Mardi Gras: the real story (Pt 3 Going Home)

Part 3 of 3. Read part 1 here.  Read part 2 here.

Packing up. Getting out of the city, any city, every city, is difficult. That is until you attempt to get out of a Mardi Gras city. Mardi Gras cities are a whole other conundrum. One best left to the minds of those who know the streets. You just want to get out. It won't happen until you cry in distress. Crying when you sit in the car is cheating and will only make your head pound harder. You can easily get in, find a parking space, go along on your merry way. 

Try to get out when you've had enough. Not going to happen. Streets along the parade route are monitored by former KGB personnel. Know that every parade uses the same route. Along those streets are miles and miles and miles of barricade. No vehicle crosses the barricade once the go-time is signaled to the KGB officers. No vehicles will cross the barricade until the end times signal reaches the KGB officer. Sit in the car with the AC running so the kids will not whine and you are certain to run out of gas or overheat the car.

Going home. The moment that the KGB guy signals you to leave, every person in the car will pass out except the tiniest of criers. You will listen to her heart-piercing cry until you drop the child off. Miraculously, you will arrive at home. All that's left is to cart the children and trinkets inside.

Part 3 of 3   Go back to Part 1 here.  Go back to Part 2 here.

Mardi Gras: the real story (Pt 2 The Parade)

Part 2 of 3   Read Part 1 here.

The parade is getting near! When you can hear the police sirens, the teens will miraculously appear. They just do. Expect a few extra teens to show up and expect to feed them. About this time the younger kids get antsy. They will begin to jump around, insist on fixing their perches--the wagon, the ice chest, the barricade, your chair, your shoulders--whatever will raise them 8" off the ground. They will then whine because they can't see anything. 

Parades move slowly (there is nothing to see until after the police escort). That means every kid will jump on and off his/her perch several times. You'll have to help them up and help them down, occasionally separate them from each other, and watch kids in all 360 degrees around you at the same time. Other adults cannot be expected to watch their children. They may have "walked a bit" which is code for beer drinking. 

The parade arrives! You'll now spend the next hour standing behind children so they don't fall off the unsteady perches and get crushed. If you're good, you'll have a kid sitting on your shoulders during all this. The real job, however, is to catch beads, candy, small toys, etc. to give to those many kids. Be fair--give more to the smallest ones whose bigger siblings snatch stuff out of their hands. It helps to raise your hands up high and shout, "Throw me something, mista!," at the top of your lungs. 

Between parades. About the time that the first parade ends, everyone will need to go to the restroom. You should escort them to the nearest bank of porta-potties, approximately 1½ miles away. There will be two kinds of lines: one line of potties, many lines of people. When you arrive, put the bigger kids in lines near you so that you can steal the advantage when one of them finally gets in. 

Regardless of what others say, when one person gets a pot, pull the troops back and stick everyone in the same potty. It's the only way to pee and keep tabs on kids. No one is allowed to touch anything, so the big kids should hold the little kids. As soon as one person is finished, "wipe and roll" as in roll out as quickly as possible, keeping a butt on the pot at all times which prevents the smell from wafting up into the room. 

You will do all this again, perhaps three or four times. Pace yourself. Try to keep tabs on your people.

Part 2 of 3   Go back to Part 1 here.    Read Part 3 here.

Mardi Gras: the real story (Pt 1 On the Road)

Part 1 of 3  

NOLA Mardi Gras

Even though Richard and I rarely go to Mardi Gras any more, I have been many, many times. In fact, there were years of tears when I could not go because a child was sick or I had to work. Then there were the years of going for momma, who loved a party! Her Alzheimers had gotten to that middlin stage of knowing she had the disease but was still fighting it. One way she fought was to do everything she loved.

All that said, I thought I'd share my version of the experience with you. It's a long convoluted "story" of one day. Not one particular day, mind you, just any ordinary, Fat Tuesday parade day. We generally go to Lafayette as we know the city well, and it feels safer than the crowds of New Orleans (NOLA).

Gear up--clothing. You'll get up and prepare your gear for the day. That, of course, depends greatly on the weather. On cold days with a slight wind, you will not have enough clothes and warm socks. Plus, you'll feel compelled to share half of your clothing with a half-dressed child.  On hot days when there's a slight wind, you will swelter in February and get a serious sun/wind burn. It's Louisiana.

Supplies. You'll also need to drag a lawn chair, umbrella (for sun or rain), bottled water, all the kids in your family and a minimum of two extra kids whose parents are laughing it up at work. Bring any drugs that may possibly cure the following: headache; upset stomach; sprains, bruises, and cuts; nausea; migraines. Also bring hand sanitizer. It helps to put a few drops of bleach in the bottle and stir. Some cooties are tough customers.

Additionally, bring the following: snacks for all the kids; money for food because kids don't like to picnic so much; and money for trinkets because although people will throw free trinkets from the floats, you will pay for other trinkets; and totes or trash bags to put a ton of worthless trinkets in, so you can haul it home to throw away when the kids finally go back to school. 

Options. Some people bring ladders to sit on so they can be above the crowd. This gives them the advantage of being seen and catching throws. We don't do the ladder thing. We do generally have a wagon to pull the ice chest and anything else that can be piled on: chairs, blankets, etc. After everything comes out of the wagon, the kids can stand in it to give them a step up in the crowd. Decorate it like this? No. We're happy if all the wheels make it through the day.

Set up. Arrive early to get "a good spot," meaning find a place big enough for your entourage and your stuff. Set up by opening all the chairs and forming a semi-circle behind the police barricade. Someone must volunteer to watch the spot and smaller kids so others can walk around. Be that person. Those walking around generally have an hour or so before the parade begins to spend money, listen to music, enjoy the scene, and spend money. 

Be Safe! Have everyone find a partner even if they stay in groups so no one gets lost. Every child must be partnered with an adult. Insist everyone stay on the parade route. Share phone numbers with the extra kids. (Don't be the guy who loses someone else's kid. That's difficult to explain.)

NOLA addendum. None of this is possible in New Orleans. Your group should hang out together behind the police barricade. Even so, people will push your group into a small circle that consists of half the space that your feet need. This means the odd-looking drunk guy with the size 15 steel-toe boots will be next to you. Keep the children in front of you, near the barricade to protect them from the weirdos and steel-toe boots. If you're the nervous type who can't handle crowds, prepare to count your people every 23 seconds. Occasionally look at faces and make sure you're counting the right people. Seriously.

Part 1 of 3     Part 2 is here  and Part 3 is here

Mardi Gras Madness (part 2)

How about just some photos of Tuesday's Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans today?  Oh, wait.  We didn't catch a parade.  We went.  We waited.  We froze.  Although the girls wore shorts on Monday, Tuesday was miserably cold, damp and windy.   The kids whined.  Finally, I acted like a grown-up and walked them back to the hotel to get more clothing, warm up, and eat.

Yes, I can be counted on to be a good grandmother.  When I am really cold and miserable, I'll step right up and say, "I'm cold.  Let's go."  Imagine this: 54 year old grandmother wearing pajamas covered with jeans, tee shirt, an extra pair of socks, gloves, wool coat, scarf.  All that covered with a hot pink plastic rain poncho. And for the coup de grace: a shopping bag worn as a hat.  There are no photos of me, none that I am aware of anyway.  

I returned to the hotel with two of the kids because they were too cold to stand and wait for the parades. Along the way, I tried to snap a few pics of some of the sculptures on Poydras Street.  

And one of this tree on Canal Street covered with beads...a typical sight at this time of year.

Richard saw this old truck and insisted on a photo.  It's really well restored, don't you think?

Either the Cabildo or Presbytere building.  They are identical and I took photos of both, so without being able to see a sign, I'm not sure which it is.  Below is a photo of one of the watering troughs that are on the side of the street for the horses and mules that pull buggies for tours.  

Artwork for sale at Jackson Square in front of St. Louis Cathedral.

I really like this particular painting but there are several that are nice and a few that are definitely not in my taste.

 Dusti and her friend hanging out with a couple of mimes.  

 
And finally a couple of pics from our hotel window.  The one above is of the city with a little traffic after the parades finished and the second one catches just a bit of the river and fireworks.  All in all, a great little getaway.

Lundi Gras Madness [part 1 of 2]

Lundi is Monday in French.  Since my family decided to spend our Mardi Gras holiday in NOLA, I thought you might enjoy my take on this vacation.  It happens that this is my first trip to New Orleans during Mardi Gras.  As many times as we've been to NOLA, I've sort of avoided Mardi Gras.  That said, we had planned.  By that I mean weeks, knowing when and where the parades would be, getting hotel rooms overlooking the city, even having tee shirts made.  Phones/cameras fully charged.  We were set! Set, I promise.

The view from our hotel window.

It was pretty awesome and got even better at night when lights turned on and the fireworks went off on the river.

Except.

Except I was so outdone by the noise and the smells and the people that I got a migraine.  Thank heavens Richard brought my migraine medicine.  I may be too old, or maybe I'm too ADD, or perhaps I'm just me.  Whatever.  I can't handle this much stimulation.

Much less handle it for hours.

And hours.

People really do stand on the balconies and tempt others with their beads.  If you want them badly enough, you'll dance, raise your shirt, or just stand around until something comes flying down.  That something may be meant for someone else, but the winner is the one who grabs and holds on the longest.  Yes, sometimes the beads break in a tug-of-war.  Oh well, start over....beg for beads!

At one point while we were on Bourbon St. a jazz band passed by playing some, well, jazz music.  People follow alongside dancing, drinking and laughing.  Move out of the way.  Just move to the side.  Get on the sidewalk, get on the edge of a crowd, just move!

I somehow managed to get my krewe to stand still for two seconds for a picture.  Take note, some of us were in shorts on Monday.

Others were dressed a little less conservatively.  The idea is to dress as outlandishly as one dares.  Showing skin is okay.  Showing private parts is acceptable, especially late at night or when drunk. We went in mid-afternoon to see costumes and crazy.  Nothing private on the "must see" list.   However, we walked passed a few girls in the doorways dressed to entice....bustiers, bras, strings that could not be called undies.  

I had to get at least one picture of the ground.  It was difficult to walk without slipping on the beads on the street.  Pick them up, you say?  No way.  The street may look relatively clean, but this is Bourbon and is definitely not.  While walking one must keep an eye on the ground: to avoid slipping on beads, in oily water puddles, and human vomit.  

The big beads are the most sought after.  

And there's no such thing as too much fun.  Ask Richard.  He caught a few beads, but Will and Lane are taller, so they have a longer reach and now have more beads.  Jolie is cute and loves fun. She is also young enough...no one was lewd toward her.  She would just ask grandparent-looking people on the balconies for "somethin'." She caught the most and probably had the most fun.  Dusti and her friend Lindsey are 15-16, short and shy.  They caught beads but refused to beg or ask. They certainly did not consider showing skin.  Parents and grandparents can prevent such behavior, but even better is upbringing.

We grandparents just followed along and let the kids have fun.  It felt almost safe: there wasn't any of the really scary stuff happening, but we kept a close eye on the kids and stayed together. I counted us every few minutes, which meant counting the kids hundreds of times.  Sometimes it meant holding hands or pushing the kids away from an odd or scary-looking person, but I expected much worse behavior from the crowd.  I've heard so many stories. 

Where else can you go to the biggest party in the world and happen upon a Christian organization holding a revival only a block or so away?  NOLA.  Of course, there were thousands more people on Bourbon Street but there was a good showing for the revival, too.

Remember that I mentioned a migraine earlier.  Well, before the first parade rolled past, I was in my hotel room. Drapes closed, lights off, sounds silent, and people vacated.  They went to the parades.  Yes, plural.  There were two yesterday beginning at 4 and lasting until well after dark.  When Richard and a couple of grands returned, I was awake and somewhat alive.  

So we went to Mulate's for dinner where we listened to La Touche' play Cajun music.  The stimulation was pretty awesome: Cajun music and dancing, fabulous seafood platter, people in parade-float-worthy garments (such as kings and queens wear in NOLA).  

And the headache returned.  More later on part 2 of our Mardi Gras insanity.  

Pin It Weekly #96

It feels so much like a Sunday that I'd already begun a Sunday Quilt Inspiration before realizing that it should be Pin It instead.  

We have the Rose Parade going on TV, so I thought I'd share a few pins that I found from previous parades.

I've found a wonderful Pinterest board with almost 300 pins specifically for Rose Bowl photos.  

Thank you Cindy Dunstan for your Rose Bowl Parade board!

Here's hoping that you're having a wonderful New Year's Day.