What Do You Do in February in New Orleans?

It's Mardi Gras in New Orleans! Woo-hoo! The first parade of the season was last Saturday night, the Krewe du Vieux (pronounced Crew d' View for those of us who are French-Canadian-challenged). I was to meet a few folks from the Food Bank at a certain place around 8-9 p.m. I was there early, which was a good thing because the parade was early too. I never met my people but I certainly saw everyone else in the world--O...M...G...and me a confirmed crowd avoider. It's funny, I used to be a crowd lover in my younger days. If there was a "happening" I wanted to be there. Now all I want to do is see it, take a picture and go home. So here are the pictures, mostly bad but I never claimed to be Ansel Adams (he wouldn't have wanted to be there either).

This is the corner of St. Peter and Royal St. where I was supposed to hook up with my peeps. Do you see them anywhere?

It was impossible to get to the front of the crowd and actually see the parade. The Krewe du Vieux is known for its old-time Mardi Gras feel: marchers on foot, very low tech floats drawn by mules (I kept trying to get a mule shot but they all came out bad). It's also very tongue-in-cheek, satirical, and raunchy as you'll see in a minute. I was only able to get this one close-up of a parade participant:the fairy gentleman in green, not the woman winking.

This float represents Fannie Mae giving it to Freddie Mac up the you-know-what. This was typical of the kinds of floats. Lots of commentary on bailouts, etc.

This is the Sperm Bank float. It speaks for itself. Something gross about "trickle-down" economics.

That's all from the Big Easy. My only other news is that I seem to have sprung a leak as a result of my run-in with the light pole in Port St. Lucie. It has rained the past couple days and water is seeping near the head of my bed, not on me just the mattress. The adventure continues!