Caution: Flying Produce Ahead

Hello dear friends,

If you haven't caught on by now: New Orleans knows how to celebrate. So of course St. Patrick's Day this weekend was no exception! Nor is today, St. Joseph's Day, which is also Super Sunday here in the Crescent City.

First: St. Patty's. In addition to the block parties and other shenanigans that go on at various local establishments, there is (waiiit for it...) a parade! Just having recovered from the more than 20 parades we caught during Mardi Gras, we were claiming our spot in the neutral ground once again. Four parades rolled in New Orleans and the surrounding towns on Saturday, but we just caught the one Uptown, nearest to our house. This particular parade (which turned out to be quite lengthy) featured multiple walking clubs with marchers dressed in anything from full kilt get-ups to top hats and coattails and everything in between. Most of these folks carried umbrella handles full of flowers. Some flowers were the standard artificial silk, some made of wood, and some crafted out of tissue paper and wire. All along the route, they gift these flowers to parade goers, often in exchange for a kiss on the cheek. In case you're having trouble picturing the flower-filled-umbrella-handle thing, check out these dudes in a picture borrowed from nola.com:

Read more about the history of the parade here. Also, see more Times-Picayune pictures of the parade here.

After most of the marching groups came the floats. In addition to the obligatory beads and assorted toys, the more entertaining throws included cabbage and a multitude of other produce (typically ingredients that go into stew), and Irish Spring soap. Personally I scored a cabbage, a carrot, and an onion. I've got some cooking to do tonight! We'll see how that goes...

After the parade we had a little rest at the house, and then headed out to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants. Our window table at Rum House provided ample opportunity for people watching and a fascinating opportunity to see how quickly the city can clean up a street after a parade. (I s'pose they've had plenty of practice at this point.)

In an effort to keep these posts short-ish (even I start skimming after a few paragraphs...oops), I think I'll save Super Sunday for another post, but be on the lookout for that soon! For now, here are a few pictures of Ashley, Lauren and me at the parade. And for the record, stick-on mustaches are not the most comfortable things in the world. But they sure are festive!

Love,
Allison

Pre-parade mustache modeling.

Cabbage!

Carrots, onions, and garlic, oh my!