Coffee Break [15/2/21]

Your mid-morning pick me up.

Tomorrow is Fat Tuesday. The last day of the carnival season, the final blowout before the forty days of Lent. I’m not a religious person, but I can appreciate the idea of sacrifice as a means to deepening a commitment. But the last eleven months have felt like one long Lenten observation. We’ve given up most social contact, spontaneity, and milestone celebrations. Many people are experiencing isolation and financial insecurity, as well as the loss of loved ones. Forgoing annual events is the responsible thing to do but the loss of customs and rituals that bring us joy and foster community is a bitter if necessary pill to swallow. Thanks to the good people of New Orleans, we can enjoy some of the fun of Mardi Gras with none of the risk. This year it’s Yardi Gras!

Little Shop of 2020 Horrors house

Locals can drive by the decorated homes and floats.

Floats in the Oaks, New Orleans City Park

The rest of us will have to make do with pics and videos from the map. Note, not every location includes a pic. Possibly nsfw.

The Pussyfooters – Quarantine and Chill

Laissez les bons temps rouler!

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57 Comments

  1. For me, every Tuesday is Fat Tuesday.  There’s also Fat Monday, Fat, Wednesday, Fat Thursday, Fat Friday, Obese Saturday, and Remorseful-but-still-Fat Sunday.

  2. My mom is from New Orleans and we still have a bunch of family there but I never made it to Mardi Gras.  I do love the food and music of that city, we could definitely do many DUANs on that city and never hit all the greats.  I was listening to a radio host playing all New Orleans rock and he said that he thought the Rock Hall of Fame should have been there until Katrina hit and he said, “Yeah, maybe now I get why they put it in Cleveland”. 

    • They have the Jazz Museum in New Orleans don’t they? As a native yinzer I hate giving Cleveland credit for anything but the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame belongs there.

      • Yeah, they have the Jazz Museum which seems appropriate but why do you think Cleveland is the right place for Rock & Roll Hall of Fame?  

        • Cleveland has always had a great music scene, one that rivals larger cities. Punk in particular. 

        • It’s because of Alan Freed, the Cleveland DJ who coined the term “Rock and Roll.”  He also promoted and hosted what is considered to be the first major rock concert, the Moondog Coronation Ball.
          Also, why Huey Lewis had that lyric about the heart of rock and roll still beating in Cleveland.

          • Cleveland has always been on the cutting edge for music. They’d get shows there way before the ‘burgh. We’d go to clubs there to see bands. Saw a lot of great blues shows in Cleveland.

  3. Welp, good thing I’m WFH, that’s alot of boobage right there…

    • Cleavage but no nudity. Should I have put a NSFW warning?

      • maybe a lower case nsfw warning!

        • Edited to include, some other links from the map might be as well. Thanks

  4.  But the last eleven months have felt like one long Lenten observation. 

     
    I have been extremely lucky with work, wife, and other connections. But this is still spot on, and more so for a lot of folks.

    • I can’t complain to much, I’ve had it easy compared to a lot of people but there’s still only so much I can give up. With the ice last week and again today I can’t even get outside. Trying to remember it’s temporary.

      • I hear that, I went out yesterday to empty the compost and my walkway was ridiculous, also, don’t forget to look up as well, the sun is just warm enough so that giant icicles are forming, if they fall they can cause nasty injuries.
         

        • We haven’t had much sun so that hasn’t been a problem,lol.

        • over here we now have puddles on ice…..its fantastic..lol
          super extra slippy and if you go over you get soaked…yaaaaay!

          • @farscythe A few weeks ago I posted a video of a woman in Ukraine slipping repeatedly on ice. karma is biting me in the ass. You must have laughed at that video and it’s come for you too.

        • It’s 82 degrees here and I’m wearing a short-sleeved Hawaiian shirt. 
           
          Just thought I’d throw that out there.

          • THANKS! 🤬

            Just kidding, enjoy it.🙂

          • Meanwhile on the other side of the country, I’m on my roof trying to push snow off my solar panels w/out falling off!

              • I made my daughter hold the ladder, I broke my snow pushing instrument before I got very many panels cleared and came back down. 

                • Well, that’s not good. Can you get one locally or do you need to order it?

                  • I was just using a brush on an extension pole I used to clean the RV with.  I can get a new one at Costco or Camping World.

                    • I thought maybe you had to have a special tool. 

      • If you get enough freezing rain and ice every year, these are totally worth it.
         
        STABILicers Walk
         

         
        I have the running versions and I have yet to fall while wearing them on ice or hard-pack snow.

        • Crampons are definitely helpful, but I don’t wear them as often as I probably should. 

        • I have a pair of Yak Trax. The problem is I live in town and have a lot of streets to cross and sidewalks. I’m not sure if that would wear down them down. I’ll probably have to give it a try tomorrow because the dog and I are going crazy!

          • Those should work OK! I destroyed a pair by running in them, but walking on concrete should be fine.

            • Good to hear because I have a serious case of cabin fever. Thanks!

  5. Well, friends, since I am the King of Overshare, I am heading off to an emergency room in a few minutes. It is nothing life-threatening but I finally went to a CityMD site this morning. I am almost certain to be held overnight so I will wake up on Fat Tuesday (should I sleep at all) in a Manhattan medical facility during a pandemic. I can’t log on from my phone to Deadsplinter, I don’t know why, so I’ll be taking a little break. I hope a very brief one. 
     
    Fear not. If no surgery is involved I should be conscious through my entire stay and I assume they feed the patients/inmates, so I’m already gearing up for an FYCE post: Hospital Food That Will Serve two, Plus the Ravenous Hound. Should my stay extend into Ash Wednesday and beyond I will claim to be Catholic and I will get FYCE: What Would an Observant Catholic Eat During Lent (With a Hospital Food Twist). 
     
    All in the name of research, of course. It’s always fun to learn new things.  

    • Hang in there, @matthewcrawley. Hope that everything is taken care of quickly and as non-invasively as possible!

    • Oh no… I would call that an undershare, not an overshare! (But of course you should share exactly as much as you choose to.) I hope you’re alright. ❤️

    • @CousinMatthew I’ sorry to hear this. Sending healing vibes so you will back with us soon.

    • Oh, there is a silver lining (I have a 1 PM deadline to leave for this): Better Half accompanied me to CityMD because he wanted another COVID test. While at the counter the woman behind the shield said, “And do you want a test too, Mr. Crawley?” BH jumped in. “Yes, he does.” We’re both negative. When I got home I did a stupid thing and tried to determine which of two ERs I should go to. The Yelp reviews were uniformly horrible for both, but one did mention languishing in an ER waiting for hours for their COVID test results. I hope they’ll accept mine. It was a quick, painless, swab around my inner nostrils, no brain-tickling, so I hope they accept the results of that.

      • quick healing buddy, things will fall apart quickly around here without you.

    • Hoping things go as well as can be expected

    • Oh my gracious, CousinM! This may be for the best…and my experience has been that hospitals are super strong in their pandemic protocols. Hugs to you, the better half, and the faithful hound. We at DeadSplinter adore you ( me especially). Sending you all the good thoughts…and please, as time and internet access permits, keep us posted. 😱😘🤗

  6. That’s both comforting, and ominous, lol.

  7. Heart healthy cooking is pretty much all Lent all the time… but as a pescatarian I have few foods left to give up? Maybe I can give up being a miserable, isolation-breakdown wench, and put on a happy face for six weeks. Or not…muhahaha.

    • @Ellicoo Growing up in Pittsburgh eating during Lent wasn’t the deprivation it was supposed to be. The Ukrainian churches sold homemade pierogi , the Greek Orthodox churches sold spanakopita, the Catholic Churches all held Friday fish fries. Even the AME churches started getting in on the act and sold sweet potato pies, some Catholics would declare it a vegetable side dish, lol. Not my Shiite Catholic parents though. When I left the area I learned how bleak Lenten eating could be! 

    • @Elliecoo You certainly haven’t come across like a broke down wench here. I think you’ve helped to lift everyones spirits. Is there anything we can do to help lift yours? 

      • @Hannibal, thank you! You and all the DeadSplinterites do so every day!

  8. The VP over my department is from New Orleans and sends all her peeps a king cake every year to their offices. I miss that. I’ve managed to get the baby 3 times. There are a few places that make them locally but it won’t be authentic and I also don’t want to have to eat one by myself 🙂

    • @PumpkinSpies I usually eat at one of the Cajun places in town and have it there or make bread pudding at home if I’m having friends for drinks. But I don’t want to have a bunch of fattening food around the house. Instead I’ll just make pancakes for dinner tomorrow night. Maybe next year *sigh*

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