When last I checked in, I had finished up Wednesday’s parades, and we still had Thursday through Tuesday to look forward to. What I think I didn’t mention was that on Fat Tuesday itself, I would be flying off to Puerto Rico for a weeklong conference. So lots of updates to come!
Muses
Muses on Thursday night wore this guy out. We spent the evening with his little buddy from school, who just moved here from Scotland. The floats were themed from musicals – it was a stunner.
Friday evening saw three parades roll by – I suggest you click this link to see some real photographers’ pictures. Hermes was a surprisingly beautiful and moving parade this year (above is just a sample).
d’Etat was brutal, skewering Elizabeth Warren and her DNA test, Pence and his impotence (lots of wang jokes in that one), the ref who failed to throw the flag at the playoff game (float was called Willful Blindness), whiny young people who want something for nothing (while I think the opposite is true – young people have it harder than they’ve had it in years – I still laughed), and of course, our Dictator Trump (with some Pelosi thrown in for good measure). It was provocative and well done, as always.
Saturday morning, we wandered about a half mile down the street to watch Tucks – a somewhat naughty parade with the theme this year “Tucks gets sick.” Lots of really great puns on this one. Below are a few more pictures of Tucks, which I got good pics of because it was a day parade. Check out the wee Ghostbusting pupper. And Tucks throws colored toilet paper, which everyone uses to TP the trees. (Immediately afterward, a cleanup crew comes through and it’s all gone, about half hour after the parade passes. Amazing.)
Craig and I had a great time at Tucks – we tossed a football back and forth, on the other side of the median from the parade. The median grass was muddy due to overnight rain, and I really didn’t want to catch all that stuff (which I mostly recycle at Whole Foods). So we backed up off the route a bit, and played catch and a sort of football-like game with rules that Craig kept changing to make sure he would win. He also “kept score”, and suspiciously “won” every single round. He really liked me to chase him and tackle him to try to beat him up and steal the ball. It was a perfect day for it – not too hot, not too sunny. Then after the parade was over, poor Craigy took a spill on his scooter while scooting home.
I scrubbed it in the shower, which meant we were NOT FRIENDS for a while there, folks – he was ready to apply for emancipation of a minor from his Awful Mean Face-Burning Mother. We put Neosporin and bandaids on it overnight, and next morning he cheerfully told me “all gone mom!” (It was not all gone).
Sunday was Okeanos, Mid-City, and Thoth, all in a row in the morning. The day threatened rain, and in fact a thunderstorm did blow in that afternoon. Because of the impending weather, the City moved the parade start times up by an hour, and removed all of the walking krewes and marching bands, so all three parades were a blur of just floats blowing past at lightning speed. It was a bit strange, but the riders got to ride and dump their throws, at least.
My brother-in-law is snoring in that last picture. Dude can sleep anywhere.
My last sets of pictures are from Lundi Gras – since I missed Fat Tuesday, due to the aforementioned flight to paradise. We walked down to catch the Lundi Gras parades, and managed a few pictures of the Proteus floats leaving their den while it was still light. They were astonishingly lovely – again, works of art. Just look at the brush detail – look at the colors. As the sun goes down, they are stunningly lit as well. It’s such a blessing to be able to see these, to experience this phenomenon.
After the sun went down, my pictures got worse of course, but I’ll throw a few up here of the end of Proteus and beginning of Orpheus, the parade sponsored by Harry Connick, Jr.
And that about wraps it up. The next morning, I woke up at the crack of dawn and caught an Uber over to the airport, for a work conference/vacation in Puerto Rico with my sister. Update to come! It’s been quite a wonderful 2019 so far!