halloween, nola

There is a lot of territory to cover in the back 40, and I am going to overdo with photos because,  New Orleans, and a stylin' wedding. And I can't seem to figure out how to share that many photos, so here goes. It begins on Halloween eve. Yes, I know that Halloween itself means eve (of All Hallows Day), but don't give me grief. I mean the night before Halloween.
   It was genteel.

These are my cousins, Richard and his son Merrell, from Talladega, Alabama. They arrived to fete Richard's sister Glenn's son (if you can follow all this, maybe you can move to the south), who was getting married.

My cousin Glenn (Richard's sister) and her husband Michael entertained us at a restaurant called The Country Club in the Bywater. It has a pool and used to have nude swimming before it went all hetero.

We have made it to the morning of Halloween. Richard and Merrell and I went to Elizabeth's, a great breakfast joint with a notoriously long line. We waited half an hour for a table. Better to get there early.

Yes, I had the praline bacon and OMG grits, which I never make for myself but do love. Richard and I had mimosas, also. Merrell, although 22, does not drink. And when they had no change, they gave it to us in more mimosas. Which, in retrospect, may have been a mistake.

It may have been the mimosas, or the subsequent martinis, but we made friends everywhere we went that day. Especially in the Quarter, where everyone was happy to pose in their Halloween costumes.

Yes, this is Bourbon Street, the honkiest tonkiest place I've ever been. Sample T-shirt: I got Bourbon-faced on Shit Street. And that's about the size of it. Naturally, on Halloween it was really special.

If she looks like she's above the crowd, it's because shes on really high stilts, adding to the sideshow effect of the whole street and the whole day. Had I gotten any closer I would have had to put a dollar in her garter.

This mother and daughter were visiting from Milwaukee, where they know from brewski. I finally realized that people wanted the pics and started texting them to their phones. This required interaction.