Mardi Gras in Shreveport

I can't believe it has been over 6 months since I posted to this blog. We went on vacation and all was well until our return trip...then it became the trip from hell. Add to this the demise of our beloved Fisher lovebird the day after our return, and I was depressed for weeks. Weeks melted into months and after a while I just couldn't get back into the bloggy thing. Not that anyone noticed (except joyce, bless her pea-pickin' heart). I hadn't been a very dedicated blogger but I had been enjoying finding bookish (and other) items of interest to share with folks.

After Saturday's Highland Mardi Gras parade here in Shreveport I decided it was time to break the hiatus and share photos of the event. When I was growing up in S'port city (a long time ago), Mardi Gras wasn't celebrated much in "way-up-north" (to paraphrase Justin Wilson) Louisiana. One had to visit "Sin City" (aka New Orleans, a bastion of Catholicism) to celebrate Mardi Gras.

That's no longer the case! I think North Louisiana has done a good job of catching up. The parades are great and the king cake from Julie Ann's Bakery is to die for (we actually bought their 11,000th cake on Tuesday...or so they said!). Maybe this year's parades were so much bigger 'cause people couldn't or wouldn't go to New Orleans or that there were more displaced New Orleanians around to add to the festivities. All I know is the Highland parade stretched on forever (well, almost) and a good time was had by most. Hope you enjoy the photos as much as we enjoyed being there, catching and throwing beads, cups, candy, gum, hot dogs, moon pies, and more. Our dog is STILL stopped up from eating so much candy (in the wrappers, mind you). We sure tried to keep her out of it. The Krewe of Barkus and Meowus even threw dog biscuits!