The Joy of Jungle Croquet: A Day in the Blue Ridge

Spoiler alert: the person sitting down was the winner.

I am surrounded by the players:

Pretty, Darlene, Dawne, Patti and Dan

(Dan was the person who invented Jungle Croquet

and designed the course)

Pretty felt confident during our soothing pre-match meditation

I wasn’t happy with my orange ball,

but everyone else picked theirs first

I started out “hot” and never looked back at my competition

Pretty and sis Darlene couldn’t believe their eyes

(these Williams sisters have the confidence of winning like two other Williams sisters who are household names in another sport now being played in New York)

getting down to the wire – Patti, Dan, and Pretty try to catch me

in the end, it was all about second place!

the medal winners: Dan with silver, Patti with bronze, and well,

the gold went to me for some reason

known only to the gods of pure chance

Jungle Croquet was a throwback to my childhood croquet games in Texas where we always played at family reunions. I’m saying regular croquet – not anything resembling the course in the High Country of the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina where Pretty and I visited last week and were fortunate to meet Dan and Patti who graciously invited us for a game on Dan’s awesome course.

I finally figured out the “Jungle” name started with a Tarzan movie that had nothing to do with croquet at all.

If only I had had the good common sense to stay in the car at one of the breathtaking walkabouts on the way back to our lodging afterwards, I could write the day was perfect. Alas, I tripped on a large tree root when we were walking to look at a river, fell onto a large brier bush, and was lucky to have three women with me who managed to lift me to a standing position. Also lucky no one captured that on a video.

shoulda had that stick before the tree tackled me

thanks to our hosts Dawne and Birthday Girl Darlene (and Gabe)

For the laughs, amazing scenery, Jungle Croquet, and the wonderful experience of family in their beloved Blue Ridge Mountains. I do love the mountains, I love the rolling hills…I love the flowers, I love the daffodils…I love the fireside when all the lights are low…

thanks to Dawne and Darlene for sharing these photos