Happy Mardi Gras!

Today is Fat Tuesday, and I'm sure the *real* Mardi Gras in New Orleans is well underway. Last Saturday, though, James, Steven, and I went to a Mardi Gras parade in Jefferson, Texas. It was a little cooler than I would've liked, but the sun managed to come out before the parade was over. Steven stayed close to the front lines and managed to get a LOT of beads, even with the tall grown man standing near him who was able to snag about 99% of the beads landing within his reach.

It's disappointing to see people like that--he was at least 40 years old and was putting all of the beads around the neck of his wife of the same age, while MANY children around him had very few beads and were unable to get many because of him. A lady standing near me kept making comments about him to me, and after a while, she was annoying me more than he was. Her grandson was standing near Steven and hadn't managed to get any beads, and she was placing the blame solely on the bead-greedy man (which I didn't think was exactly accurate). She soon snatched her grandson away from the front to come stand in the back with her, where he not only was unable to catch beads at all, but he couldn't even see the parade! I felt sorry for the kid and offered him the one strand of beads that Steven had given me at the start of the parade, but the lady wouldn't let me. The kid then showed me that he had many, many strands of beads around his neck, under his sweatshirt, so I was confused. I was glad when both the kid and his grandmother disappeared a few minutes later. People were also throwing beads off the balcony of this building, and lots of beads got caught on the telephone lines. Oops.

I didn't catch many beads, and I really didn't try to. I was mostly concerned with being pelted by them, so if I saw a strand coming my way, I tried to grab it only to prevent it from hitting me. One strand did actually hit me, and I actually caught it, creating rampant jealousy around me because this particular strand was very unique. It had huge, gumball sized beads on it that were very heavy--and one of the beads hit me right on my front tooth, which hurt more than you might expect. Steven later hit himself in the tooth with the beads and agreed that it hurt.

We didn't hang around much after the parade, mostly because we had spent all of our money at the General Store. Jefferson is an old antique-y, touristy town, and the General Store is a combination of old-fashioned soda fountain/ice cream shop and novelty/souvenir store. I got a mini-tape measure keychain for my knitting bag--I've really been wanting a retractable one. James got some white chocolate/macademia nut coated popcorn which he liked and I tolerated. Steven got a Chinese yo-yo and rock candy when I refused to let him get the rubber band gun or slingshot. I think they both had a good time, anyway.

In addition to going to Mardi Gras, James experienced the additional excitement of having hot links for the first (and probably last) time. I had hoped to enjoy some pizza from Fran's, but they were closed for the weekend, so Pizza Inn was substituted. Maybe next time...