Brought to you by the letter B

Logic will get you from A to B.  Imagination will take you everywhere.  
                                                                                                 - Albert Einstein

Week 6: B is for....(birds, Barbie, breakfast bowl, bottles, beads & baubles, besties, and baby burrito)

Down on Galveston Island, Mardi Gras festivities are in full swing, and tomorrow is the big day, Fat Tuesday.  It's hard to miss this gala event, as the Mardi Gras colors of purple, gold, and green are everywhere.  King Cakes can be found at any grocery, bakery, or coffee shop, and streets are blocked off in town because they are parade routes.  Strangers greet you with shouts of "Happy Mardi Gras" and everyone is festooned with so many beads around their necks that they can barely stand up straight.

Mardi Gras is the culmination of the Carnival season, which lasts from Epiphany (6 January) to Lent (40 days of fasting, plus 6 Sundays, before Easter).  Mardi Gras is French for 'Fat Tuesday', which is seen as the last hurrah of eating before the austerity of Lent.  It is definitely a celebration of excess!  The oldest Mardi Gras celebrations in the US occured near New Orleans in 1699 and in Mobile, Alabama in 1703.  Mardi Gras Galveston began in 1867, and today it attracts between 200,000 and 300,000 revelers (mostly depending on the weather!).  Mardi Gras parades and celebrations in Galveston begin on the Friday twelve days before Fat Tuesday.  On that night, the Knights of Momus Krewe holds a debutante ball honoring the Duchesses of Momus and culminating with the coronation of King Frivolous.

There are numerous parades on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of both weekends of Mardi Gras and then of course on Fat Tuesday.  The Knights of Momus parade is on the Saturday night before Fat Tuesday, and there is a huge shindig called the San Luis Salute on the Friday night before Fat Tuesday.  The theme of this year's salute was Hollywood Supper Clubs and Debbie Harry, aka Blondie, was the musical headliner.

Our Mardi Gras celebration was small this year - we only went to the Momus parade, but it was such fun because my sister Kim was with us, and our friend Mary Jo was down from Tennessee for the festivities.  And now I'm spending time with my sweet granddaughter Morgan this week so that her parents can have a nice Valentine's Day celebration.  Big hugs and birthday greetings to my sweet granddaughter Elliot today, too!!  I'm looking forward to seeing her and Gray later this month.

So Happy Mardi Gras, y'all!!  Laissez les bons temps rouler!  (Let the good times roll!)

Jan