick Vaslet
  11. Hans Kurz/Wolfgang Kurz/Peter Wellington
  12. J-Claude Etallaz/Minette Etallaz/J-Claude Bunand
  13. Holly Sammons/Shannon Bowman/Nicole Coughlin

The weather was good. Not as hot as in previous days and cooled by a little breeze. The leafy canopy of our trees also helped.

Coffee and croissants (donated by Ken Lee) were served in the morning and 3 (timed) thirteen points games were played before lunch to separate the pros from the amateurs.

For this occasion, my chosen partners were “Big Henry” Wessel and Southern Belle Calvert Barron.
I daresay that we made an excellent team and deserve all the (short term) glory that we gathered that day.

We started the day very auspiciously by winning our first 3 games and becoming eligible to play with the Big Boys in the Concours.

After a lunch break, we won another equally satisfying game by defeating Le Facteur and his letter carriers.
Then, (maybe because I broke my dietary oath and indulged in an ice-cream) we were crushed 13/0 by Hans Kurz and his posse.

This by the way reinforces my belief in Karma.

We previously defeated J-C Etallaz, J.C Bunand and Minette Etallaz: 13/0
Following that, Hans Kurz and his team trounced us: 13/0
They in turn got their just retribution when in the finals Lofaro and his gang savaged them by a score of 13/1.

You should believe what I already told you, what goes around comes around…

The final results:

IMG_4513 - Version 2

Concours:

1st place: Antoine Lofaro, PJ Malette, Patrick Vaslet: $30.00 each
2nd place: H. Kurz, W. Kurz, P. Wellington: $22.00 each
3rd place: L. Cragg, C. Cragg, C. Chourré: $13.00 each
4th place: H. Wessel, C. Barron, A. Efron: $0.00 each (I just had to mention our names).

Consolante:

1st place: Bleys Rose, J.M. Poulnot, Bernard Passmar: $13.00 each
2nd place: John Morris, Cody Morris, Marie-Anne Curley: $10.00 each

Watch what you are doing, Karma awaits you!

Alain (aka La Foudre)

PS: To look at photos of this event and listen to the accompanying background music, turn the sound on, and click on the link “My Photos” located on the right side of this page.

Changes

Changes, the alterations or modifications of familiar routines, are part of life. They are inevitable and it is generally wiser to go with the flow than to swim against the current.

But many people, especially older individuals, are fearful of changes. Over the years they have grown accustomed to do things a certain way and they are generally reluctant to modify familiar routines.

It is mainly the fear of being bypassed and being unable to cope with new procedures (or technologies) that makes people balk at changes.
People are afraid of what they don’t understand, and their fears are fanned by wild rumors propagated on the Internet by opponents or religious fanatics.

To conquer their fear of change, people should familiarize themselves with new trends before passing judgment.
The Internet can play a crucial role in helping the public decide what to do.
But you have to be careful.

All kinds of wild rumors are floating in cyberspace and you have to carefully filter what you gather before making a decision.

Some parents for instance refuse to have their children vaccinated even though it has been abundantly proved that vaccines are highly effective in preventing some diseases.
Is this love or stupidity?

When investigating a product, keep your ears and your eyes open. Read as much about it as you can. Experiment. Seek advice from knowledgeable friends.

Not every new thing under the sun is praiseworthy mind you.
Automated phone calls (robocalls) for instance are my “bêtes noires”.
Among the things that I could do without are: social media, sexting, selfies, Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber, Bluetooth headsets, leaf blowers.

When it comes to changes, I like to quote Alfred Edward Perlman who made the following comment in 1958.

He famously said:

“After you have done a thing the same way for two years, look it over carefully.
After five years, look at it with suspicion.
And after ten years, throw it away and start all over.”

Contrarily to what you might think, he was not talking about relationships… even though it might be a good idea to keep his comment in mind.

If you are adamantly adverse to change, please consider moving to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and settling in an Amish community.
The Amish people are staunch conservatives and have changed very few things in their lifestyle for the last two hundred years.

Their way of life might please our compulsive naysayers.

Alain

Embellish or perish

Hear you Mac speak text

I have been made aware that a comment formulated in my last column has upset some of our club members.

The offending remark is as follows:
“Our club is an old-fashion, fuddy-duddy club stagnating in the past and La Pétanque Marinière is literally marinating in a stale broth.”

I stand by what I said but will elaborate on that subject.

There is no denying that for the last twenty years our club has been in a rut.
We have been repeating ad nauseam (especially in the culinary domain) what has been done since the club was founded.

For some members, the existing state of affairs is as familiar and comfortable as an old shoe, but in an ever-changing world we cannot settle for a status quo.

As a member of La Pétanque Marinière, I am partial to our club, but I must admit that when it comes to special events we have been totally outclassed by other clubs.

To thrive our club must innovate. And we can start innovating by offering more original picnic menus.
Frankly, many people are tired of the Lentils and Sausages, the Leg of Lamb or the steak menus.

“We need to make changes in something established, by introducing new methods, ideas, or products.”

We should not forget that we are not only catering to our club. We are also catering to the world at large.
I know that we have the talents to bring about those changes. They just need motivation and incentive.

The volunteers that we have relied on for the last decades are tired of being unappreciated cheap labor.

I suggest that we invest in a regular culinary crew and remunerate them (as some others do) to the best of our ability.
Let’s give them a budget and allow them to unleash their creativity.
Nothing stirs more the imagination than concrete recognition for a job well done, and you might be pleasantly surprised by the results.

The question is: are we mature enough to accept criticism and recognize that our Modus Operandi is obsolete and in need of remedial action?
I fervently hope so.

Alain