SWEET HOME ALABAMA!!!!!!!!!

By now I should have had two new blogs up to tell you all about my new home away from home....the exciting and beautiful state of Alabama.  There is always a reason for not getting done what you say you are going to do, but this time it really is the truth.  We had snow over our heads at my house near Washington, D.C.

Yes, that is the blizzard of 2010.  A historic moment in time when all you could do it shovel around the clock and look out the window in disbelief.  It lasted for days, then cleared up for a minute or two, then lasted for more days.  This photo is of my husband, Ted, out trying to keep up with it.  He is 6 feet tall.  The snow was drifting up to 10 feet in the back yard.  The Federal Government was closed and so was everything else.  I am originally from Minneapolis and I had never seen anything like it.

Now I am down in the Heart of Dixie thinking that the weather will be warmer and there will be no snow....well, we have had a little snow and it has been as cold as 20 degrees Fahrenheit at night.  Thank goodness I am staying for months and in a couple of weeks I will be viewing azaleas blooming or I would think we might be going into the ice age.

I know the weather is changing down here because I actually heard the boom of a thunder storm last night.  Oh, yes, let Spring come!

So back to my first few days in Mobile, Alabama.  What an alluring and charming city.  I was there to experience Mardi Gras, the oldest Mardi Gras in America.  What an escapade!
                                                                                                    

   

My first introduction to the Mardi Gras experience was to meet with Wayne Dean who was dressed up as Joe Cain.  Joseph Stillwell Cain, Jr. (Joe Cain) was credited with the birth or rebirth of Mardi Gras in Mobile, Alabama.  In 1887, following the Civil War, Joe Cain paraded thorough the streets of Mobile, dressed in a costume depicting a fictional Chickasaw chief named Slacabamorinico.  Because of his antics, every year the Sunday before Fat Tuesday, they celebrate Joe Cain Day in Mobile.

                                                                                                             

I went from the "Chief" to the OOMs. Who are they? They are the Order of the Myths. It is pronounced "double-oh-ems." They are Mobile's first and oldest Mardi Gras society and they also remain one of the most secretive. It was a BIG deal for me to go to their party. Thank you Nick Holmes!

  I met Folly and Death and they posed for me!

     Then the Mardi Gras man came and played a tune!

The day ended with wild and amazing Mardi Gras floats and now I am TRULY beginning my journey through my NEW Sweet Home Alabama.