Okay. No more funsies with the fonts, folks. I'll just type and we'll all live with what we get, okay? Thank you for understanding the limits of my technical abilities!
My first Mardi Gras parade was a blast! Judy gave us her insider's take on how to find parking. We did well and walked quite a ways along Route 90 before taking up spots on Porter Avenue, just beyond the corner at Route 90. (More about the highway later.) Once again, we found ourselves next to a group from Augustana College. In addition, two women seated next to us were longtime FEMA workers. When Barbara asked how they found their work (either frustrating or rewarding), they did not hesitate in responding: they found it to be terribly frustrating.
The pre-parade activity is a show in itself. People watching is great fun as folks - most of whom have had a very difficult 6 months - let down their hair in a big way!
The parade itself was comprised of a couple of bands and marching units and 76 floats, most of which were pretty basic in construction and boasted a theme. The goal, of course, is to beg for beads, flowers, toys, whatever is being thrown from the floats. Those who have the greatest advantage in this process are children and good looking (young) men and women.
We all noticed that the older folks next to us (particularly the woman in the black shirt and white hat) were pretty aggressive in their begging. Only after the parade did we discover that the "woman in black" was the wife of the former pastor of Bethel Lutheran Church, our home in Biloxi!
Max was a paragon of self-restraint. He's only wearing more than 2 strings of beads because we told him he looked out of place. He accepted no more than those pictured above. As for the rest of us, we were just getting warmed up!
Emily won the big prize for the day, that very cute ty Moose! (Of course, the pastor's wife tried to guilt her into handing it over with, "I wanted that for my grandchild.") Chelsea is STILL trying to unravel her collection!
As for me? Well, at one point toward the end of the parade, I leaned over to pick up a stray string of beads and almost fell over! I was top heavy! And that's not something that happens without a good deal of effort! I couldn't turn my head to the left, so it was a great help to have a good navigator and three good "spotters" along for the drive back to Bethel.
Back at Bethel, we had a traditional Shrove Tuesday pancake supper - complete with Mardi Gras king cake! And guess who got the baby...Barbara! Congratulations!!
Happy Mardi Gras!
Sue
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