In case anyone out there is living under a rock (a rock with a cable modem) I thought I'd drop in and point out that it is indeed Carnival time. Usually, late winter and early spring in Louisiana brings the best weather; not too much rain, moderate temperatures, no tsunamis, that sort of thing. Unfortunately, this year it looks like we'll be watching the skies more closely during the parade season. So far we have managed to avoid disaster.
Friday night was touch and go. Daisy and I braved an aggressive drizzle which lasted through the first third of Oshun and went away completely by the time Pygmalion rolled by. I was disappointed to see that Pygmalion had unnecessarily dropped most of its bands for fear of the rain. Also Daisy, for the second consecutive year, caught a pair of gay beads at the first parade.
Yesterday Dad showed up with Hombre the mop-dog. I had no idea how much dogs love Mardi Gras. Hombre was especially fascinated by all the horses, clearly the biggest dogs he has ever seen. Despite the fact that dog owners were lining the parade route yesterday, the police managed to find time in their busy Mardi Gras crowd control schedule to condescendingly order us not to walk Hombre in the street. Cops are not my favorite people right now. I really need to get back here and relate to you my harrowing brush with law enforcement during the MLK weekend. Remind me to do that sometime. Anywho.. so yesterday featured the Krewes of Pontchartrain, Shangri-La, Sparta, and Pegasus. I think Sparta was the highlight. Their captain and officers rode on horseback. The King float was pulled by mules instead of a tractor. There were numerous flambeaux throughout the parade. All of this gave them a very traditional look which is a nice thing to see on the first weekend. In the meantime, we managed to buy a battery powered bubble gun from a street vendor, yet failed in a desperate attempt to find a funnel cake. I'll try again when I walk out there and catch some of Carrollton, King Arthur and Bards this afternoon.
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