Pétanque

This morning I had a cup of tea with Alan as we waiting for the girls to come down for breakfast. We had a leisurely croissant and talked for a while. Auriane picked out that she was interested in making potato pancakes and so Anne went to get the potatoes and applesauce. While she was away I helped Auriane play her Harry Potter computer game for a bit.

When Ann returned, she peeled the potatoes and I grated them. We prepared the onion and then were off to play Piquant. From what I understand it is very similar to bocce. It was crazy windy out so we were the only ones in the area and had the whole “park” to ourselves. We put our hoods on and began. There is a tiny ball that is thrown and the object is to get your ball as close to that ball as you can. It does not matter if your balls touches or moves the little ball.

I went and then Auriane. Apparently whoever is farther away (loosing) goes again. Each person has three balls and it does not matter who on the team goes. I did not realize that Alan and I were on a team, and I thought he was just being nice knocking everyone’s balls out of the way, except for mine, Silly American.

The ball that is closest wins points, the number of points varies. All of the balls from your team that are closest to the small ball count as a point, you stop counting your team’s balls from the nearest opponent’s ball. The game deals a lot with distance, radius and diameter; I might have to keep this game in my pocket for teaching.

My team was the first to 13…or 17 (I forget) but we won! It was fun and I was happy that they showed me how to play. I think I will buy myself a set for back home. We headed back for lunch and I fried up some latkas.