T'Choupi Plays Petanque

Jeff and his wife, Denise, are planning to get a puppy just like Joe's (Marley) - a Havanese. In the French tradition, we'll be naming the puppy, T'Choupi, after a very popular French children's cartoon. Joe concocted a very appropriate graphic for this proposed new addition to the Widen family... Good work Joe... I bet that really WOULD be a great book for kids.

Widen Family Plays Petanque in York Beach, Maine

The Detroit Petanque Club shifted to the East Coast to play a series of games in York Beach, Maine. That's my Mom, Dad and Sister playing very good petanque. We played the Girls against the Guys (note: both Don and Jeff were playing against absolute novices) - and we (the guys) only JUSt squeezed in the win. My sister, Alixandra, went home with her own set of boules to play at Boule New Yorkaise in Bryant Park, New York.

Alliance de Francaise Held a Wonderful Event

Alliance de Francaise event went great. Joe attended and it was announced that the Michigan Petanque Club's President was there for any questions. He was warmly welcomed by all and many people actively asked Joe for handouts after the announcement. To ensure complete and thorough coverage, Joe also visited all of the tables to show them the boules, and passed out information about the club...

There was much delicious food, and Jeanette led the singing of many French songs. Michel and Jeanette also helped people play a few games of petanque.

Cochon Bank for Club

Joyce was very thoughtful in buying a "Piggy Bank" for the club. So far we collected over $19 in the piggy bank for treats, water, etc.

Big Thanks to Joyce--for buying it and also to Anita for coming out this Sunday to deliver it for Joyce (we missed you!)

MOST IMPORTANT: the piggy bank is only a give what you feel thing... NOT a "you better pay up" type thing...

Everyone should just put in a dollar now and then if they'd like some of the water Joe brings, etc.

Petanque in Ogunquit, Maine

Pierre and Luce from Quebec were playing petanque on the beaches of Ogunquit in Maine. The sand was a little too soft for plombee shots, but the boules rolled pretty nicely. Many vacationers come from Quebec to visit the beaches in Maine.

MPC Women's Team is Gaining Strength!

Cathy, Marie, Joyce, and Maude are gunning for us guys! Where are all of the guys in this picture!? We (the guys) need to watch these girls... Joyce has the tape measure to keep everything honest, Joyce and Marie will do some pointing, and Maude can do the shooting! Don't let them fool you, they mean business!

Greg to take Cyrille's Job!?

Gregory filled in perfectly for his brother Cyrille to help Joe sort out all of the boules on Sunday. Another great day produced many boule throwers on the piste today. Luckily Greg was more than willing to stand in for his brother... Will Greg stand in while Cyrille goes on vacation to France!? I'll let the Didierjeans figure this out... but the club would very much appreciate the expertise!

Marley's Had Enough of this Game

Club mascot, Marley, leaves the piste after 7 1/2 hours of play... the longest this season. He wonders though, why the club won't let him show what he can do!

Bocce Players Convert to Petanque?

Bocce Players Convert to Petanque?, Some of Jeff's old fellow New York Bocce players play Petanque with Joe after the first round of the U.S. National Bocce Championships on Saturday. Mr. Batagglia's staff was quick to respond as seen here... "What's going on here?" she says... "We're switching to Petanque!" they respond!

Team LaChance Has PERFECT 10 Record Against Team Z

[Report from Ken]:

Team LaChance now has achieved a Perfect 10. That is, as of last night, I took Joe down 3 games to nil, finishing out the TENTH Best of Nine in a row.

LaChance has beaten Team Z ten consecutive times in Best of Nines. Not bad. It took almost a year to do it. Too bad there's no Guiness record for Best of Nines.

South West Regional Tournament Results

Mr. Max Legrand, president of the Los Angeles Petanque club, hosted all of our west coast petanque players this past weekend. I hear that everything went just great! Some pictures are on their way, so check back soon. But I thought I'd post the winners to be sure everyone has the latest and greatest news!

And the winners are:
1st Place Gerard And Maggie Canabou
2nd Place Max legrand and Sandra Bonneville
3rd Place Michel Cardon and Olga Benson

Detroit Petanque Club Utilizes Pointing Trainer Tool

To secure it's tournament victory against the Michigan Petanque Club, we used the Pointing Trainer Tool.

The carcass is made out of wood, spaced either 2 1/2 boules or 1 1/2 boules wide - with removeable nails to help keep the tool from shifting on the dirt.

You draw a circle from various distances to the P.T.T. and you can even add a cochon to aim for.

I suggest you create one for your own pointing improvement!

Didierjean Brothers

It is certainly a rare occurance when all three Didierjean brothers are in the same photo. Adrian, by the way, is an excellent player. We'll have to make sure he attends MPC meets more often.

Didierjean Family Hosts Feast

Greggory and the rest of the Didierjean's held a feast at his new home. The air was thick with the scent of all the wonderful food and French language.

It was indeed very gracious of the Didierjean family to invite the Michigan Petanque Club. We thank you all for your kindness - and wish Greggory all the best in his new home.

Was it From all of the Organization of the Day's Petanque?

Pastis or Olives? You Decide...

Joyce Takes Charge

Joyce is becoming a Michigan Petanque Club veteran! Not content to merely accept other's opinions on the closest boule, she used her Dad's old measuring tape to confirm that, indeed, she is still closest!

Full Day of Petanque for All

"What's happening with this club, " Joe wonders, "it's growing exponentially!"

The turn-out for this past Sunday was fantastic - this must be on account of the great weather, and the members wanted to learn whether MPC had a victory (they didn't) verses DPC on Saturday.

Cyrille Keeps the Boules Rolling

Cyrille didn't know what he was getting himself into - with yet another full day of Petanque. Here he is sorting tons and tons of boules for the day's matches - which all ran smoothly!

Mid-West Boule Challenge a Successful and Fun Event

Despite the constant threat of rain (which only arrived at the conclusion of the day's events) - DPC and MPC had a great day playing Petanque at the first Mid-West Boule Challenge.

Detroit Petanque Club Sweeps Michigan Petanque Club

The Detroit Petanque Club SWEPT the Michigan Petanque Club in all three games: 13:2 13:10 and 13:5 this all due to the masterful shooting and strategy of Michel, along with the crucial pointing by Don and Jeff.

Joe and the rest of the MPC team (Dan & Dave) played extremely well, but they simply couldn't crack the gameplay of DPC. We can't wait until the next challenge! (hint hint)

Who Is M.P.C.'s Ringer for the Mid-West Challenge?

Joe has been keeping his third-player TOP SECRET, but by noon tomorrow (Saturday) we'll all know. I suspect Joe will arrive at the Detroit Petanque Club's terrain at sunrise to map out strategy and tactics with his "posse" The DPC, in the meantime, will be casually biding its time, shopping for vegetables at the Detroit Eastern Market.

EVENT: Festival of the Hills and Petanque

Possibly the largest Fireworks event in Michigan (if Kwame puts the kibash on Detroit's show) and the Michigan Petanque Club will be right there demonstrating our sport to potentially thousands of people.

The wide-open park has four baseball diamonds where we could set up our courts. There will be plenty of people sitting around and waiting for the sun to set. Surely the club will bring in a lot of curious new players!

Earl E. Borden Park
1400 E. Hamlin
Rochester Hills, MI 48307
(southeast corner of Hamlin and John R)

Feeling the tremors, is it an Earthquake?

[brag report from MPC Prez: Joe Zajac]

Oh no, it's just the terrible shaking of the DPC Prez as Saturday grows closer! But all the way from Detroit?? He must be pretty nervous...

MPC is already making preparations and had significant practices last night...

Predictions re: DPC: dainty strokes of a paint brush... a training drill of some sort in disguise!? I think not!

Psy-Ops are already working! I predict stronger tremors after receipt of this email! I'm trading up from the Stratus to a HummV today just to make sure its not a tactic to keep MPC from making it downriver...

I'm even starting to feel a little sorry for the little DPC... who would have though it...

[Note to Joe from Jeff]: Make sure you bring extra money to fill up that gas-hog, at 3 miles-to-the-gallon, you'll need 15 gas-station stops to get down to Detroit!

Mid-West Boule Challenge Approaches

The 1st Mid-West Boule Challenge will be held at the terrain of the Detroit Petanque Club on Saturday, June 11th at Noon. The format will be 1 Triplette team from DPC and 1 Triplette team for MPC. (as depicted above... Joe has yet to announce who will be his 3rd player).

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The event will consist of 4 games played (each to 13 points) with the winning team decided by:

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A) the number of wins; and

B) if the number of wins is equal (2:2) then a final play-off game (to 13 points) will be held.

There are two terrains at the Wyandotte location (which offer two pistes each); but the terrain not being used at present is a bit rough for petanque play (until we groom it - which will be shortly). As such, there may not be available, this Saturday, a non-tournament piste, for play. Stay tuned for grooming reports.

Shop at L'Occitane for Father's Day Boules

Joe stopped by L'Occitane in the Somerset Collection Mall in Troy, Michigan to see the beautiful sets of boules the shop has available for sale. The price for the set is very reasonable because it includes men's cologne, two boules, and a cochon. The boules are from Obut and have the L'Occitane logo stamped into them - very nice and unique.

As a helpful aid, Joe also left Michigan Petanque Club brochures at the shop which can help direct the recipient as to where they may learn about and play Petanque.

Excellent idea Joe, this will both help grow interest in the sport of Petanque, and also help L'Occitane's customers enjoy their new purchase.

The boules & cologne promotion is directed for Father's Day (June 19th) - and what dad wouldn't want such a thoughful gift?! Better yet, and here's the New Yorker in me (Jeff) - you can buy the set, give your father the wonderfully scented cologne, and keep the boules for yourself! It's almost a no-brainer!

If it's more convenient, you can also obtain them at the Twelve Oaks Mall (27494 Novi Road, Novi, Michigan).

And for our BLOG-viewers elsewhere, L'Occitane is carrying this special Father's Day gift set at all/most of their shops. Check out their website: http://usa.loccitane.com/ to find a boutique nearest you.

Mid-West Boule Cup Challenge Trophy

On Saturday, June 11 (noon) at the Detroit Petanque Club in Wyandotte, the First Mid-West Boule Cup Challenge will be played.

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Teams for Triplettes have been selected.

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Playing for the DPC will be: Michel; Don; and Jeff . . . and for MPC: Joe; Dan; and a mystery player (Joe won't tell me until the day of the event).

Sports Director Puts together a Fun Sunday

Meet Virginie - one of our Newest Members

Boris and Virginie joined our club on Sunday.

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They heard about our club from previous articles, but it wasn't until the MetroTimes article (June 1st) that they decided to dust off their boules (from their days in France) and stop by the piste. Virginie writes freelance for the Oakland Press, so let's see if we can coax an article out of her!

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We'll get a photo of Boris next week!

Joyce welcomes our new players

Joyce ("Rubber Ducky") really made our new members feel welcome. Joe and I feel she should be our Promotions director for all of the time and kindness she takes with our newest friends. Francois (pictured to the right) is from Toulouse, France. He is in Michigan for the Summer and plans to keep returning to play until he has to go back to France.

Cyrille Organizes a Wonderful Day

Cyrille, our Sports Director, organized and sorted the teams for Sunday's playing.

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Everything ran beautifully and everyone had a great time. Thank's Cyrille!

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Joe and I will have to kidnap you from your proposed vacation to France in June.

Twenty-Five Play - and two new members

Wonderful turnout for Sunday's MPC meet.

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Twenty-five people played at the terrain in Royal Oak. We also had two new members join us.

Beautiful Weather for Saturday's Petanque

it was a wonderful - clear and warm day for Petanque down in Wyandotte. As you can see, many of us are sporting stylish Panama hats - we needed them!

D.P.C. measures carefully

Michel measures to see how many points the other team gained (I think it was 4). We had a multitude of measuring methods including: auto-antenna; numberless-tape; metric tape; and steel folding tirette.

The nearby cottonwood tree let off enough "floating seeds" to give an appearance of a snowstorm.

cottontree's "snow" gave us a false blizzard

Today we played a triplette: Joe, Jeanette, Don, Denise, Michel, and Jeff. The day's results swung back and forth (I believe 4 games were played).

Cotton is King at the Detroit Petanque Club Piste

The cotton blowing from the nearby cottonwood tree was so thick, Jeff was able to knit a sweater from the rakings. On a positive note, however, at $50 a ton, the DPC coffers will be flush with finances after we collect all of the cotton in the field.

Denise points close almost every time

My wife, Denise, had a magnificent day of pointing. This is quite remarkable in that she has only played Petanque one time before today -- and yet she held the close point throughout the day's games.

Petanque Written Up in MetroTimes

Check out the FREE street copies of this week's MetroTimes (page 22);

or visit the MetroTimes website: WWW.METROTIMES.COM and read the article right away.

While it's true that we enjoy "petanque trash talking" - that's only because I know it improves our game!