Krewe of Bonaparte Parade

Lena and Jim knew exactly the right spot for watching the parade, right at its beginning. We briefly wished we had brought chairs with us, but then how could we have caught all the beads (and in my case, taken all the fuzzy pictures)? So many marching bands and marching girls came through that I actually stopped taking photos of them. They were all from local high schools and in some cases junior highs. One observation that I am tempted to make from this short exposure is that integration seems to be more of a theory than a practice around here if the marching bands are any indication. The floats were magnificent. What my photos don't capture is that each float had loud music accompanying it. Quite the street party!!

A term that Lena and Jim threw out a few times was "Bead Whore". That is a person who will do anything for beads and tries to really load up on them. Well, that certainly would never be us! Luckily both Jims and Lena were working hard to catch those beads while I was taking photos and ducking the darn things. They kept piling them on me and one could have mistaken me for a bead ______ if you didn't know any better. Lena caught the big prize of the night. Each float has a few special prizes they throw occasionally, and you are very lucky if you can snag the attention of the person who is dispersing those very stingily. She was thrilled to catch a necklace with a large Mardi Gras mask on it, and being the gracious and generous hostess that she is, she immediately bestowed it on me! I will treasure that.

After the parade we hit the City Bar for a nightcap and then drove back to Breaux Bridge for dinner at Cafe des Amis--which was quite a bit quieter than in the morning--where we met Lena's oldest daughter and her husband also dining out. What a memorable day!