A Long Awaited Event: The Yearly Pétanque Tournament In Our Village In The Auvergne

Registration for the Concours De Pétanque 2013 in our little French Village

The official rules

The prizes

The drinks

The spectator

Our friend Michel with his young partner

Getting ready

Let the game begin

My son Max checking on the competition

Getting ready to throw

The importance of a tape measure

Friend Simon

Team Kelly with friend Timo on left

It was a picture perfect day for the yearly Pétanque tournament in our little village here in the Auvergne this past Saturday.
Boules in hand, the villagers started gathering shortly after 2 PM in the main square next to the church. Everyone was encouraged to participate, whether expert or beginner, old or young. In all, thirty teams of two players registered for a chance to win a giant cured ham, bottles of wine and/or umbrellas and t-shirts.
Before even starting, many took advantage of the drinks served at the 'buvette'. At 50 cents, the glass of rosé was the best deal.

The official tournaments began at 3 PM. Since there were so many teams, the competition took place not only on the village pétanque course, but also behind the school.
In all, each team played four games. The winning team was the one with the most points and the most wins.

Of course, after each game, the winners paid the losers a drink, which resulted in quite a few hilarious moments as some ended up having one too many.

As always, it was amazing fun. Thank you to Michel and Patrick for organizing. I can hardly wait for next year's tournament.

Read More

Carroll Park Pétanque Club: Join And Come Play In The Park On Saturday Mornings

Now that the weather has become a trifle warmer, a group of pétanque aficionados have formed the Carroll Park Pétanque Club and have gotten together in the park at 9:30Am every Saturday morning.
Besides the obvious fun, the goal is to get a team together to compete in this summer's Bastille Day pétanque tournament  on Smith Street.

So, if you would like to join, bring your boules and head over to the park next Saturday.  All are welcomed.  The team has been playing on the court near the monument, directly across PS 58.
Ask for Dan.
And stay tuned for more info.

Carroll Park Pétanque Club

in Carroll Park

Saturday Mornings at 9:30 AM

(weather permitting)

Read More

The Yearly Pétanque Tournament

A summer in our Auvergnat village wouldn't be the same without the yearly pétanque tournament. Some of you might remember that my husband, together with Mr. J and Mr. M,  two of our neighbors, unexpectedly beat all the other teams at last year's event to walk away with the winning trophy. So you can imagine that there was much riding on the 2012 competition.  Mr. J and my husband had even practiced ahead of time.
The event was supposedly going to start at around 2 PM, but, as usual, most of the players only started gathering at about three.  By the time they had stopped at the 'buvette' and had gotten a beer, said hello to the others, it was a quarter to four.
The sky may have been blue as the players began throwing their boules, but as the teams battled it out, dark clouds appeared on the horizon and thunder could be heard in the distance.
"Perhaps the storm will pass" some said optimistically. "The météo has predicted hail" said some others.  Just minutes later,  sheets of rain and lightning scattered everyone.  Sadly, no winning team could be named and no one took home the trophy. Apparently, the mayor of the village is holding on to it till next year.
"Since there is no clear winner, I suppose we are still the village champions," my husband joked with his team mates.  They readily agreed.

Read More

REMINDER: Come Celebrate Smith Street's 7th Bastille Day And Pétanque Tournament

What can be better than pairing Pétanque, Pastis and Smith Street?

If you agree, you must, and I repeat, you must come out to Smith Street for Bar Tabac's Bastille Day Celebration 2009 on July 12th. This is by far one of the funnest, most unique events in the neighborhood and I can't wait! I had a blast last year.
Of course the great music, delicious food and drinks are reason enough to love this event, but what makes it super fun is the Pétanque tournament. It is North America's largest tournament, with more than 80 teams taking part in 2009. For that purpose, a few blocks of Smith Street will be closed and turned into a giant sandbox, or rather, Pétanque courts.


Bar Tabac is at 128 Smith Street at Dean Street. The Bastille Day celebration will start at 12 PM and will continue till 10pm.
For further information, go to Bar Tabac's web site or check out the official Brooklyn Boule Blog


To hold you over, here is a wonderful little video clip taken from Marcel Pagnol's movie Fanny, featuring the great French comic actor César as Rému.

For Home Page, click Pardon Me For Asking

Read More