July 26, 2008

Petanque in Vermont

Slightly north of Montpelier, and part of the town called Calais (pronounced like "palace") you can find Adamant, a small village that - incidentally - until 1905 bore the intriguing name Sodom.
And that's where Padma & his friends live and play petanque!
The group is a mix of locals and expats: Padma for instance is a landscape artist and arborist originally from Switzerland, but he went to school in France, and hence played petanque as a youngster.
And they are adamant about playing anytime, anywhere. Petanque takes them places, so to speak, and they love it. Above you see Jérôme, Padma & Peter on a conventional terrain, a driveway. And below on one of their walking trips last fall. That's when they use a red billiard ball for a cochonnet, for obvious reasons.
If the pictures are very low-res , that's because high speed internet has yet to reach Adamant. Thanks, Padma for sending them all the same!

1 comment:

Baby Nubbins said...

Using a red billiard ball is a good idea for "tall grassy" pistes. I've used golfballs and even bocce pallinos for such circumstances. True, the grass doesn't allow for rolling, but that's what plombee and tir-au-fer is for!