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

Allons enfants de la patrie…

Hear you Mac read this article!

225 years ago, on the 14th of July 1789, the Parisians stormed the Bastille and freed 7 inmates (4 forgers, 2 lunatics, and one deviant).

Yesterday, I marched into the Sonoma Pétanque field to partake in the commemoration of this event and schmooze with the local deviants and lunatics.
IMG_4417I also came to munch on some food and hear Le Facteur incite the crowd to mayhem through his fierce rendition of La Marseillaise.

Due Zighi Baci (Two Gypsy Kisses) provided the musical entertainment and Michael Van Why and Sheri Mignano gave us a very believable version of a French “bal-musette”.
Le Facteur took advantage of this and commandeered an innocent woman to gyrate with him on the dance floor. Women beware of smooth-talking letter carriers!

I also showed up to play a little pétanque.

When I arrived, around 9:30 a.m. the weather was fair, but in the afternoon the temperature increased significantly and the oppressive heat made it unpleasant for everybody to play.

The contestants were as follows:

  1. Holly Sammons, Bleys Rose, Steve Van Vleck
  2. Shannon Bowman, Joan Robertson, Ken Goddard
  3. Erin McTaggart, Dave Katz, John Giil
  4. Brendan Cohen, Cliff Knuckles, Lee Hastings
  5. Peter Mathis, Chris Wood, Minette Etallaz
  6. Patrick Vaslet, Marcy Mallette, Dick Nyquist
  7. Bernard Passmar, Blaise Weist, Rita Gordon
  8. Steve Jones, Jean-Michel “Le Facteur” Poulnot, David Nickelson
  9. Alain Efron, Schon Schurecht, Dede Goddard
  10. Adair Hastings, Jean-Claude Bunand, Julie Giil
  11. Delio Cuneo, Peggy Silversides, Bandon Yukich
  12. Carlos Couto, Nina Swusdipani, Lynda Evans

IMG_4462The format of the tournament was “à la mêlée” and this time the capricious Gods of Pétanque were kind to me. They assigned two charming and talented ladies (Schön and Dede) to me and it became quickly evident that we were bound for glory.

Two 13 points games were scheduled before lunch. They would determine who would play in the Concours and who would play in the Consolante.
Our team did very well. We won both games with a score of 13/8 each time and qualified for the Concours.

Then we were summoned to lunch.

As a member of La Pétanque Marinière, I am partial to our club, but I must admit that in the culinary domain we have been regularly outclassed by the VOMPC.

IMG_4381Yesterday, under the patronage of Shannon Bowman (president of the VOMPC) Christine Piccin and her gang did an absolutely bang-up job.
According to its website, the VOMPC took 100 reservations for their picnic. That’s a lot of people and a lot of food to prepare, but Christine’s brigade came through with flying colors.

I don’t think that anybody could find fault with anything. Every dish was a success.
The lamb was particularly tasty. It was so good that the local  wasps quickly spread the word and crashed our party by the dozens.

Congratulations to Christine Piccin and her gang for an outstanding job!
By comparison, our club (La Pétanque Marinière) is an old-fashion, fuddy-duddy club stuck in the past and marinating in a stale broth.
It needs to change (especially in the culinary field) to remain relevant.

But back to pétanque.

After lunch the tournament continued.

To expedite the tourney, nine (9) points elimination games were scheduled. Personally, I don’t care for such games. It doesn’t give you a chance to recoup from a few disastrous hands and that’s what happened to us.

On our 3rd game we were eliminated from the tournament by Steven Jones, Le Facteur and David Nickelson.
I know that we could have done better, but such are the vagaries of the game.

At 4:30 p.m. in view of the heat (and being particularly anxious to watch a rebroadcasting of the FIFA World Cup finals), we opted to leave the field and head home.

The final results of the tournament communicated to me by Shannon Bowman:

Concours:

Semi-finals:
Sammons/Rose/Van Vleck vs Jones/Le Facteur/Nickelson
Sammons’ team prevailing

Finals:
Mathis/Wood/Minette vs Sammons/Rose/Van Vleck

Mathis’ team winner of the Bastille Day Concours (13/11)

Alain

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