Playing petanque in Austin, Texas
Looks like the French Legation will be open on Tuesday the 4th of July!
Gates open at 10 AM.
Wear you red, white and blue or le bleu, blanc et rouge!
Not only is it a Free Country, it's Free Parking on the 4th!
Hope to see you there.
Click on the button below for all the information you need about the Bastille Day Celebration going on at the French Legation on July 15 from 10AM to 4PM.
I am sure there will be some pétanque players there.
Friends, family and all kids are invited to a wake in celebration of his life that includes live music and pétanque – his two passions.
Sunday, June 11th, 2023 starting at 2PM
Browning Hangar
Mueller Lake Park
4550 Mueller Blvd.
Austin TX, 78723
Inside the Browning Hangar
Join us when you can and enjoy live band music, snacks and drinks.
You can give the game of petanque a try with Jim’s friends that play the sport daily.
Casual, cool attire encouraged.
Please bring a folding or camping chair and a reusable drinking cup if possible.
There will be an open invitation for sharing favorite stories of Jim “Tex” with everyone from 2:30-3:30pm.
Jim had many friends, and not all of them are on our email list, so please spread the word to other folks who may not be pétanque players.
You can bookmark this page for the most recent updates.
Pétanque players should consider this similar to any other of our tournaments and potlucks. Please bring your chairs, tables, coolers, water, ice, etc. You know the routine! Bring your favorite foods and snacks to share.
Contact Michelle at 512-636-6082
Michelle and family members and others plan to arrive to start setting up tables for food & drink, along with some of Jim's memory items (photos, trophies, etc.)
Live Band Music, Pétanque games, Food & Drink available for self service
Michelle (Jim's cousin) gives a welcome speech. People get to tell some of their favorite Jim stories. (Get ready to tell your own story!)
More Live Band Music, Pétanque games, Food & Drink available for self service
We all pitch in to clean up the space. Pétanque games are likely to go on for a while.
Jim “Tex” Schwobel
Jim “Tex” was born June 11, 1946 in New York City. He passed away on December 5th, 2021 in Austin, Texas, USA from a short battle with terminal cancer. He lived most of his life in his beloved Austin, Texas and was always planning his next travel vacation abroad.
He learned to swim in the big pool at Shipe Park, had his first date to a dance at Hancock Center, learned to water ski on Lake Austin and first sailed his wooden Sunfish on Town Lake before it was named “Lady Bird Lake”. Some of his fondest child-hood memories were spent at his grandparents’ farm near Eldorado, Texas where he learned to drive a tractor and car at the age of 9.
He graduated from McCallum High School in 1965 and received his Bachelor’s Degree in International Business from the University of Texas at Austin in 1977, making the Dean’s List and receiving the French Department’s “Diplome d’honneur” that same year.
One of his fondest adventures and learning experiences in life was purchasing a share of a sailboat in France and sailing the Cote d’Azure/Mediterranean Sea in the summer of 1975. He lived and attended universities during the next year in Toulouse, France and Konstanz, West Germany. It was during that year that he also learned to snow ski – a sport he enjoyed for many years after returning to the United States. While living in Toulouse, he played tuba in the Old Time Jazz Band.
In 1972, he started his professional career in the computer industry with Hycel, Inc., a Fortune 500 company in Houston, Texas. He began working for the Texas Department of Human Services in 1977 from where he retired in 2002 at the age of 55. During those 25 years, he was fortunate to work on the leading edge of the computer revolution with a great team of people who were not only co-workers but great friends. He considered his major accomplishment managing the Year 2000 End-user Computing Project during the 5 years before retirement.
He sailed on Lake Travis throughout the 1980’s, at one time serving as Vice-Commodore of the Lake Travis Cruising Association. His love of sailing was the catalyst for his purchasing and becoming the CEO of the Corpus Christi Sailing Center, Inc. in 1990. As a licensed US Coast Guard Captain (Master’s 50-ton) and Certified American Sailing Association instructor, he realized success as an entrepreneur with his company which he sold in 2002.
Starting in the 1970s, and continuing until his death, he made many trips to Europe, primarily France, England and Iceland, where he would spend months with friends from various cultures, visiting iconic sites and discovering unique places. He was particularly involved with the French game of pétanque and was Vice- President of the Heart of Texas Petanque Club in Austin, where he established a “twinning” between the 2,000members of Federation Petanque USA and the Jules le Noir Association, the birthplace of pétanque, and located in La Ciotat, France.
He also enjoyed traveling to Belize, Central America where he would spend weeks sailing and snorkeling along the world’s 2nd longest barrier reef. Upon his retirement, he once again picked up the tuba/sousaphone that he had played from Junior High School through college in the UT Longhorn Band. He was a member of the Austin Civic Wind Ensemble, serving as Vice-President and Webmaster in 2003. He also played in the New Horizons Band, the Wurst Band, Longhorn Alumni Band and the Chaparral Dixielanders. In 2005, he formed the New Austin Polka Band. He enjoyed his many friends in these bands and especially enjoyed finding gigs and making music with them.
Browning Hangar Development
Normally when the LBC has a tournament at the Browning Hangar we are able to submit a request to reserve the space unless someone else has already reserved it.
Recently, when the LBC asked to reserve the hangar for the Spring Tournament in April we were told that they were no longer taking reservations, and that sometime this year, the hangar would be closed to the public for construction.
Unfortunately, we don't have any details on exactly what is going to happen or when the hangar will be closed, however we have been able to find some plans proposed by the real estate developers.
The plans posted on the Internet indicate that the food trucks would be eliminated and replaced with parking spaces. The open space inside the hangar would be replaced with a restaurant, a stage and seating - apparently eliminating any space for pétanque.
What can we do, if anything? That's what several of us are working to sort out, but no matter what, the prognosis for pétanque at the hangar appears to be grim.
We don't have any official facts, but "someone who knows someone" believes that construction could start as soon as 30 days from now.
The people planning to have a gathering to celebrate the life of Jim Schwobel have chosen Sunday, June 11 to get together - hopefully at the hangar.
We checked with the people who take the reservations and learned that no other organizations already have the hangar reserved on that date.
That means we should be free to have the gathering for Jim at the hangar, similar to a typical Sunday afternoon, without making a reservation, as long it hasn't been closed for construction.
Sorry, that we don't have any more details for you at this point, but we will let you know as soon as possible if we get more information on what's happening with the hangar and plans for the gathering for Jim .
Great turnout, great day. But at the end, it was:
1st place: Victor Alonso & Peter Gray
2nd place: Brigitte Rouault (San Antonio) & Ron Ragsdale
3rd place: Jeff Brown & Jeffrey Locke (San Antonio)
4th place: Mercedes Franco & Stephen Johns (San Antonio)
5th place: Rudy Vallee % Alain Braux
6th place: Carolyn Cornell & Edward Vaissiere
Congratulations to all. Food was exceptional as usual (a true oxymoron, certainly). A special thanks to all of our non-Austin players who made this day particularly memorable. Safe travels and hope you play with us again in the fall.
Welcome to the 2023 season of Nelson Ranch Petanque Club. As winter starts to wind down (we hope), the club has completed the FPUSA renewals process and all club members are now registered. NRPC has also started to plan its events for 2023, starting with hosting La Chandeleur & holding its first competition of the year in mid March. More on those events later.
First, a little club news:
Secretary NRPC
La Chandeleur at NRPC pavilion.
Date changed to February 26!
This is a jointly hosted event with LBC and the Alliance Française of Austin.
The original plan was to hold this at the French Legation, but because of other conflicts, we will hold the event at NRPC which is fine.
We plan to break for crepes around 2:30 PM, with open pétanque play before and after.
Attendees are asked to bring a filling for the crepes (either sweet or savory).
If you can help out by making some crepes, please email me or Kathy.
Thanks.
And you are welcome to bring some wine or cidre to accompany the crepes.
This has been well attended and a good time for all, and we expect the same this year.
Hope to see y’all there.
The current number of members is 51 and the club is in good shape financially. (Don't forget to pay your dues if you haven't already. Only $20 bucks. Just give it to any club officer you see on the terrain.)
The new officers, who ran uncontested and will begin their terms in January 2023, are:
President – ED Priest
Vice President – Peter Gray
Treasurer – Patti Shook
Go Team!
Kathy and Gary Ragan announced that they would be hosting the LBC Holiday Party again this year for LBC members. Thank you!
Click the button below below for details.
Construction associated with the renovation of the facilities at the Legation and the COVID-19 pandemic had kept us away for years.
The last tournament held there was on October 28, 2018.
We had wonderful weather for our Dia de los Muertos tournament. It was a "carousel" tournament matching pointers with shooters. All players played with a new partner each game.
Terry Plemons
This is our Terry Plemons Benefit Tournament and all proceeds from the tournament will be donated to the Friends of the French Legation.
We had a field of 32 players. This year we had three players coming from Dallas and San Antonio, and even one from Driftwood.
We had perfect weather and a wonderful potluck.
Thank you to all the organizers and everyone who helped put on the event. Everything was managed so well, and the weather was so delightful, it was one of the best days of pétanque ever!
Karim Moumouni
Mary Stratton
Don Jansky
Kathy Ragan
Jeffery Locke
Leigh Newsom
Click for Large Image
