Happy Times Mardi Gras Festivities and Museum

Do you know What Mardi Gras and Lent Have in Common?

I  am 55 years old and I can honestly say I had no idea what Mardi Gras was all about! I think I must have known at some point in my life, but it was news to me when Dave and I visited the Mardi Gras Museum in Lake Charles Louisiana. 

A talking alligator told us that Mardi Gras is French for "Fat Tuesday", reflecting the practice of the last night of eating richer, fatty foods before the ritual fasting of the Lenten season. 

The other thing I did not know was that in Louisiana, Mardi Gras is more of a season than a one time celebration on Fat Tuesday!  The Carnival season begins on January 6th and runs until the beginning of Lent. Carnival can run as long as two months, depending on the church calendar.    

I found a PBS video on You Tube that can explain it better than I can! 

Click the word "this" to go to the video from PBS  THIS  


The Kings and Queens costumes tells a story of the wearer's personality, family history & heritage, hobbies, college fraternities and or etc. Mardi Gras costumes can be over the top it can weigh as much as 150 pounds and cost $5,000!

Can you imagine carrying this around with you for several hours?

 This is a picture of the type of shoulder harness that many of the costumes used.

Contrary to popular belief, the first Mardi Gras parade in the United States didn't take place in New Orleans. It was held in Mobile, Alabama in the early 1700s, when the area was still under French rule. 

The official Mardi Gras colors are Purple, Green and Gold they represent Power, Faith, and Justice. I found this photo on line of the official Mardi Gras Flag.

Floats first appeared in the mid-1800s but they were no where near as intricate as they are today! Back then they decorated horse-drawn carriages and wagons. 

1839 The Mardi Gras Prade consisted of one float! 

Today some of the floats are hand painted by artist, are double decker and all lit up! People involved in designing and making of these floats work year round to get the next one ready 
for next years events! 

  Looking at these photos I found on line, you can easily see why they take a year to make! 

Mardi Gras doesn't just cause people to do crazy things, the dogs have decided to get in on the act as well! These are non copyrighted photos I found on line.

DLC Horses, Dogs, and Good People

Moving on to new adventures, first winter in 6 that we won't be staying and working at Deer Lake Cabins. We were beginning to worry that we weren't going to have a place to go to and the night before leaving Deer Lake, we got two offers in Louisiana with in 40 miles of each other!

The video reflects the things I will miss the most: a good friend, some of the animals and then more of the animals! LOL

So I guess we will be heading to Louisiana to try to find a home for this winter!

Shylo Enjoys His Time AT DLC

One of the hardest things about not working this winter at Deer Lake Cabins Ranch Resort is Shylo not having his friends to play with while Dave and I work!

The two weeks we spent on the ranch, he took advantage of every opportunity to play with his friends!

 This video has music to it and initially it sounds like it is just instrumental; the kind I would likely hit mute and watch it in silence! LOL

The song is called Aimless and it is the work of Josh Woodward, my favorite go to artist for music that is not copyright protected, or at least has a share and credit the artist expectation. You should look him up if you ever need royalty free music!

Anyhow, listen to the words and enjoy!

The two weeks we spent on the ranch, he took advantage of every opportunity to play with his friends!

Old Friends Good Times On On Way...

Spending the last 6 winters working on the same ranch became  a lot more than a place to work! It became our winter home equipped with lifetime friends, that became our family away from home.

We got to visit with Johnny and spent Christmas reminiscing all of our good times. Had the most unconventional Christmas Dinner but it was spectacular! 

The s'mores were especially good!

All though I cry a lot during these holiday's missing my family back home, I am thankful for the opportunity to do what we do! 

If Dave and I hadn't started this snow birding lifestyle before the grandkids were born, I would have never started! So it is bittersweet, I love it and hate it all at the same time.

We video chat with the grandkids, but spotty Internet connections and the kids busy lives, it isn't as often as we would like. We try to make it fun 

when we can!

I send the grandkids snail mail on occasion and love it when some of them open it while video chatting, it is fun to see their reactions to the silly things I sometimes make for them. 

This year I got a late start on mail, because we were still trying to find a place to work after our two week visit at Deer Lake Cabins. 

Shylo REALLY enjoyed his time on the ranch and played like crazy with his friends Blue and TIG, but we will have to save that for another post!