September Weather in Mill Valley Has Given Me a Little More Summer. Once summer ended, schedules changed quickly around my house. My boys became busy with their own lives again, work seemed to fill the spaces in between, and my backyard bocce court became one of those projects I kept looking at while thinking, “I really need to take care of that.”
The decomposed granite needed some attention. Leaves had begun collecting around the edges, the surface needed to be raked and smoothed, and after a summer of use it had lost some of that nice, even feel that makes the game so enjoyable. I had more or less accepted that I had missed my opportunity and would deal with it properly another time.
Then September decided to cooperate.
The weather in Mill Valley has stayed remarkably warm and dry, and at least from where I have been standing, some September days have felt warmer than the ones we had in July. I am not sure whether I should call that good luck, especially when we could certainly use the rain, but selfishly, it has bought me a little more time outside.
Enough time, perhaps, to rescue the bocce court before fall finally takes over.
Warm, Dry September Weather and One Neglected Bocce Court
There is a particular kind of optimism involved in owning something in your backyard that requires maintenance. You imagine yourself taking wonderful care of it. You picture regular afternoons spent outside, everything neatly groomed and ready whenever friends or family happen to stop by.
Then ordinary life intervenes. Those of us who own a business in Mill Valley, CA can relate.
That is more or less what happened to my bocce court toward the end of summer. Nothing terrible happened to it; I simply did not give it the attention I intended. The decomposed granite became dusty and uneven in places, small debris worked its way onto the playing surface, and the edges started looking less like a proper court and more like something I had been meaning to get around to.
September’s extended stretch of dry weather has given me a second chance, which I appreciate because restoring the court is strangely satisfying. There is a rhythm to raking the surface, smoothing out the rough areas and getting everything level again. By the time it is finished, the court looks inviting in a way it simply does not when it has been ignored for a few weeks.
And once it looks inviting, you want to play.
Bocce Ball in Mill Valley: Why I Love Having a Court at Home
I enjoy bocce because it occupies an unusual space between doing absolutely nothing and taking a sport far too seriously.
You can certainly become competitive, and I would be lying if I suggested nobody in my backyard cares where the balls land. But bocce does not require everyone to disappear into the game. You can play while carrying on a conversation. Someone can have a glass of wine nearby. Dinner can be cooking. People who are not playing can sit close enough to become involved without formally joining anything.
That is probably what I like about it most.
There are plenty of activities that bring people together, but many of them demand our complete attention. Bocce leaves room around the game. You throw, you walk down the court, you argue gently about which ball is actually closer to the pallino, and somewhere in between all of that you talk about everything else going on in your lives.
It is social without needing to announce itself as a social activity, and it gives me a chance to get a collective opinion on that bottle of white wine I’ve been saving.
For me, having a bocce court at home means there is always something simple to suggest when people are together. Nobody needs reservations. There is no complicated equipment to organize, and the person who has not played in years can usually join in within a few minutes.
Decomposed Granite, a Rake, and a Little Patience
The surface of my court is decomposed granite, which I like because it has a natural look and fits comfortably into the landscape rather than making the backyard feel like I installed a miniature athletic complex.
It does, however, appreciate being looked after.
After a long dry period, the top layer can become dusty and a little loose, while normal use creates small uneven areas that affect the way the balls roll. A rake, some smoothing and a little patience usually bring everything back into shape. There is nothing particularly sophisticated about the process, which may be part of why I enjoy doing it.
So much of my professional life involves precision, schedules, appointments and technology. There is something pleasantly uncomplicated about standing outside with a rake and improving something simply by paying attention to it for an hour.
Of course, once I finish, I immediately become much less philosophical and want somebody to come play.
Why Bocce Ball Is Really About Family Time
When my boys were younger, family time happened partly because everyone lived under the same roof and had relatively little choice in the matter. As children grow older, that changes. Their schedules become their own. College, careers, friends and responsibilities take over, which is exactly what is supposed to happen.
The interesting part is that time together becomes less automatic and, in some ways, more valuable.
That may be another reason I have grown to appreciate simple things like bocce. You do not need to create an elaborate occasion to spend time together. If everyone happens to be around, you can go outside, start a game and let the evening develop from there.
The game provides just enough structure to gather people in one place without making the gathering itself feel scheduled.
I think families need things like that, especially now that my sons are fully grown and I find myself more wrapped up in work. It gives us an easy reason to spend time together, and that is something I genuinely look forward to.
We talk a great deal about “quality time,” but sometimes the best family time is not particularly organized or profound. It is an hour outside, someone becoming far too confident about a shot they are about to miss, somebody else insisting that the tape measure is required because two balls are obviously an inch apart, and a conversation that wanders wherever it wants.
Those are often the moments people remember.
A Game That Leaves Room for Conversation
We live in an age when almost every empty minute can be filled by a screen. There is always another message to answer, another headline to read, another video waiting, and another reason to look down instead of across at the person standing beside us.
I am not pretending bocce ball is the solution to modern technology. That would be giving a few heavy balls and a small target ball considerably more responsibility than they deserve.
What bocce does very well is give your hands and attention just enough to do while leaving plenty of room for conversation.
There are pauses built into the game. People walk back and forth. Somebody measures a close shot. Everyone has time to comment on a terrible throw, celebrate an unexpectedly good one and continue whatever conversation was happening before the ball left someone’s hand.
The older I get, the more I appreciate activities that allow people to simply be around one another without requiring constant entertainment.
Warm September Evenings in Mill Valley Are Made for Outdoor Traditions
One of the pleasures of September weather in Mill Valley is that summer does not always disappear simply because the calendar says it should.
The evenings begin changing, certainly, and you can feel fall waiting in the background, but there are still nights when being inside seems like a waste of perfectly good weather. Those are the evenings when the bocce court earns its space in the backyard.
There is something different about an activity when you know the season for it is almost over. In June, you assume there will be dozens of evenings ahead. By September, you become a little more appreciative of each one because you know the first stretch of real rain will eventually arrive and change the rhythm of things.
That is where I find myself now… The court is getting cleaned up. The decomposed granite is getting another round of attention, and instead of mentally closing the backyard for the year, I am hoping for a few more evenings outside.
If the weather gives them to us, I intend to use them.
From a Dentist in Mill Valley: Enjoy the Evening and Keep It Simple
Because I am a dentist in Mill Valley, I suppose I should contribute at least a little dentistry before I finish.
Bocce evenings at home have a tendency to include food and drinks, which is part of the pleasure. There may be appetizers nearby, perhaps some wine, and people have a habit of lingering longer than they planned when the weather is good.
My dental advice is not going to ruin any of that.
Enjoy the evening. Have dinner. Have the glass of wine if that is what you enjoy. Drink some water along the way, and when the night is over, brush and floss your teeth like you normally would.
Good oral health is mostly built from habits that repeat over years, not from one September evening spent outside with friends or family.
I spend enough of my professional life thinking about teeth. When I am standing on my bocce court deciding whether somebody’s ball really is closer to the pallino than mine, I am perfectly capable of thinking about something else.
And perhaps that is another reason I enjoy it.
September Weather in Mill Valley Bought Me a Little More Time
Summer eventually has to end, even in Mill Valley.
The rain will come, the evenings will cool down, and at some point the backyard will stop calling quite so loudly. I will put the bocce court to bed for the season and find other things that need my attention.
But not quite yet… This warm, dry September has given me a few extra weeks I was not expecting. The boys are busy, life is moving quickly again, and there will always be something more productive I could be doing, but the court is still there and the evenings are still beautiful.
So I am going to rake the decomposed granite, smooth out the rough spots, find the bocce balls and take advantage of whatever September has left to give us.
Sometimes a little extra summer is all the invitation you need.
Dr. Frances H. Yankie, DDS
