On the streetcar

I rode the streetcar to school yesterday - three times in one hour. Long story about why, but I did. During one ride I watched a little girl actually do something useful with Mardi Gras beads - she braided three strands (purple, silver, and white) together and then stuck them in her hair. I see today the Tulane Women in Business Club is collecting beads for Goodwill.

The driver calls out the stops. "Napoleon!" "Constantinople!" "St. John's Infirmary!" "Nashville!"

Today's Setchie's memorial. I couldn't attend, but I helped make T-shirts with transfers of his art to be worn by D and Mae-Z at the service.

Return to Normalcy

In New Orleans, normalcy is a relative term. However, now that the Super Bowl and Mardi Gras are over, the city returns to whatever normalcy exists here. Such as a mayor's race that's already gotten into the muddy, bead-infested gutter.

Fat Tuesday

It's Mardi Gras in a few minutes. The kings of Zulu and Rex have landed and the party can now begin.

I've now been to 17 parades (yes, 17) since last Tuesday: two each day from Tuesday to Friday; three on Saturday; four yesterday; and two today. I've caught unknown pounds of beads, which now adorn the bedposts on my side of the bed. There are two parades tomorrow, Zulu and Rex. However, we're going to pass on them since we have to get into the French Quarter to get a decent parking space and get into our costume. This year we scored the ultimate - the use of an apartment on Royal Street one block from this year's Bourbon Street Awards at Bourbon Street and St. Anne. Now we won't have to change into our costume in a car or at the Pub's bathroom and we'll have a place for private potty breaks.

I'll share pictures later if I remember to take them...