Au Cochonnet Marin

Despite apocalyptic predictions from the weather bureau, the temperature yesterday in San Rafael never went above 85 degrees.
In the afternoon it was hot indeed but bearable, and a little breeze (absent on Saturday) helped to make the tournament enjoyable.

About 70 people attended our annual LOL (Leg of Lamb) picnic, among which a third was not club affiliated.

Before going into specifics, I would like as usual to salute the unsung volunteers who were critical in making this event successful.

On Tuesday, Emily Etcheverry did a fantastic one-woman show by cleaning at least half of the field by herself.
Then on Friday, Monique Bricca, Henry Wessel, Calvert, Claudie Chourré, Christine and Charlie completed the cleaning operation.

As for the grub itself, Christine, Claudie, and Verena bought all the ingredients.
Saturday night, Minou, Minette, Charlie and Claudie prepared the meat.
Not a small job! The meat had to be trimmed, stuffed with garlic (about 15 cloves per leg) massaged and seasoned.
A big job that took no less two hours.

On Sunday, Jean-Claude (Minou) helped by Alain M. and Antoine roasted the meat.
Alain Marchand also prepared and cooked the vegetables,
Then, Jean-Claude, Antoine and René volunteered as food servers.

Let’s not forget Verena and Liv Kraft who did a bang up job registering and putting together the competing teams.
A well deserved Thank You for your help and dedication!

Twelve triplettes were formed and they were:

1. Jean-Claude Etallaz/Henriette Matocq/Hallie Bowman
2. Ed Porto/Monique Bricca/Genevieve Etallaz
3. Frosty Sabo/Teri Sirico/Tom Fair
4. Shannon Bowaman/Jean Bartkowiak/Liliane Sebban
5. Patrick Vaslet/Mireille Di Maio/Connie Lewis
6. David Katz/Helga Facchini/Charlie Davantes
7. Louis Toulon/Leo Cantayre/Eve Lofaro
8. Philippe Arnaud/Tamara Efron/Leonora Garcia
9. Henry Wessel/David Toulon/Marcy Mallette
10. Scott Woekke/Calvert Barron/Peggy Silversides
11. Joe La Torre/Bleys West/Claudie Chourré
12. Bleys Rose/François Moser/Le Facteur

One more time, I declined to play in this tournament to concentrate on my primary hobby: photography.
I always strive to take candid shots where subjects are unaware of my presence.
To do this I use a telephoto lens and I try to be as unobtrusive as possible.
But taking photographs with a telephoto lens in a semi-shaded area is difficult.

You constantly have to fiddle with your camera’s settings and sometimes unfortunately, you shoot action scenes with a landscape setting and distant subjects with a portrait setting, and that’s what happened yesterday.
Instead of being sharply focused, you might notice that some images look strangely diffuse and unpolished.

I am not happy about that but unfortunately this state of affairs cannot be remedied.
Nevertheless, I still hope that you will enjoy the few pictures that I salvaged.

The tournament was over around 4:30 pm and even though I didn’t play, I still felt like having gone through at least four challenging games.

I hope that everybody had a good time and I am sure that everybody slept well that night.
I did.

La Foudre

PS: To look at pictures of this event turn the sound on, click on the “Home” link at the top of the page, and click again on “My photos” located on the right side of the page.

 

I suddenly became aware that Rosh Hashanah is upon us.
Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish 5773 New Year. Whoa!
According to Wikipedia, Rosh Hashanah started September 4, at sunset and will end September 6 at nightfall.

I am not very familiar with this kind of observance mainly because I am what you might call a  “fallen Jew”.
Just like a “fallen woman” I have lost my innocence “and have fallen from the grace of God.”
Like Eve, I was expelled from Eden for having the audacity to take a bite of the Forbidden Fruit. I reached for Knowledge and I lost my innocence.

Many people (mainly the hatted and bearded ones) conspire to keep you in the dark side of the moon, permanently turned away from the light of Knowledge.
The less you know they say, the better off you are.
If you press them with questions, they will feed you some obscure mumbo-jumbo and forbid you to cross-examine their assertions.

I could never accept this and that is why I am a constant thorn in the flank of the religious establishment.
I want to know why and how.
And I don’t want to hear of any “miracles”.

The minute somebody starts giving me improbable explanations, I lose patience.
The French say « Ce qui se conçoit bien, s’énonce clairement. »
What is well understood can be clearly stated.
In other words, a few well-chosen words should suffice to explain anything clearly.

God, according to monotheistic faiths, knows everyone of us. He knows who is good and who is bad, and he will punish the evildoers.
Pardon me for saying, but this is a mighty task.
The IRS (and its many desk jockeys) is struggling to keep accurate records of a few million people, so you can imagine how difficult it would be to keep track of about 6 billion people.

And all these wretched souls are constantly pestering him with demands.
They all want special favors.
Their mantra is “give me, give me”.
If I were God, I would be tired of this… and I think that he is.
That is probably why he answers so few prayers.

Me, knowing how busy he is, I don’t bother asking him for anything and I don’t trouble myself following any of his edicts.
It is an amicable arrangement and so far it has worked well.

Rosh Hashanah marks, I am told, the anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve, or in lay terms the beginning of the world.
On Rosh Hashanah, God opens “the books of judgment” and examines the file of each individual person.
Again, a mighty task.

“Judgment” is then “pending” and prayers and repentance are required.
In my case, I would take too long to atone for all my sins, and I am not that patient.

It is probably because I am not patient (or gullible enough), that I don’t believe and abide by any of these biblical fairy tales.

In any case, it is not too late for you sinners to repent. You have until Friday night.
Make the best use of it.

Me, I’ll be playing pétanque.

Alain