To distract us all from the coronavirus/already endless presidential election season, I thought I’d do a flashback to the parade season, picture post style.
CLEOPATRA (FEB 14) AND PYGMALION (FEB 15)
Cleopatra’s theme this year was “Valentine Vixens” – for obvious reasons! Most of my pictures from that night were not great, but I did get a great one of my oldest son pretending to smoke a cigar, so.
Pygmalion, meanwhile, focused on beautiful Italy-themed floats, while simultaneously being captained by T-Pain. I did not get a picture of T-Pain, alas, but feel free to click here if you want to see him in all his Grand Marshal Glory.
CARROLTON AND KING ARTHUR (BOTH FEB 16)
Our first day parades of the season were Carrolton and King Arthur. I took one picture of this day – but it’s a good one! A two-headed dragon, snorting its way down Magazine Street.
DRUIDS AND NYX (FEB. 19)
Next up – Druids (the parade the Prof rides in) and Nyx. Druids was a Rain-themed parade this year, because it always rains on Druids. It did not rain this year though, for once! Druids was followed by Nyx, the purse-themed all female parade that had some really fun throws this year. Tragically, for the only the third time in forty years, someone died at Nyx, having been caught between a two floats and crushed. It happened along the route after the parade had already passed us, so we did not find out about it until later.
HERMES (FEB 21)
Ready up, because I’m about to make up for the sparseness of photos by giving you a pic of every beautiful float in Hermes, plus some gorgeous baby pics. My sister and her husband came to visit from Texas (remember them? We’re always visiting them in Texas?) And they brought their two year old and 4 month old along. Charles and Margo had a delightful time – when Charles woke up in our house and found the pile of Mardi Gras throws we keep under the tree, he climbed in it like Smaug on his hoard, like Scrooge McDuck on his pile of coins, like . . . a little boy on a pile of cheap blinky plastic.
Attending their first parade was an even greater source of magic. Hermes starts at 5:30 and so most of it is lit by waning daylight, and it is always gorgeous. Charles figured out the drill pretty quickly – as a float comes by, run up and wave your arms, and then you can hang back and play with friends/snuggle with mom or dad in between. Margot, meanwhile, was passed from person to person and gazed on with her mouth open.
TUCKS (FEB 22)
I think Uncle Andrew’s favorite parade, however, was the next day – Tucks, the parade dedicated to scatalogical and bawdy humor. It’s a fairly naughty parade (a signature throw is a pair of blue balls, for heaven’s sake), but all of it goes over kids’ heads. Except the toilet paper. Man, they LOVE the toilet paper. Everybody toilet papers the trees and then cleaning crews come through immediately after and pick it all up.
After Tucks was over, we went across the river to visit our friends on the West Bank, and the guests they were hosting – the Prof’s sister and her husband! They’d come as a surprise to their best friend (who lives here – his wife, also a bestie, was in on the secret and helped prep to host them). It was my SIL’s 40th birthday, so we celebrated with some crawfish and oreo cake.
MID-CITY, OKEANOS, AND THOTH (FEB 23)
Thoth Sunday dawned bright and glorious. Everyone arrived early for our open house, and we readied ourselves for a solid 6 or so hours of parading and partying.
TIRE CHANGE INTERLUDE, THEN BACCHUS (FEB 23)
Unfortunately, my sister and her husband got a flat tire riding along our bumpy roads – but my BIL (husband’s sister’s husband) was in his element changing it. Meanwhile, his bestie, Scott, wandered around the street happily buzzed, carrying a small settee on his head. (You can see the settee in the background of these pics – in these snapshots Scott has traded it for my nephew, temporarily. He is childless but absolutely adores kids and had one or other kid in his arms the entire day).
Alas, I took only videos of Bacchus that evening, which I cannot figure out how to upload. We had a lot of fun with Bacchus – I don’t normally go to that one, as it’s one of the busier ones and it comes at the end of a long day, but with out of town guests I thought I should rally and go. I chased my nephew most of the parade, and held him up to catch during the rest. I’m glad we went, but I was exhausted at the end of that long day!
PROTEUS AND ORPHEUS (FEB. 24)
These were my last two parades of the season. They were lovely lit-up parades, and we had our three boys and my two nieces (while their parents attended a formal ball that evening). The kids gave the men carrying the flambeaus a few dollars, and between the Prof and I, we managed to give each liftable child a ride on our shoulders to catch throws.
REX (FEB 25)
I missed all Fat Tuesday revelry, as I had to fly to NYC for an evidentiary hearing. However, the boys did not, and before I caught my flight I helped them put together signs and catch baskets for the last parade.
And that was Mardi Gras 2020! Short on text, long on pics. It was a wonderful season, and I really enjoyed it, especially as I have dialed back hours at work and could just enjoy the family, friends, and neighbors.