Ha! finally got the pictures downloaded off the camera. (The fella STILL hasn’t downloaded the San Francisco pics onto his computer, and that was back in October! Grr.) So, y’all are getting the whole shebang.
First, here is the princess wussy granddog with her tug-o-war rope. That spot on her nose is the bobo she got when she scraped a nickel-sized hunk of skin off her nose on the fence while jumping at a possum. It’s almost well now, but it made an icky scab.
I have posted about Mardi Gras, and here are some of our Mardi Gras pictures. This first one is of The Strand–Galveston’s main downtown street–just before the Knights of Momus parade on the second Saturday of Mardi Gras. The fella took all the pictures of the Aquarius parade on the first Saturday, and I don’t know any of the people in it, so I’m skipping to these pictures.
The son’s girlfriend came down for the weekend, which was Valentine’s as well as Mardi Gras, so 
for the big parade, we went downtown, had dinner at Bistro LeCroy (on The Strand) and then watched the parade on 21st Street.
This is us–me, the boy and the girl (kinda blurry–the fella took it)–on the street waiting for beads. I think we’re just between floats. I did catch a respectable number of beads at this parade, including some fancy gold ones with crowns.
There was a guy who wanted to trade me for 
some of those crown beads. He offered me a string of plain beads plus a drink of his vodka. Um–no thanks. I’ll pass.
The parade theme was “Treasures of the Sea.” Hence the shark float here. You can maybe see the beads in mid-air. Some of those people could really throw those suckers.
Okay, so then on Sunday, we went to the midafternoon parade of the Krewe of Barkus & Meoux–the pet parade, sponsored by the local 
Humane Society. Any pet could march, but aside from a few ferrets in a cage in a wagon, most were dogs. And Oh the Costumes! Here, you see the Elvis Dog. There were greyhounds in Mickey & Minnie costumes, a standard poodle dyed green and purple, and dogs in just bandannas. Lots and lots of greyhounds.
We met up with a friend of mine who went to Baylor too, several years after I graduated. She was a writer friend while she was in Baylor, and 
now, we both live in Galveston (though she’s now way out on the West End).
There was a children’s parade after the dog parade, and we got tired and sat down to wait for it to arrive.
She brought her toddler, who is massively cute, and warmed up to me enough to give me a hug, which totally warmed this Gigi’s heart. The Toddler also danced. No music, she just danced.
We got massively annoyed at the grownups who brought their beer cooler and snatched the beads away from the children at the Children’s parade. I didn’t actually Catch any beads at this parade, but I picked up a few–we gave all ours away to the kids. (The folks with the beer cooler didn’t.)
The last pictures I want to share with you are first: Orchy, the first grocery store orchid I have ever been able to get to bloom. It’s only the third one I’ve ever bought–the one I bought in the Panhandle dried up, poor thing. But the 1st one I bought in Galveston grew a baby on its flower stem I didn’t cut off. It survived the winter inside, and thrived, apparently, outside in our humidity and heat. So I bought another one. And look! It’s blooming! I’m all excited. I guess you can tell, huh? I mean, I named the plant. (sigh)
The little clay pot in the background is the baby orchid I cut off from its Mama, finally. It seems to be doing well. Growing a new leaf and everything.
And finally, another flower picture, just because I think they’re so pretty. After Valentine’s Day, the local Kroger put all its tulips on 2/3 off, so I bought Two bunches. (Hey, they were cheap, fresh and so pretty.)
Those are all the fella’s books. I have three bookcases in my office (2 huge), plus some built-ins and another big bookcase in the living room. This does not count all the books in boxes in the garage, or the e-books on the SD card. 
Oh, and the basket? Corrals all the Wii-motes and Wii games. Mama likes to play.