New Orleans

We went down to New Orleans for the early parades of Mardi Gras, January 31. Our daughter Berrian was part of Krewe Delusion, the sub-krewe of the Chicken Flockers. She had made a fabulous paper mache head of a chicken called Petunia, that we put the finishing touches on while it was in the yard of Chris Lane. The idea was that Petunia had just hatched from a golden egg that was pulled through the streets in last year's parade. Here Berrian is doing some repairs to the head. Petunia was a fabulous chicken. Her mouth opened and closed!

I spent much of my time, after the parade got underway, in the back of the chicken, tossing out feathers from an old comforter, which the crowd seemed to love. Here you can see that her neck has been tidied up with ... duct tape!

We pulled her through the streets to the den, and then many of the folks in the krewe went to watch the Krewe du Vieux parade, after which Krewe Delusion fell in behind them. Krewe du Vieux is a very political parade, and this year's theme, Begging for Change, applied to all kinds of social and political change! Gay marriage, sexual abuse in schools, "genetically modified orgasms", Penetrating Cuba, and "Toke of the Town" at the New Yorker...

Both these parades refuse motorized floats. The floats in Krewe du Vieux are pulled by mules, and those in Delusion by human power.

We passed out the Krewe's faux newspaper, the  Times-Chickayune, as one of the "throws". Other throws were stickers, pendants (the "king throw" that Berrian had created), and jello shots. It WAS New Orleans... Here's the pendant/medallion:

And here are links to posts about how the float and the throws were made.

Berrian's other costume was a red arm-waving guy, such as you see being animated by a fan at auto dealerships. It was a huge hit.

Amazing and wonderful!