Aficionados (and -nadas) of the wooden mallet finally broke their hot-weather hiatus this week, playing two rounds of croquet on the spotty but well-clipped turf of Playfields Park. A slight breeze and patchy, high clouds kept the weather mild as veterans Linda Ribera and Jim Coats were joined by newcomer Claudia Myers. Though there was no croquet in her recent vacation, Claudia confessed to having enjoyed many games of pool while visiting family. It may be that the cue and ball honed her sense of the physics of momentum and the transference of energy among masses upon impact -- or maybe it was just beginners luck -- but, either way, all agreed that Claudia had a tremendous afternoon on the pitch.

Ribera (blue) led off the game looking strong, but was short of the third wicket at the end of her first turn. Myers (red) quickly challenged Ribera, distracting her more-experienced opponents with disingenuous questions ("Does that give me an extra turn?" "Do I hit it with this end?"), while with skill that belied her claimed inexperience she thwacked ahead to an early lead that, though briefly challenged, was never lost. So went the first game, and then she did it again in the second. Coats (black) lagged inexplicably two to six wickets behind the leaders both time around. He was seen later in the day drowning his sorrows with several glasses of what he claimed was cranberry juice. A bitter pill, indeed.

THE RESULTS:
GAME 1: 1ST: Myers (red); 2ND: Ribera (blue); 3RD: Coats (black) Game time: approx. 12 minutes
GAME 2: 1ST: Myers (red); 2ND: Ribera (blue); 3RD: Coats (black) Game time: approx. 10 minutes

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