Everything You Need to Be Mardi Gras Ready

 

Remy dropped by one afternoon wearing Hugo Boss and gold beads. He took the

beads off, tossed them over Declan's head. "When you coming into town?"

"I thought I might join the insanity over the weekend."

"Cher, it's Mardi Gras. Every night's the weekend."

Midnight Bayou

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Anyone can join in and capture a flavor of Louisiana from wherever you are. 

So, get ready to turn up the music, shake the cocktail and stir the roux—

for however long as it takes.

 

It’s Carnival time. Laissez les bon temps rouler!

Better Homes and Gardens

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The celebrational Mardi Gras-style party to celebrate 

the journey was populated with fresh faces and familiar ones. 

The music was loud, the drinks colorful, the mood high.

Duncan 

@ MacGregor Grooms

"Danny Boy" 💚

"How about 'Danny Boy'?"

Maggie rolled her eyes. 

"Count on a Yank to ask for it. 

A Brit wrote that tune, outlander."

Born in Ice

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"What a pity that it is often the favourite repertoire of drunks on late-night trains!"

Danny Boy: mystery remains over a haunting tune

The Australian

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Phin only shook his head as he climbed the stairs. 

"I should've known you wouldn't remember. You were too busy drinking Irish

 and singing 'Danny Boy.'"

"I did not sing 'Danny Boy.'" Please, God.

"Can't say for sure. All those Irish tunes sound the same to me." 

High Noon

Should you feed birds in winter?

In a moment she was trudging back, dragging an enormous burlap sack.

"What are you doing?"

"Going to feed the birds." She was out of breath but still moving. "This time of year they need all the help they can get."

He shook his head. "Let me do it"

"I'm very strong."

"Yes, I know. Let me do it anyway."

He took the sack, braced, put his back into it and began to haul it across the snow. It gathered snow— and weight—with every step.

"I thought you weren't a nature lover."

"That doesn't mean I'd let them starve." And she'd promised Libby.

He hauled the bag another foot. "Couldn't you just dump it out?"

"If a thing's worth doing—"

Times Change 

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It seems like a no-brainer to help our feathered friends, but consider these potential risks

Watching birds at your feeder during the barren winter months is a great way to stay connected with nature and help creatures that might otherwise struggle to find their next meal.

mother nature network

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The mourning doves were cooing, bobbing heads as they pecked along 

the ground under the bird feeder. Too fat and lazy,

Duncan thought, to bother to fly up into it. Rather take leavings. 

A lot of people were the same.

High Noon

Does awe lift your spirits or stress you out?

"It's not for sale," Cam said simply.

"It… is it…" It couldn't be, he thought, while his heart thumped with nerves and hope and shock. But hope was paramount. In the past year he'd learned to hope. "Is it mine?"

"You're the only one with a birthday around here," Cam reminded him. "Don't you want a closer look?"

"It's mine?" He whispered it first, with such staggered delight and shock that Sybill felt her eyes sting. "

Mine?" He exploded with it as he whirled around. This time the sheer joy on his face closed her throat. "To keep?"

Inner Harbor

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By {{{1}}} - Flickr: 'Hands Across the Divide' sculpture, CC BY 2.0, 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19153395

Awe is an awfully complex emotion, conjuring feelings of reverence that can range from wonder to dread. It's a blend of fear and surprise, according to some definitions, although it often feels like more than the sum of those parts.

"Awe is an overwhelming and bewildering sense of connection with a startling universe that is usually far beyond the narrow band of our consciousness," 

mother nature network

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"Reed Valentine would like to schedule a meeting and arrange for a professional demo, in studio, in New York, when it suits you."

She couldn't feel her hands. Or her feet. She realized dizzily that all she could feel was the sudden, ferocious hammering of her heart.

"Reed Valentine? Valentine Records? A meeting? With me? Why?"

"Suddenly you're full of questions." With a laugh, he toasted her again. "Yes, Reed Valentine of Valentine Records wants a meeting with you because he was very favorably impressed with the tape you put together."

"You sent it in? You sent it to Reed Valentine."

"I told you I was going to send it to a connection of mine."

Valentine Records. Now she couldn't feel her own lips. But she could feel the abrupt lurch of her stomach. "I didn't expect—I never thought…"

"Didn't you think I meant it, Cat? I don't play games like that."

"No, I don't—God, I can't breathe." She pressed a hand to her chest as if to push out air, but couldn't find any. "I can't get my breath."

Alarmed, he reached for her. She'd gone dead white. "Hey. Sit down."

"No. Yes. No. I need some air."

She shoved the wineglass into his hand and bolted for the balcony doors. Her head was light, as if she'd swallowed the whole bottle of champagne in one gulp. She couldn't get her breath because the air was trapped somewhere under her diaphragm.

Duncan @ MacGregor Grooms

...rain kept him from mowing the lawn...

“How then? Robbing banks, dealing drugs, selling your body?”

“All viable options, but no. I won the lottery.”

“Get out. Really?” Delighted, fascinated, she lifted her glass in toast before stretching out

a hand for a pretzel.

“Yeah, just a fluke. Or, you know, destiny, again depending. I picked up a ticket now and

then. Actually, hardly ever. Then one day I went in for a six-pack of Corona, sprang for a

ticket.”

High Noon

She shook her head, gaped at him. “You won a hundred and thirty eight million dollars on

a lottery ticket?”

“Yeah, go figure. Best six-pack I ever bought.”

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By Archives New Zealand from New Zealand - Golden Kiwi Tickets, CC BY-SA 2.0,

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=51250753

A Virginia man credits mother nature and an abandoned day of landscaping with his $10 million lottery jackpot win. 

Charles Martin of Amelia Courthouse told the Virginia Lottery he got home from work on a recent evening and began to mow the lawn but had his efforts stopped short when it began to rain.

Inside