Another candid taken in the staging area of the Mardi Gras parade. Don't know what the faceted mirror ball is about but it looks cool. Time to get out on the street and find some new stuff. The orchid show is on at the botanical garden. The whole set of parade pictures beyond what was posted here is at https://www.flickr.com/photos/bobcrowe/albums/72177720332037623 .
I got a couple of decent street portraits at the Mardi Gras parade. This one shows how the drizzle dampened streets but not spirits. Speaking of which, she's not drinking alcohol. QT, Qwik Trip, is a chain of gas stations with big convenience stores. The contents of the cup are undoubtedly full of sugar.
Today marks the completion of my 76th orbit around the sun. Doing pretty well for that, still upright, taking pictures and flying. In March and April I'll hit seven countries (albeit some briefly) plus a plane change in an eighth. Don't slow down.
Krewe is a word taken from Mardi Gras in New Orleans, used to identify a social group that has a float or performs together in the parade. A long-standing and delightfully wacky local one is the Gateway Precision Lawn Chair Krewe. They perform close order drill with light folding lawn chairs. I caught them rehearsing on an empty parking lot.
Fredbird is the mascot of the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team. He shows up at all sorts of public events, besides his duties at games. Here he is hanging out at a gas station along the parade staging area that is losing its sales for a half day. The men in black are members of the Shriners, a Masonic organization, who buzz around the streets in mini go-karts.
Do NOT send your arrows this way. You have to remember, though, that the Mardi Gras parade was held on Valentine's Day.
It was drizzling yesterday morning when I decided to take a chance and go downtown to check out the Mardi Gras parade. As one of our colleagues reminded me, there is no bad weather, just bad clothing. The parade's policy is to go on, rain or shine. I go early and work the staging area, where the participants ane milling around and everyone is happy to pose.
Today, Saturday, is supposed to be our Mardi Gras parade. The organizers claim it is the second biggest in the U.S., after New Orleans. But they have several over a few days and we just have the one shot. The forecast is for rain all day but, from what I know, the parade isn't canceled. The organizers couldn't afford to lose all sales at their party tents. So the usual mass swilling on the street will be washed away.
Turn around from the parade route and look up. The locomotives of a Union Pacific freight train are about to cross the Mississippi, passing just in front of the Arch. Then there is a billboard promoting St. Louis Public Schools. A bit sad that they need one.
Mardi Gras parade participants don’t have to walk the route. Many ride on floats. Alternatively, you could decorate a motorized wheelchair. However, the cigarette won’t help you get back on your feet.
Mardi Gras floats don’t have to make sense. They are supposed to have a theme but the idea is loose and I don’t remember what this one was about (if anything). The yellow-purple-green color scheme refers to the season, although maybe not art school standards. Some people put an awful lot of work into the center of this float.
The local chapter of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence is a fixture at the Mardi Gras parade, Pridefest and other out-there events. Who are they? See https://www.thesisters.org/ . Never met one who wasn’t happy to pose. If you are dressed like that you certainly aren’t shy.
The phrase is universally associated with Mardi Gras in the U.S. - let the good times roll. I’ve heard that it makes almost no sense to French speakers. Still, there was plenty of fun as the floats rolled through our parade.
Wednesday is the start of Lent in the Christian world, a season of self-denial and repentance. The days leading up to it, not so much. The time is called Carnival in most most places and the day before Ash Wednesday, at least in the U.S., is Mardi Gras - Fat Tuesday. No American city comes close to New Orleans but we have a pretty good party here. The big parade is on Saturday and St. Louis gets wacky, More to come.
One group in the St. Patrick's Day parade was a fleet of Jeeps in odd paint jobs with a row of small rubber ducks at the bottom of the windshield. The overall effect was a rolling party with plenty of CO2 emissions.
It got cold again here this week. Travel days today and tomorrow. By Wednesday afternoon we will be in some serious heat at what has become our home from home..
I've been shooting our St. Patrick's Day for years and have often mentioned the amount of alcohol sloshing around ante meridian. More than once, I've noted that St. Louis loves an excuse to drink in public. In the hi res version of this pic, you can see that the bottles between the two men are vodka and Bloody Mary mix. Reminds me of a picture I took at the parade 15 years ago (see below).
I accidentally shot this picture at f 9, probably my arthritic fingers knocking the aperture ring on the lens. The background was much too busy so I tried Photoshop's new Blur Background tool. I think I overdid it.
Fahrenheit 451 is supposed to be the ignition temperature of paper. It is also the name of a 1953 dystopian novel by Ray Bradbury, in which all books are banned and "firemen" incinerate any that are found. It struck me as a strange theme for a boozy, silly festival. Maybe it had something to do with the troubling tendency in this country to remove books from libraries and schools that some people find objectionable. Okay, but at Mardi Gras?
