Mardi Gras

I'm going to let the pictures speak for themselves. Mardi Gras weekend in New Orleans is basically five nights of mirthful marathon parading, both kid-friendly and R-rated. I, an introvert who covets her quiet, alone time, is now beholden to this wonderful city for an abundance of Mardi Gras tales and memories and really wouldn't change that for a billion strings of platinum and diamond beads.

In order of appearance. First, Krewe de Babylon:

Krewe of Muses:

 Hermes:

 Krewe d'Tat:

 Krewe of Mid-City:

Zulu:

Interlopers of the Southern Wild

Last weekend, we went on an air boat tour of Bayou Barataria, not far outside of NOLA (though it felt 1000s of miles from civilization, in many not-so-good ways; oh, hello, The South!). Though the tour itself was far less than tasteful, the scenery was delicious indeed. I didn't know that the WPA created the systems of canals in the wetlands of Louisiana. I thought, extremely naively in fact, that they just kind of existed, that they were made by nature. I don't have reason for that naivete, considering I have read the novel Swamplandia! by Karen Russell, about the man-made canals in the Florida Everglades. Anyway, we made our way through the brown sludgy water, lined on both sides with lush cypress trees, palmettos, and swamp grasses, covered with a hearty layer Spanish moss, only to encounter a modicum of wild life, including tortoises, herons, pelicans, and baby gators. It was beautiful and unique. I'm glad we did it, but I don't feel need to go back.

 Two baby gators on each end of the log:

Prince of Wales Social Aid And Leisure Club : Second Line Parade

Second Line parades are sooooooo New Orleans. In the early 1900s, Social Aid and Leisure Clubs (fun clubs) set up little parades (fun with friends and family) with a float (visually fun), some brass musicians playing upbeat, improvised Jazz (fun to hear), with revelers behind the floats and brass, swaying to the music and drinking (boozy, sweaty, dance-y fun). Thus, the revelers become part of the parade, or the second line.  These parades still exist today, many Sundays out of the year..

Fun is New Orleans's primary attribute. New Orleans is the friend begging you to stay for just one more Sazerac, to dance with them in the street, to sing a little louder. New Orleans cajoles you to bridge the gap between just letting go of inhibitions and making a total fool out of yourself. New Orleans always has a hangover in the morning and is slow to rise, and you wonder how long it can keep up this lifestyle; however, it must some hedonistic gene, or least strong endurance, for it always up for next go-round of the concept of fun.

City Park

Bienvenue to the first of my New Orleans blog posts.  I have been building slowly the photos that beg, plead, implore, and entreat to be taken in this most photogenic of cities.  I've been aggregating them by neighborhood, thereby languidly developing several blog posts at the same time.

The first will be of City Park, a sprawling multipurpose park (50% larger than Central Park!) located in the Mid-City neighborhood.  I tend to get overwhelmed by parks this large, but I do love that all the little bridges and benches and details that were WPA projects in the 1930s.

Random beauty on an overgrown hiking trail: