Playing: A Game of Pétanque

Here we are: back home in Ann Arbor, and I'm reading other people's blogs. At the blog titled "Where's my backpack," Ailsa Prideaux-Mooney has challenged her readers to create posts on the theme "PLAYING." To me, this is a great idea, as in fact, I rarely get photos of activities that would be considered "play." 

Birdwatching? I do it all the time for fun, but it's not really play. Eating and cooking? Some of the motives are similar -- but it's not really play. In my two recent trips, very few of my photos concern any conventional images of "play." I didn't, for example, take photos of musicians playing, the subject of several of the other blogs on the subject. Though I attended an opera performance, the musicians playing in fact seemed very very serious.

As I thought about play, I remembered watching a game of Pétanque in the small town of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer in France last April --

... and also remembered a few similar photos from the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris a week later:

From the "Discover France" website, an explanation of this game and its popularity in France:

"The game of boules, otherwise known as pétanque, is perhaps the sport that is closest to French hearts. Similar to British lawn bowling or Italian bocce, the French version is traditionally played with metallic balls on a dirt surface beneath plane trees, with a glass of pastis at hand. The local boulodrome is a social focal point in southern France. 

"The object of the game is to throw your balls — usually with somewhat of an arched back-spin — so that they land closer to the small object ball (cochonnet) than those of your opponent, or strike and drive the object ball toward your other balls and away from your opponent's."

I've seen the game played elsewhere, including in the park a few blocks from my home, but these photos seem the most playful for the blogger theme.

Barbecue and Wildflowers

This morning we visited the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, a place of beautiful wild gardens, appealing architecture, and interesting garden sculpture.

Jimson Weed.

Lunch was at the Salt Lick Barbecue near Driftwood, Texas.

Somehow after all that barbecue we managed to try their pecan pie, which has a very nice custard.

The pickle jar.

The smoking pit and prep area. When we were here before, one lined up to get the food right from
the pit masters -- now it's table service, but you can watch the action.    

Dr. Who ate at the Salt Lick, evidently,
and left his Tardis in the parking lot.

In San Antonio, we also ate barbecue at "The County Line" along the river walk.

Tex-Mex!

Dinner Thursday night: tamales! A gift from our hosts' cleaning lady. Nicely spiced.

This past weekend, our friends organized a cruise around the river walk in San Antonio, including dinner served on the boat.
Here again are all our friends from the reunion, ready to have corn chips and salsa.

The rays of the setting sun illuminated downtown San Antonio.

Café Olé -- the restaurant that provided our meal on the boat.

Smothered tacos, cheese enchiladas, rice, and beans, as served to three of our friends.

A few days later in Rockport on the Gulf, we had a meal at a basic Mexican restaurant called Jalisco.

Gorditas filled with meat and beans, topped with salad. Nice salsa, too.
We also ordered something rather exotic: tacos de lengua (tongue).

Quesadillas. We enjoyed the meal, which was recommended as both good and cheap.

Meanwhile, sightseeing continues. We visited the Blanton Museum on the University of Texas campus, where we enjoyed an exhibit of work by Andy Warhol.

  

An early work by Warhol, who apparently was quite interested in the fine cooking fad around 1960.

From Herons and Egrets to Key Lime Pie

Herons and egrets are especially beautiful residents of marshes, rivers, and beaches all over the country.
We sometimes overlook them because we see them in so many places. 

On a dock near Goose Island State Park, Rockport, Texas.

Four egrets and herons of different species, and one white ibis with a turned-down beak.

An egret in a duck pond in a park in Rockport.

A white ibis -- often seen in the same marshy habitat as the herons.

Maybe more dramatic: black skimmers, Goose Island State Park. 

And for contrast with the birds:

Oil wells viewed from the car ferry to Mustang Island.

The biggest live-oak in Texas, Goose Island State Park.

Dinner at Charlotte Plummer's seafood restaurant, Rockport.

Key Lime pie was on the menu at several places where we ate.

Birds Along the Road: Rockport to Goliad, Texas

While driving today we especially enjoyed a stretch of Texas country road where the utility wires and fences were nearly crowded with wonderful birds. We saw between 35 and 40 scissors-tailed flycatchers in just a few miles -- we'd noticed others earlier when it wasn't so easy to stop. We think they are gathering in preparation for migration to Mexico.

A red-tailed hawk.

A meadowlark.

A shrike.

Swallows.

A kestrel.

A caracara.

We stopped briefly in Goliad, a small town looking much as it might have
looked a century or more ago (except for the cars). We then continued to
Austin, again on fast roads with much less bird life.