Au Cochonnet Marin

“The Amazons were a race of female warriors in Greek mythology, who dwelt in the region of modern-day Ukraine. Two of the best-known Amazon queens were Penthesilea, who took part in the Trojan War, and her sister Hippolyta, who was the owner of a magical girdle, given to her by the god of war Ares.”

Yesterday I witnessed a new Amazon invasion. Under the leadership of Queen Ann, women warriors gathered in San Rafael to practice their fighting skills. And unlike what is presently happening in Ukraine, they were a welcome sight.

I am an unabashed woman’s rights supporter, and these women proved once again that (with some practice) they can be as good as men in any field or discipline.

“After all, Ginger Rogers did everything that Fred Astaire did. She just did it backward and in high heels.”

Some like Janice B. came from far away, but I am not surprised for Janice is known to eat, drink, and breath pétanque. And she gladly came to share her knowledge and experience of the game she loves.

As I mentioned before, the mastermind of this peaceful invasion was Ann K. and I was surprised by the sheer number of women who responded to her call. But I shouldn’t have been. Ann is a “locomotive” who can pull a long line of wagons, and any organization should be grateful to have people like her in their midst.

Yesterday I counted around 25 bodies of all shapes and forms on our field. Some were good, some not as good, but I can certify that they all enjoyed the outing and had a jolly good time. And I have the pictures to prove it.

Before I go, I want to mention that Louis Toulon (one of the club’s founders), and Christine Cragg (the actual president) were present on the field to lend their wholehearted support to this operation. Long live Ukraine and the Amazons!

Enjoy the pictures!

Alain

 PS: I would not mind hearing your comments about this story. Merci.

So, what happened yesterday in San Rafael? Plenty, my friends and I am here to enlighten you, with words and images.

First, the weather. It was as capricious as a spoiled girlfriend. Cool in the morning, then warming up a little bit in the afternoon, and finally as cold as witches’ bubbies in the evening. it was so cold that despite my five layers of clothing I literally froze my little “derrière”.

To put things in perspective, to give you a full report, I was on the field from 9:00 am until 7:00 pm. A full day of hard labor.

But back to the main story. Sixty (60) people signed up to play in our tournament, with heavyweights coming from Sonoma, Petaluma and Sacramento. These days, with a 2 hours drive and the price of gasoline exceeding $6.00 per gallon, you really must love pétanque to come all the way from Sacto to play.

As usual, 3 games were played before lunch, and elimination games followed in the afternoon in the Concours and the Consolante sections.

My team included Tamara, the other Alain (my twin) from Petaluma, and myself. We lost 2 games in the morning and won one. We then ended up in the Consolante where things suddenly deviated from my script. I was planning on getting eliminated first thing in the afternoon and concentrating on photographing the event, but then we won another game and had to remain on active duty for another game.

Finally, around 3:00 pm, Ed Porto, Patrick Vaslet, and Shannon Bowman battered us 13/8 and we were out of the race. I immediately grabbed Big Bertha (my combat camera) and started shooting everything in sight. There was plenty of action, but since I still cannot be at two places at the same time, I tried my best to catch the most interesting stuff.

Late in the afternoon, I concentrated on the Concours Semi-finals and later in the Concours Finals. In the semifinals, it was Kevin, Wolfie, and Ashlee against Brendan, Tom Lee, and Suzy Lee. Wolfie’s team won.

In the Finals, Kevin’s team faced Mike Lee, Kue Lee, and Michelle Dang, the toughies from Sacramento. It was a very interesting match with everybody playing very well. On Wolfie’s side, Ashlee pointed extremely well. She was obviously in the “Zone” and could not do anything wrong. Kevin also amazed me (and everybody else) with his signature “plombés”. Kevin shot… and killed.

On the other side, Michelle Dang pointed, with Mike Lee and Kue Lee being the enforcers. Kue Lee proved to be an unconventional but very accurate shooter. If you noticed, he threw his boules with “open palm” rather than palm down, but he was amazingly accurate. Mike Lee (the Sphinx) was also very good and helped a lot.

Wolfie’s team finally won by 13/10, a very close score. The last game ended up around 7:00 pm with by then only a handful of half-frozen spectators remaining.

I quickly took the pictures of all the remaining winners and ran like hell for my car and a bit of warmth.

Concours:
1^st place:        Wolfie K, Kevin Evoy, Ashlee Dencklau                $72/ea

2^nd place:       M. Lee, Kue Lee, Michelle Dang                                 $60/ea

The 2 teams in 3rd place decided not to play and split the fees

3^rd place:       B. Cohen, T. Lee, S. Lee/B. Pierce, E. Hay, R. Seder                            $24/ea

Consolante:
1^st place:        Ed Porto, P. Vaslet, Shannon Bowman              $36/ea

2^nd place:       J-C Bunand, J. Gautier, Emily Etcheverry           $24/ea

Alain

Go to « My Photos” to see the pictures. For best viewing, go “full screen”.

PS: Due to the fact that I have used 3 different recording devices, all the photos are not in chronological order. Sorry about that.

“Past 60, if you wake up with no pain anywhere, you’re probably dead.”

A famous French actor once said this, and I totally agree with his statement. Nowadays, I often wake up and need to talk to somebody to verify that I am still alive.

The French, between grumblings, came up with an amusing term to identify their ailing citizens. Tamalou, a made-up word whose root stems from the expression “t’as mal où?” (Where do you hurt?). So, all the senior citizens are basically all Tamalous, because when they meet, instead of cracking jokes as they should, one of their leitmotifs is Tamalou, “where do you hurt?”

Because after a certain age, pain starts shadowing you. It follows you everywhere like a faithful pet who doesn’t even stop to pee. Hey, where are you going? don’t leave me behind… we are buddies…

 I wonder who is the fool who started the legend about the Golden Years? What gold? All you get is lead, and it is a particularly heavy load to carry. The real Golden Years are probably your twenties and thirties, and you should be reminded of this often in order not to waste those precious decades… after this, you are just on the waiting list to join the Tamalou club.

What about doctors? Are they your knights in shining armor defending you against your enemies? Not exactly.

“A doctor is a man who writes prescriptions, till the patient either dies or is cured by nature.” – John Taylor

 When I was a child, doctors’ main characteristic was their almost illegible writing. It was then up to the pharmacist to figure out what these hieroglyphs meant. Today doctors don’t write prescriptions by hand anymore, but they have a greater variety of drugs at their disposal, and prescriptions, they do prescribe, liberally.

And then you have Tamalous… and Tamalous. A good Tamalou is a person who despite his/her growing age and aching body kept his sense of humor and still can laugh at others and himself.

A not-so-good Tamalou is a bad-tempered grump, who is mad at the world and blames everybody for his poor condition.

Tamalous are often bitching but as Maurice Chevalier once said:

“Growing old isn’t so bad when you consider the alternative.”

 N’est-ce pas ?

 Alain