by June Shaw
How do you get to choose which activity you'll take part in? I must make a firm decision soon this morning.
As writers, we need to write. We also need to live. We've got to have those exciting ideas coming to us, see nature, watch people and listen to them, and just relax. That's when ideas often flow most.
Today I need to work on the galley for my latest book. Changes are due by Tuesday. I also want to write more on the next book. I've reached an intense scene and need to decide what will happen next. I'm the published author laision for RWA's south Louiaian chapter, and our board has its annual meeting at 11 in New Orleans. That's an hour and a half away. If there are no Mardi Gras parades along my route.
Also during the luncheon hours today my Red Hat group has a get-together. I joined this society to have fun -- its main purpose -- and meet other people. My group is having a covered dish, bring any Red Hat items you want to sell or swap, and let's do it. And then board games. Fun.
The latest invitation came fom my 9-year-old granddaughter. She'll be a royal page on a king's float for a Mardi Gras parade here in two weeks. From ten till noon today all six pages are hosting a skating party.
And now how do I choose what I'll do this morning? (Oh, and when I woke up today, I realized I hadn't written a post for this blog. I'm doing that first.) Then -- although my family always comes first, I see my granddaughter often and know she'll have tons of kids at the party. I'll send her a gift and know she'll be happy. I know my Red Hat friends will have lots of fun, but I had other commitments; I'll join them next time. I've gotten a lot of work done already on my galley, so that can wait till later today or tomorrow. A few weeks ago I and other board members agreed that we could meet today in N.O., so....... while I'm driving there, I can work on what happens next in my current book. Then later today when I'm home I can add more to that scene. And/or work on my galley. Or maybe I'll just go out to relax with Bob.
How do you make choices for using your time?
http://www.juneshaw.com
Showing posts with label Mardi Gras. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mardi Gras. Show all posts
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Fat Tuesday
Top, Rio de Janeiro Carnival 2004, photo released to public domain by photographer Alan Betensley.
Bottom, author Alice Duncan’s wiener dogs are decked out in their Mardi Gras necklaces.
-----------------------------------------------
By Pat Browning
It’s summer in Rio de Janeiro. Some people have all the fun. Oh-well. Put on your swim suit and hum a few bars of “The Girl from Ipanema.” Carnival starts today and winds up on Fat Tuesday, and then it’s "farewell to the flesh” for the 40 days of Lent.
“Flesh farewell” is a translation of the Portuguese word CARNAVAL. Portugal has a long history with Brazil. In fact, the language is Portuguese, not Spanish. I call it Portuguese with a Spanish accent because it’s spoken trippingly on the tongue, as opposed to continental Portuguese. Continental Portuguese, when spoken, is lush and plush and almost impossible to understand.
My vast experience in that matter comes from a year of night school Portuguese, which led to a trip to the Iberian Peninsula, which is a whole other story. How did I fall onto that tangent? Let’s move on to New Orleans.
New Orleans takes Mardi Gras seriously. According to a history published last month in the New Orleans Times-Picayune, Carnival begins Jan. 6, on the Feast of the Ephiphany.
Quoting from a bylined article by Becky Retz:
***
Also known as Kings' Day or Twelfth Night, Jan. 6 celebrates the arrival of the three kings at Jesus' birthplace, thus ending the Christmas season. And in New Orleans, simultaneously starting Carnival. This festival of fun finds its roots in various pagan celebrations of spring, dating back 5,000 years.
But it was Pope Gregory XIII who made it a Christian holiday when, in 1582, he put it on his Gregorian calendar (the 12-month one we still use today).
He placed Mardi Gras on the day before Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. That way, all the debauchery would be finished when it came time to fast and pray.
Much of the first part of the Carnival season is invitation-only coronation balls and supper dances hosted by private clubs known as krewes.
The public portion comes to life a couple of weeks before Mardi Gras when the krewes hit the streets, staging more than 70 parades in metropolitan New Orleans.
Mardi Gras arrived in North America with the LeMoyne brothers, Iberville and Bienville, in the late 17th century, when King Louis XIV sent the pair to defend France's claim on the territory of Louisiana.The explorers eventually found the mouth of the Mississippi River on March 3, 1699, Mardi Gras of that year. They made camp a few miles upriver, named the spot Point d'Mardi Gras and partook in a spontaneous party. This is often referred to as North America's first Mardi Gras.
A couple of decades later, Bienville founded New Orleans and soon Carnival celebrations were an annual event highlighted by lavish balls and masked spectacles. Some were small, private parties with select guest lists, while others were raucous, public affairs.
Collectively, they reflected such a propensity for frolic in the local citizenry that historian Robert Tallant wrote in his book “Mardi Gras” that natives would step over a corpse on the way to a ball or the opera and think nothing of it. Parades officially began in 1838.
***
There’s more but that gives you an idea of how seriously New Orleans takes Mardi Gras. Parades are going on even as we speak, with costumed revelers tossing beads to bystanders who call out, “Throw me something, mister!”
A little footnote: In comments posted to the article, there’s quite an argument going on among people who insist that Mobile, Alabama held the first Mardi Gras, long before the LeMoyne brothers showed up. I can’t say for sure. I wasn’t there.
In New Mexico, author Alice Duncan got into the spirit of things by decking out her wiener dogs with necklaces. Alice is a former Californian who also writes as Anne Robins, Emma Craig, Rachel Wilson and Jon Sharpe, sets her whimsical Southern California novels in the 1920s.
To give you an idea, the first one is HIGH SPIRITS and she blurbs it this way:
**Daisy Gumm Majesty, spiritualist to folks with more money than sense, can scarcely believe that her best client wants her to get her spiritual control, Rolly, to appear at a séance in a speakeasy. Bad enough that Daisy made up Rolly when she was ten, but now Rolly has to perform for a bunch of murdering gangsters? When the place is raided, Daisy’s troubles multiply.
Add to the mix Daisy’s nemesis (and her husband’s best friend) Detective Sam Rotondo; Vicenzo Maggiori, leader of the bootlegging racket in the area; and Flossie Mosser, befuddled floozy; and you have a rollicking adventure that Daisy isn’t sure she’s going to survive. **
I like it already!
You can read more about it at Alice’s web site: www.zianet.com/aduncan/
Bottom, author Alice Duncan’s wiener dogs are decked out in their Mardi Gras necklaces.
-----------------------------------------------
By Pat Browning
It’s summer in Rio de Janeiro. Some people have all the fun. Oh-well. Put on your swim suit and hum a few bars of “The Girl from Ipanema.” Carnival starts today and winds up on Fat Tuesday, and then it’s "farewell to the flesh” for the 40 days of Lent.
“Flesh farewell” is a translation of the Portuguese word CARNAVAL. Portugal has a long history with Brazil. In fact, the language is Portuguese, not Spanish. I call it Portuguese with a Spanish accent because it’s spoken trippingly on the tongue, as opposed to continental Portuguese. Continental Portuguese, when spoken, is lush and plush and almost impossible to understand.
My vast experience in that matter comes from a year of night school Portuguese, which led to a trip to the Iberian Peninsula, which is a whole other story. How did I fall onto that tangent? Let’s move on to New Orleans.
New Orleans takes Mardi Gras seriously. According to a history published last month in the New Orleans Times-Picayune, Carnival begins Jan. 6, on the Feast of the Ephiphany.
Quoting from a bylined article by Becky Retz:
***
Also known as Kings' Day or Twelfth Night, Jan. 6 celebrates the arrival of the three kings at Jesus' birthplace, thus ending the Christmas season. And in New Orleans, simultaneously starting Carnival. This festival of fun finds its roots in various pagan celebrations of spring, dating back 5,000 years.
But it was Pope Gregory XIII who made it a Christian holiday when, in 1582, he put it on his Gregorian calendar (the 12-month one we still use today).
He placed Mardi Gras on the day before Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. That way, all the debauchery would be finished when it came time to fast and pray.
Much of the first part of the Carnival season is invitation-only coronation balls and supper dances hosted by private clubs known as krewes.
The public portion comes to life a couple of weeks before Mardi Gras when the krewes hit the streets, staging more than 70 parades in metropolitan New Orleans.
Mardi Gras arrived in North America with the LeMoyne brothers, Iberville and Bienville, in the late 17th century, when King Louis XIV sent the pair to defend France's claim on the territory of Louisiana.The explorers eventually found the mouth of the Mississippi River on March 3, 1699, Mardi Gras of that year. They made camp a few miles upriver, named the spot Point d'Mardi Gras and partook in a spontaneous party. This is often referred to as North America's first Mardi Gras.
A couple of decades later, Bienville founded New Orleans and soon Carnival celebrations were an annual event highlighted by lavish balls and masked spectacles. Some were small, private parties with select guest lists, while others were raucous, public affairs.
Collectively, they reflected such a propensity for frolic in the local citizenry that historian Robert Tallant wrote in his book “Mardi Gras” that natives would step over a corpse on the way to a ball or the opera and think nothing of it. Parades officially began in 1838.
***
There’s more but that gives you an idea of how seriously New Orleans takes Mardi Gras. Parades are going on even as we speak, with costumed revelers tossing beads to bystanders who call out, “Throw me something, mister!”
A little footnote: In comments posted to the article, there’s quite an argument going on among people who insist that Mobile, Alabama held the first Mardi Gras, long before the LeMoyne brothers showed up. I can’t say for sure. I wasn’t there.
In New Mexico, author Alice Duncan got into the spirit of things by decking out her wiener dogs with necklaces. Alice is a former Californian who also writes as Anne Robins, Emma Craig, Rachel Wilson and Jon Sharpe, sets her whimsical Southern California novels in the 1920s.
To give you an idea, the first one is HIGH SPIRITS and she blurbs it this way:
**Daisy Gumm Majesty, spiritualist to folks with more money than sense, can scarcely believe that her best client wants her to get her spiritual control, Rolly, to appear at a séance in a speakeasy. Bad enough that Daisy made up Rolly when she was ten, but now Rolly has to perform for a bunch of murdering gangsters? When the place is raided, Daisy’s troubles multiply.
Add to the mix Daisy’s nemesis (and her husband’s best friend) Detective Sam Rotondo; Vicenzo Maggiori, leader of the bootlegging racket in the area; and Flossie Mosser, befuddled floozy; and you have a rollicking adventure that Daisy isn’t sure she’s going to survive. **
I like it already!
You can read more about it at Alice’s web site: www.zianet.com/aduncan/
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