Barkus 2011! The Best Mardi Gras Parade!

"Hey Vern, how come you made me put down my cafe au lait and come out here?  What's up?" 

"I thought I heard a WHOLE BUNCH of barking from down the street, Mel.  Can you see anything?" 

"OMG, Vern--it's a freaking DOG parade!" 

"Wow, Mel, let's get the human and go down and smell some butts!  Woo hoo!!"

I have no idea what the theme of Barkus was this year, but it really doesn't matter.  It was Harry Potter a couple years ago and this year there were STILL little kids running around in wizard robes stabbing each other with wands.  Maybe the theme was "Le Grand Tete De Chien", which I think means "bigass dog head" but, as usual, it sounds better in Frenchie. 

Here we have the flag of the United States, the flag of Louisiana, and the flag of All That Is Gay and Maaaaahvahlus.  Gotta love New Orleans . . .

The parade starts just outside the French Quarter in Louis Armstrong (famous NOLA homeboy) Park and proceeds at a snail's pace into the Quarter.  I mean, how fast can you  move when you're pushing your dog in a decorated shopping cart?  Plus there's all that stopping and sniffing and occasional pooping and stuff.  I thought it was appropriate that I got this shot of the giant saxophone going right past Preservation Hall, long-time home of traditional jazz.  I haven't ever been there because there's no air conditioning, chairs OR bathrooms.  I mean, I like jazz and all, but there's just so much suffering I'm going to go through to listen to it.

Obviously, this little guy has had one too many Old Brown Dog Ales and his widdle head hurts.  I took his photograph in a bar across the street from Preservation Hall called Boondock Saints, which DOES have a/c, chairs and bathrooms.  As well as drunken puppies.  Oh, and for all you doglovers who are getting apoplectic about this . . . I'M JOKING, THE DOG'S NOT REALLY DRUNK!  It was so cool to sit there and watch all the dogs coming and going--most bars in the Quarter allow dogs as long as they're leashed and they behave themselves.

Or, is that the rule for the two-legged denizens of The Abbey Bar (another favorite of ours), a total dive bar that has had a visit or two from its neighbors the Jolie-Pitts?

I usually make a costume for Holly, The World's Biggest Chihuahua, but this year I waited too long and of course I didn't know what the theme was (although I certainly could've dolled her up like Hermione or that moaning ghost girl).  In years past, she's been an angel:

A Flying Monkey (my greatest creation--I can't sew but I can wield a mean glue gun!): 

A Mom companion: 

And, in HER greatest role, she functioned as a Guide Dog For The Blind (Drunk): 

That's The World's Biggest Pug, Tank, saying in dog talk, "Hey Holly, let's ditch this drunk broad and go poop on the sidewalk somewhere."  To her credit, Holly declined.

Hope y'all had a great weekend--for the first time ever, I was a seller, not a buyer, at our local flea market and actually did pretty well considering I was almost literally GIVING STUFF AWAY.  As a matter of fact, I DID literally give a few things away.  You know how you get when it's nearly time to close up shop and there's a bunch of crap on the table that you do NOT want to wrap back up and lug home.  If you're like me (and OMG, I hope you're NOT for your sake!) you start grabbing little kids and loading them up with plush toys and offering reproduction Depression glass sugars to ladies in wheelchairs.

Believe you me, ALOT of people were asking when I was going to come back and "sell" more junk!