Two Reasons To Remember This Day

Via Scout Prime at the really good First Draft.

&, the great & wonderful addition to my life two years ago, The Twins. Yay, Yay.

Sisters, Identical, No Less

Lucy

Marigny

Kid's Fence

Here are some pics of the work going on down at The Twins place. They apparently want to be fenced in. Or are the parents the culprits?

Here is The Kid Shoveling.

Big Mike & The Son-in-Law Digging

The Kid & The Son-In-Law Doing Some Math

The Son-In-Law's John Henry Imitation

Stickers & Supervising Are Hard Work, Just Ask Us

These are all the lights of my sorry ass life. I am indeed lucky.

Getting Used To Airports

The Twins are finding out about airports at an early age. They are responding appropriately.

It's Done

I have been working on building a easel for The Twins during the recovery & rehabilitation period after my shoulder surgery & the easel is finally done. Yay. Please note Lucy Mae's angry grass on the chalkboard side of the easel. I feel the power of her artistic genius flowing over me right through the camera lens & computer screen. Marigny Elizabeth was reading The Scarlet Letter while her sister was creating art. Quite advanced for 18 months old, wouldn't you say?

More Gloom

Apropos the Packers LOSING yesterday (crooked refs indeed), The Twins leaving for home, my freshing cut open left shoulder aching (I'm right handed, never pitched, but played 2nd base & right field), & losing possibly the best post I ever wrote, really, here's more gloom concerning the iconic Joshua Tree. I have that album in vinyl, thanks Mrs. coldH2O's brother.

Given current thinking about climate change, unless we can figure out a way to assist the migration of both Joshua trees and their moth partners, as Connie Barlow is trying to do with Florida Torreya, it seems almost certain that Joshua trees will be extinct in the wild by the end of this century.

Unless we stop burning carbon the way we’re doing. But that would require actual inconvenience, so I don’t hold out much hope.

My emphasis.

Happy New Year

Let's hope it's better than last year. & as good as this.

The Twins First Birthday Party In Pictures

Now Mr. Shutterwi, see link on right, called me at 11:30 this a.m. to complain about no blogging of The Twins partay, well, as you can see from the previous post, things went FUBAR, but thanks to Mrs. coldH2O & her camera, I did take a few shots, well, 55 to be precise, but I won't bore you with all the pics. Here are the ones I picked. With headings/commentary from yours truly.

Miss Marigny & her birthday dress.

The birthday cupcakes & candles.

The Twins & their weird birthday hats.

The family.

Mama & Marigny.

Dada & Lucy.

Some of the assembled guests. The action in the foreground is an attempt at the Minnesota mind meld.

Two dads/ three babies. One is sort of hidden.

Four babies, one adult arm.

Part of the food table.

Cousins & second cousins. We were very happy to see Andrew.

Lucky Me

Way too much cuteness over at The Twins' blog. Here are three beautiful examples. How lucky can I be? Jesus.

The Twins At The Bottom Of Bascom Hill

Lucy Practicing Her Football Cheers

Marigny Thinking About All The Parties In Mad Town

We Got Fooled Again

I'd take a pic & post it of the absolutely crappy weather that's going on outside right now, but what's the point? It's snowing heavy, wet snow & it's blowing off the lake, that would be Lake Superior for those of you who don't understand what is said when we say "the lake." I spent my early a.m. chainsawing a pile of slabs into furnace sized pieces. Yeah, yeah, life in the woods is just fucking great. So my mood is low & I even took my meds. To perk my self up I made dinner plans with a young friend & her boyfriend, Mrs. coldH2O, & any hangers on that I can find between now & 5:30 p.m. CDT. That helped a bit. Then I decided to stream WWOZ & that is helping a lot. A somewhat contrary DJ is playing Derek and the Dominos & The Allman Brothers Band. Like I said, a lot. The snow continues to fall, however, so I must reach for something new, something seven or so months old, something grand-daughter like, so here it is, The Twins, just hanging around in the woods, a woods without snow.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Laissez les bons temps rouler

So today is Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday. I've been reading some NOLA blogs &, damnit, I wish I was there. It is such a great time - music, food, liquor, & loads & loads of cool people. & you don't have to keep your tongue in your mouth when you are kissing people like I had to do today while celebrating a not quite authentic Mardi Gras in the coffeehouse, sans WiFi, with the demented, but still hot, owner; along with the hot bartistas & one totally hot lawyer who truly does put his pants on one leg at a time. I only went to the Vieux Carre/French Quarter once during Carnival & saw enough projectile vomiting to last me for awhile. We went to see Dr. John at the House of Blues on Decatur St. It was a great show & the Kid got his set list & his trumpet player's signature. I got pleasingly drunk & had a great time. I'm sad that I can not be there today/tonight/yesterday/last week/January for Christ's sake. But, as is becoming usual in the last 28, almost 29 years, The Kid pulls through & cheers me up. First by suggesting that we all set a goal of going to next year's Mardi Gras. & secondly, by posting some total cuteness on the blog Les Twins.

Mardi Gras Marigny

Throw me something, mister.


Mardi Gras Lucy, drooling edition.

Me too, mister.

For those of my loyal four readers who are interested & you better be interested, here are some Mardi Gras facts via the French, we here at BillyCreek just loves the French.

Celebrate Mardi Gras in French

Mardi gras is an annual celebration called le mardi gras (literally, "fat Tuesday") or le carnaval in French.


Les dates de mardi gras ~ Mardi gras dates

Mardi gras takes place 46 days before Easter (le Pâques) - that is, sometime between 3 February and 9 March. Mardi gras is the day before Lent (le carême), which begins on Ash Wednesday (le mercredi des Cendres). The most famous Mardi gras celebration is held in New Orleans (la Nouvelle-Orléans), but many cities in Europe and South America also put on spectacular events.


Les couleurs de mardi gras ~ Mardi gras colors

Mardi gras has three official colors:

le violet purple (justice)

l'or gold (power)

le vert green (faith)

More: Colors in French


Les traditions de mardi gras ~ Mardi gras traditions

Mardi gras is traditionally celebrated with a parade led by a captain, during which trinkets, or "throws," are tossed to the crowd. The parade is followed by a costume ball presided over by a king and queen.


Le vocabulaire de mardi gras ~ Mardi gras vocabulary

une babiole - trinket

un bal masqué - costume ball

un bijou - jewel

le capitaine - captain

un char - float

un collier - necklace

un costume - costume

le courir Mardi gras - run

une couronne - crown

un défilé - parade

un déguisement - disguise

un doublon - doubloon

une effigie - effigy

un feu de joie - bonfire

un flambeau - torch

la foule - crowd

un krewe - krewe (Mardi gras organizer)

un mardi gras - a person who really gets into celebrating Mardi gras

le masque - mask (make a Mardi gras mask)

une paillette - sequin

une perle - bead

la plume - feather

la reine - queen

le roi - king


Les expressions avec mardi gras ~ Expressions with Mardi gras

There are a couple of related French expressions with the phrase Mardi gras:

Ce n'est pas mardi gras aujourd'hui - Literally, "today isn't mardi gras"; this expression is used to make fun of someone who is wearing something ridiculous.

se croire à mardi gras - "to believe oneself (to be) at Mardi gras"; similar to the above, a way of mocking what someone is wearing: il se croit à mardi gras - he's dressed as if he's at Mardi gras, he's absurdly dressed


Le slogan de mardi gras ~ Mardi gras slogan

Mardi gras' slogan is "Let the Good Times Roll," which is (horribly) translated into French as Laissez les bons temps rouler.

& yes, it is true as The Son-in-Law will attest, I am a bead slut. I love the beads & want more of them.