New Year's and Mardi Gras at Eeyore's Thistle Patch in The Hundred Acre Wood(lawn)

New Year's and Mardi Gras
at Eeyore's Thistle Patch
in The Hundred Acre Wood(lawn)

There comes a time when you should stop expecting other people to make a big deal about your birthday. That time is: 11.
-- Dave Barry

Happy New Year to you, Happy Birthday to Me!
Parade Watching
The 110th Rose Parade® - 1999 Official Website

Home & Garden TV 1999 Float Index -- includes each float's sponsor, theme, builder, description, audio, innovation, animation, flowering, and notes of interest. Each float page contains a description of the flowers used in the parade.

Best TV Bets -- Cable's Home & Garden TV has live uninterrupted coverage. NBC and CBS usually have the best network float coverage, while ABC has the best historical and behind the scenes coverage.
Edison International's Virtual Float Roadtrip - get live coverage of the Parade on the web!

Best Float Bets -- Every year is different, but as a rule of thumb Cal Poly Universities of San Luis Obispo and Pomona, Dr Pepper, a 107-year-old company and pretty much the drink of choice in Texas, Florists' Transworld Delivery, International House of Pancakes -- hush! Siouxseque! hush!, La Canada Flintridge, known as the "glen between the hills", and Target Stores have the best whimsical floats. Sponsors of the Eastman Kodak Company ilk have the best dramatic/realistic floats.

My birthday is on January 2, BUT I was born during the Tournament of Roses Parade. So my birthday is always celebrated by watching the Rose Parade.
This year, however, I am not going to celebrate my birthday in January. I will celebrate my birthday on or around March 17. So there.
No doubt that's what Julius Caesar said, too, right?..."Beware the Ides of March..."
Whenever I can, I goad my family into buying

from Haydel's Bakery (1-800-442-1342) in New Orleans to honor an occasion.
I like Mardi Gras because of King Cake and the traditional colors: purple, green, and gold. The next best thing to anything "Eeyore" is anything purple!

C o l o r M e M a r d i G r a s
The royal Mardi Gras colors were selected as early as 1872 for the first Rex parade in honor of The Grand Duke Alexis. The purple stands for justice, the green for faith and the gold for power.

King Cake recipe

TERMS OF MARDI GRAS BALL (ball masque, tableau ball) - a themed masked ball, where the krewe royalty is presented to the club members

BOEUF (French word) - this is a large bull or ox, which represents the ancient symbol of the last meal before the Lenten season of fasting

CAPTAIN - this is the leader of each Carnival organization

CARNIVAL (from Latin carnivale) - translated to be farewell to the flesh (the feast of Epophany) to midnight on Fat Tuesday (the day before Lent)

COURT - this is the Mardi Gras King, Queen, maids and dukes of a Carnival organization

DEN - this is the location where the floats are built and stored

DOUBLOONS - aluminum objects resembling coins, which bear the insignia of the krewe on one side and the theme on the other; Rex krewe introduced the first one in 1960

FAVOR - these are souvenirs, given to friends or guests attending the krewe's ball by the members

FLAMBEAUX (plural) - Naphtha-fueled torches, which used to be the only source of light along the parade routes; now, they are carried along as part of the parade

INVITATION - this term refers to the printed request for attendance to a Carnival ball

KING CAKE - this is an oval pastry with a small plastic doll inside; the individual who finds the doll buys the next king cake

KREWE - this is a term with Old English flavor, first used by the Krewe of Comus in 1857 to name a Carnival organization

LUNDI GRAS (French for Fat Monday) - this is the day before Fat Tuesday; the day is celebrated with Rex and Zulu.

MARDI GRAS - this is the day before the beginning of Lent called Fat Tuesday

MARDI GRAS INDIANS - these are groups of black men in New Orleans dressed as representations of American Indians; they are outfitted with wonderful handmade outfits, full of color.
Pralines - Purely sweet handmade creole candy, found only in New Orleans -- a unique taste to the world.

THROWS - the items thrown from floats by the krewe members; these can be beads, plastic cups, doubloons, and toys
We hope you enjoy your visit.

* Alpha's Quadrant * CLCW * Motherhood and Housewifery
* Nikki & Kilory * I think I can I think I can
* Barney and Freud Tour Vienna
* Celebrating the Seasons * Hundred Acre Wood
* 2 Exhausted 2 Write Newsletter Archive
* The Neglectful Gardener * Can of Worms * Garden Xeriscaping & Gramma
* Gloomy Grumpy Young Grampa * Teddy Bear Wars * Young Grampa vs. The Squirrels
* Dandelion Appreciation * Virtual Tea Party * Whoville * Green Eggs & Hams * The Zoo
* Chocolate * Green Gables in My Garden * I love Paris in the Springtime
* Like Cats & Dogs * Hedgehogs * Bats * Helen * The Biscuit of Ally McBeal
* Friend Links * Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy * The Galaxy Song
* Looney Camelot * Dragon Breath
* Calvin & Hobbes Philosophy * Gorey Q * Donald and The... * The Doubtful Guest * Book of Practical Cats
* Old Grampa * Photos * Family History & Photos * Civil War Diary of G. T. Granger
* Wes Stoops Memorial * Diana's Life Lessons *
Go on a searching expotition to AltaVista
Go on a searching expotition to Lycos
Are you a Houyhnhnm or a Yahoo?