DAY 47: FAT TUESDAY!

DAY 47:  FAT TUESDAY

Here we are…the day before Ash Wednesday. Some call this day FAT TUESDAY. I think that is the literal translation from the French “Mardi Gras”. 

This is the day where no holds are barred…the day we traditionally eat and drink with abandon before embarking on forty days of desert-like soul-searching and self improvement.  It’s the one day above all others that we celebrate our excesses– our last hurrah before plunging our psyches into forty whole days of Lenten ashes and sacrifice and self-examination, hoping we’ll arise from those ashes a better person on Easter Sunday.

If you do anything consistently for forty days, you have formed a habit. You’ve transcended an addiction, or made a selfless work a regular part of your life. Forty days of a well-spent and thoughtful Lenten season can be life changing.

But let’s not get the cart before the horse, here! Lent will come soon enough; THIS, my friends, is the night for excess and celebration!

In that vein, I will find for you some celebratory pictures…with a Mardi Gras theme…

 

"Something for Everyone"! The first in our celebration is a photo of a group of young people in the middle of the night, parading down the streets of Lebanon in the oddest clothing they could yank from my closet in like five minutes.  The underwear on the head…the scarves…well, all of it was a spontaneous bit of fun! Can’t do that during Lent. But you CAN do that on FAT TUESDAY! I think of this parade as the Marion County version of Mardi Gras!

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Of course, after midnight fun in the Leb is not complete without the ceremonial tossing of the undies in the Farmer's Bank fountain...

If you are younger...like about 5, you might choose to celebrate your excess by going head first down a long flight of stairs. Ahhh! Go head first down those stairs tonight, girl! Then give up your biggest vice: CANDY!!! (Oh - those were the days!)

Just a few months before Katrina hit New Orleans - home of the Mardi Gras - we visited there. Here we are at Commander's Palace, one of the best restaurants in the city, with Lallie, an owner of the establishment, in their kitchen. When Katrina hit, they had to close for several months. They lost a lot of the employees they had when we visited - I felt a connection with that place, so I would look in on a group for communication among the Commanders Palace employees. They were all leaving and desperately seeking work, though I believe Commanders kept paying them all for quite some time even though they were forced to close for quite awhile because of the disaster and the subsequent renovations.

 

 Me - at the cemetery gate near Commander's Palace. Did I make this haunting enough? Mardi Gras is nearly over now. It is time for Lent.

Hopefully, this Lenten season wil be the death of some of my vices and a renewal of some of the good things in my life!

I thought I would post more celebratory pictures here, but...though the spirit is willing, the flesh is weak. I am going to BED!!! Good night, all.