Christmas at LSU

Lutcher Bonfire Festival

Last night we went to the Lutcher Bonfire Festival.

It is a precursor to the Bonfires that they light on the levees on Christmas Eve to light the way for PAPA NOEL.

There is the Gumbo "Cook off"

Here is the "Sampler" that Lisa and I had

MM MM GOOD!!

John and Mary-Tyler eating Seafood Gumbo.

What is a Festival in Louisiana without a QUEEN-- and a CROWN!!

They Light one Bonfire (practice for the 24th I guess)

I wish I could see all 15 miles of Levee lit with Bonfires on Christmas Eve...

maybe next year!!

Snow in Baton Rouge!!

Yes, it is true-- it SNOWED in Baton Rouge. The first time since 1988!!

It has been CRAZY weather. First it was 75 and humid, 2 days later we had 2 inches of snow and now it is supposed to be in the 60's again!!

The Students built Snowmen everywhere.. here is on on campus.

For many of them, it was the first time they saw snow-- ever!!

Snow and Palm Trees ARE funny!!

Christmas lights in Lafayette

So on Saturday some of my fellow professors and their significant others and I went to Lafayette- about and hour away to see the lights at the "Acadian village"

These are the only aligators I like- the light up kind.

The Crawfish are dancing because it isn't Crawfish season!! --yet!

The REAL Highlight of the night was the ALL- you- can -EAT Seafood restaurant we found.

Left to right- Lisa, Mary-Tyler, John, Steven, EJ. (I'm taking the pic)

It IS Crab Season-- mm mm good!!

EJ and Steven discussing the finer points of crab disection.

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade 2008

Here I am at the parade... What's the name of it again?? : )

Here I am with some of the "Camp Broadway" kids.

The BOLT float

Kids on the "Bolt" Float

An oldie but a goodie

New Balloon, Horton.

Christmas Elf Balloons.


The Big moment, Singing and Dancing in front of the Store!

Kermit on the Float

Kids and Kermit on the Float

"Sleigh bells ringing, Children Singing"

Happy Thanksgiving Santa!!

Camp Broadway kids dancing in front of Macy's

AHHHHH Times Square

I guess, officially, I was standing in Duffy Square....

Rayne Louisiana FROG FESTIVAL!!

Rayne Louisiana- Frog Capital of the World. (they export frog legs!!)

Yes, I said Frog Festival.

Rayne is about an hour and 15 minutes west of Baton Rouge, and Ginger and I ventured over Saturday morning to see the Frog Derby Queen Competition-- not the Frog Festival Queen, or the Rayne Queen or the Oil and Natural Gas Queen, or the Logging Queen.....

First the Girls, Dressed as Jockeys (?), dress their Frogs up in Costume.

and YES, they are real Frogs!!

Then they have a frog jumping contest- whose frog can jump the farthest (without the costumes..)

Then a winner is Chosen as The Frog Derby QUEEN!!

And all the other queens from the other festivals are there..

Talk about some CROWNS!!

I even ate some Frog legs-- sort of like chicken!!



All in all, an interesting day in Rayne!!

LSU vs. Tulane

So I experienced the football culture here on Saturday.

We started at 1 p.m. with a Department Tailgate out side our Theatre, The Swine Palace. (the game didn't start until 7 p.m. and most people start even earlier than we did!!)

It seems to me that Tailgating basically means that you get to the game insanely early; eat and drink as much as you can.





For some people it also means bringing lots of equiptment! I saw a frozen drink machine, lots of satelite dishes and big Screen tv's. But this one with 3 tv's took the cake.

At 5 p.m. everyone lines up to see the band march down to the stadium.





First we saw the women's basketball team walk down throwing out basketballs.



Here is the Drum Major and "Golden Girls"



The Clarinets-- my favorite



We were seated nearly at the top!! My friend Lisa is scared of heights but she was a trooper!



PreGame with the band-- 350 people strong!!

The Cheerleaders!

Touchdown!

Halftime--first the national Guard of LA who served in Iraq and Afganastan.

Then the Tulane Band which was really small and we couldn't hear-- then...

The Golden Band from Tiger Land!!

Football really exists so the band has a place to play!

We won !!

So 10 hours later-- we were home!! What a day!

And That is how you "DO" Football at LSU!

GEAUX TIGERS!!