Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

That's what Cindi Lauper would have us believe. I accept it. The taste and judgment of these ladies might be questioned but then that's what Mardi Gras is all about.

By the way, that's a tee shirt in the second picture. She told me she had to go all the way to New Orleans to buy it.                                   

STL Mardi Gras Parade / City Daily Photo Theme Day

It's that time again when the only constraint on St. Louisans' behavior is the temperature. New Orleans blows us away, of course, but we probably have the next biggest Mardi Gras celebration in the US. The parade proceeds from the baseball stadium south to the Soulard neighborhood. Let it all hang out.

My computer tells me that I snapped the shutter 1,117 times in four hours. Half were cut in the first pass. There are some gems among the remainder. Days worth of material, and it works pretty well for the CDP "people in the street" theme day. Click here for pedestrians from around the world.                          

The World's Fair Pavillion

This post could also be titled "Filler." I got nothing new. Too much work and extra things to do around the house that Mrs. C normally covers. Her recovery from her knee replacement is coming along well but it's still a slow, difficult process. 

So anyway, these are two panos of one of the two buildings left in Forest Park from the 1904 World's Fair, the other being the Art Museum. Hard to tell here since the pano technique and wide angle lens create distortion on the sides, but this is at the top of a rather grand hill. There are a lot of wedding receptions here. When I was in college, the Grateful Dead showed up on Sunday afternoons and played here for free a few times after regular theater shows. Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear . . . 

Today is one of the year's main photo ops in The Lou, the big Mardi Gras parade. Pix of crazy people on the march starting tomorrow.                            

The French Monarchy And Cake

Well, of course, it was a queen - the last one - who supposedly took part in this dialogue: "Your Majesty, the peasants have no bread." "Then let them eat cake."  We here in STL are doing a variation. The only French monarch to make sainthood, Louis IX, astride his horse in front of the art museum, offers a cake to the city for our 250th anniversary. What a nice guy.                        

It's Thursday And There's An Arch In There Somewhere

It's really cold again. Not bad by the standards of people further north but I'm tired of it. This too shall pass. Soon, please.                           

Genetically Modified

I've seen this breed of dog, and maybe with this owner, at the parade before. Don't remember the name - Jilly, an expert in all things canine, would know - but I don't like what's going on. The little animal is bred to look like a pathetic cripple, its left eye scrunched up and tongue always lolling out the left side of the mouth. I find it more sad than cute.

The woman with her daughter and dog below are doing a pink/mauve theme. Note the matching stuffed toy dog in the girl's arm. The big parade on Saturday will get way crazier than this.

Some scholar somewhere must have researched the history and motives of parades. Maybe had its start with victorious armies but I'd love to know what keeps the tradition going, particularly at events such as this.                           

Dogs And Owners

Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who's the weirdest of them all?

I must be poorly socialized or full of existential angst or just a snob or something. I would no sooner do something like this than watch an episode of Duck Dynasty.  Everybody here is just out having some fun with their dogs but while I'd shoot the event, I wouldn't walk in it. My shoes are cleaner that way. And besides, I don't have a dog.                                 

Don't know if it's the same in New Orleans, but the Mardi Gras colors here are purple, green and yellow. Seems a bit bilious, which I guess is appropriate for the occasion. The big gigantic crazy parade is this Saturday. There is an other parade next Tuesday night on the actual evening before Ash Wednesday. Never got out to shoot that one before but it starts right in front of our new office building so no excuses.