Hi everyone! I’ve been in New Orleans for a few days now. More thoughts and posts coming this week, but I’ve been quite busy settling in.

I was walking around yesterday and caught a very New Orleans site: Mardi Gras float storage. The doors were open, so I snapped a few pictures.

I’m featuring the pictures here as part of an occasional series I will call Lagniappe, which means “a little something extra.” Lagniappe is a very popular term around here.

Catching the float storage facility made me smile. So quintessentially New Orleans! Once, when I used to live here, I got caught in traffic  behind Mardi Gras floats that were being transported downtown at about 10 mph. I cursed and shook my fists at them, until I reminded myself that driving behind Mardi Gras floats is something that could only happen in NOLA.

That serenity lasted about five minutes and then I went back to cursing them.

When I first moved to D.C. I thought it was charming to  get stuck on a street corner because of a motorcade. How quintessentially Washingtonian! But then I learned that most motorcades aren’t for the president. And then motorcades just became something that made me late. They soon lost their charm.

Will I be able to call myself a New Orleanian once Mardi Gras floats do not delight me?