Au Cochonnet Marin

With a grand total of 23 participants, last Sunday’s tournament in San Rafael felt more like a family affair than an FPUSA sanctioned competition; it was nevertheless spirited and fun.

The event was billed a “mêlée », and partners were semi-randomly assigned. I inherited a friendly young fellow named Quintin Mecke (who oddly enough reminded me of Herge’s Tintin) and proved to be quite an accurate pointer. We didn’t do particularly well (2 wins and 3 losses) but we had fun and that’s what counts.

Shama and her dog Tchai (?) kept track of the scores and we are grateful for their cooperation.

Two games were played before lunch, and three after. Among the competitors were 3 members of the Danielson family and judging by the results, they did very well. Thank you, Abby, by the way for pressuring your relatives into play with us.

The number of players might have been small, but the quality proved to be above average. On our first game, we had the (mitigated) pleasure of playing against Richard Bell and Loël McPhee, and they murdered us 0/13. I understand that Richard spent the last 3 weeks practicing his shooting 10 hours a day with only 2 hours of sleep per night… and it paid off.

We also played against Joe Danielson who (as a newcomer) had the impertinence to clobber us 5/13. Abby, I hold you responsible for your brother’s cheeky behavior.

On our 5^th game, Tintin and I faced Liza and Liv and they also had their way with us. Liv pointed extremely well, and Liza acted as the merciless executioner. They shamelessly beat us 13/5.

This tournament did not have a Concours and a Consolante per se, and the results were tabulated according to the number of wins and the minimum number of points accumulated during the event.

This also meant that unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to take any pictures during this event. It is difficult to wear two different hats during any proceeding and I should have stayed on the sidelines instead of playing, but the cochonnet (piglet) always exercises a strong pull and I could not resist its appeal… And my aching back is paying the price this morning…

Here are the final results:

1^st place: Joe Danielson & Stephanie Wilkinson      $52.00 each
2^nd place: Richard Bell & Loël McPhee                           $38.00 each
3^rd place: Eddy Pay & Abby Danielson                            $25.00 each

Alain

PS: A very few pictures at the usual place.

“Don’t procrastinate. If you want to blog, then blog.” ― Fritz Chery

The other day, somebody asked me how long I had been producing my blog… Looking back, I was surprised to suddenly realize that I had been doing this for at least 15 years… Because what else, besides drinking Pernod and playing pétanque was I going to do in my retirement? Some people are so miserable after stopping work that they will do anything to get out of the house and break the monotony of their newly found “farniente”.

But not me. I never regretted leaving my 8 to 5 routine. Like many of the working stiffs, I didn’t choose my previous occupation… it chose me  and I simply put up with it. So, leaving a large corporation where I was just a small cog in the machine meant very little to me.

To be happy in retirement, you need a hobby and luckily, I have always been fond of writing. In elementary and middle school, we had to regularly pen some essay (une rédaction) about a certain topic. Most of the kids dreaded this, but I loved it. The words came easily to me… probably because of all the swashbuckling stories I had devoured in my younger years.

What French kid doesn’t remember the famous line from Paul Féval’s novel Le Bossu (the Hunchback) “Si tu ne viens pas à Lagardère, Lagardère ira à toi! » ? It is part of the French catechism, and you could be banned from eating croissants for life if you don’t memorize this.

Blogging is strictly a labor of love because it is hard, time-consuming, and not remunerated. But I don’t care because “I cannot afford to waste my time making money.” – Louis Agassiz

Most magazines stories are written by entities totally unknown to you. As far as you know, the story could have been written by a smart robot. But the reading becomes a little more interesting when you know the author. You have seen him, you have talked to him, and it is easier to form an opinion about that person.

“You can’t make a fan of everyone. Stay true to your story, characters, music, art, or whatever it is you do, and fuck everyone else who doesn’t like it. Life isn’t perfect.” ― Ann Marie Frohoff

 It sounds a little harsh, but to survive in the writing game, you need to have a thick skin and ignore naysayers. Fortunately, after many years of hard labor, it seems that Le Cochonnet Marin (The Flying Piglet) is finally taking off. I am getting more readers and more subscribers every day, and this warms the cockles of my little heart.

Keep up the good work and help me give Time magazine a serious run for its money.

Alain

Last Sunday was my first time visit at the Napa’s di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art and I was amazed by its size (close to 900 000 square meters) and scope. I particularly noticed the twelve minutes life-size video rendition of Chartres Bleu, a stained-glass window exposed in the Chapel.

We were there at the invitation of Paul Kos (conceptual artist, educator and pétanque aficionado) and even though I was aware of a planned pétanque contest, I did not anticipate playing.

But, always expect the unexpected… At the last minute, due to the defection of some players, Tamara and I were persuaded to fill in. So we did. We played 3 thirty-five minutes games under a blazing sun… and lost them all. We were bested in the two first games by the identical scores of 9/11 and were routed in the last bout by an infamous Fanny. The culprits: Lynn Bell, Richard Bell and Bernard Passemar who all played an excellent game on a difficult gravel-filled terrain.

The only way to win on such a field is to be an excellent (tire-au-fer) shooter or a pointer who excels in “plombés”. And unfortunately, I am neither of those. By the way, I was never able to find an exact English translation for this word in English. If you find one, please let me know.

This “contretemps” (setback) prevented me to act on my initial plan which was to photograph the pétanque part of it. It is only after our ignominious defeat that I able to grab my camera and take some pétanque shots.

The winners of this hotly contested event (excuse the pun) were Ken Stutz,  Hady Kahale and our own Ann Krilanovich. I always said, “Watch out for Ann. Some day she will beat the “merde” out of you”. They were rewarded for their hard work by a golden ball adorned with Paul Kos’ signature, a di Rosa memberships for each member of team and a private peak at Zizi Va.

Thank you, Paul, for a fun-filled day at the di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art.

Alain

PS: Click on the “My photos” link for a peak at the pictures taken during this event.
Thank you Isabelle for your photo added at the last minute.