and also of The Villages. I would not be a bit surprised if you had no idea what I was writing about, because as of a few days ago I would have not known either. However, it has to do with the game of Petanque, (pe-tonk), which is the French game of Boules. Oh, that game…no, you still don’t know, well here goes. In my last blog I had mentioned that I would be attending Resident Academy, which incidentally is a wonderful program. One of the speakers at the  Academy  was John Rohan, Director of Recreation, who mentioned the sport of petanque, which is played four days a week in Paradise Park. Being the curious person that I am I looked up their schedule and yesterday took a ride over to see what it was all about. There were three games going on and everyone was really enjoying themselves.  Although the name petanque is French boules, it is very similar to British lawn bowling or Italian bocce.   When I googled the game, the definition was you throw metallic balls on dirt beneath plane trees…and that is exactly what they were doing.  The court, or whatever you would call it, is scratched in the dirt like we used to do when designating first base or the game of hopscotch many years ago.  They would throw a small ball, called a cochonnet out into the court and the players would throw out three metallic boules to see who could come closer to the cochonnet.  I know I am over simplifying it as I’m sure there is a lot of skill needed to be good.  I think the most remarkable thing about it is you can’t help but marvel over the huge trees that they play under.  I’m sure they could play in the rain, as the trees form a huge canopy over the courts.  I thought to myself while I was there that I would play this game just to play under these trees, they are that magnificent.  When I came home and saw that trees were mentioned in the game description I couldn’t help but think there goes The Villages again, they have EVERYTHING.  You need trees, not a problem, we have them.  If you have never visited Paradise Park you are in for a real treat.  It is at the bottom of the golf bridge over Rt.#441, or if driving take Morse Blvd. across Rt.#441, which will bring you in the Boone Gate, make a sharp right on Paradise Dr. and go to the end, bear right and you will be in the parking lot of the park.  In France they say the local bouledrome is a social vocal point, and that wine and cognac is the drink of choice, which is probably why it is social and vocal.  At 10:30am I didn’t see any wine or cognac, however they meet at 3:00pm on Thursdays, so that may be a different story.   If you go to www.laboulebleue.fr you can learn more about the game, but in the meantime if someone mentions the activities in The Villages, we can add Petanque to our repertoire.