I look forward to the Krewe of Eris parade every year- it usually happens
on the weekend before Mardi Gras, and this year (it occurred back in February, mind)
it was quite chilly indeed. Luckily we were all able to augment our ensembles
to accommodate both the theme and the weather! Last year we all dressed
as giant insects for Release the Swarm!– which I adored.
The bug theme got everyone super-inspired, and I so curious to see what
people would come up with for this year’s theme: The Feast of the Appetites!
Of course everyone went all out- mostly food inspired, but I did see a telephone!

We were the Cupcake Brigade!
Of course confectionary won over in our circle, and ingenious cupcake lanterns
were constructed from umbrellas, chiffon and buckram! It was so magical
to see them illuminating the procession through the streets- I wish I could storm
the alleys of the Vieux Carre with my gang of sugar-crazed cupcakes every night!

I was a minty bonbon cupcake- with pink cake inside, my favorite!
(I really did ask for a strawberry birthday cake with mint icing one year!
Pandora made it for me, and it was bizarrely delicious- if a little toothpasty..)
I made my costume that day- the glue on the bonbon fascinator and epaulette
was still not dry even as we were rushing out the door! I was terrified I was
going to lose all my candy in the shuffle- but a Mardi Gras miracle occurred!
I think I lost maybe one? After a night of dancing in the streets? Amazing.

My teeth are black because I ate too much candy! That’s what happens, kids!
Isn’t Miss Angie’s wedding cake costume mindblowing? I wanted to eat her up.

Lester was the cutest damn cake- if only you could have seen this incredibly
tall man bouncing through the parade- he was happiest cake in the whole world!

Miss Raven was a whipped cream cupcake- too delicious, ooh la la!

Sansa Asylum was the Pineapple Princess! She plays accordion
and sings songs with The Yard Dogs Road Show, and has super-human powers.
Seriously. I licked her eyeball when we first met and it was salty. Naturally.

Renee Angelica (aka. Stella Lithe)
her maquillage was truly hypnotic.

I wish I had gotten better pictures of all the fantastic floats and things-
alas, they were moving to fast- and I was dancing! The crazy hungry mouth
above was a receptacle for hundreds of tiny golden goblets that were filled
with homebrewed apple cider. The cider spewed from a spigot on the side
of an enormous gilded apple! There was also a dinner table and chairs
set for a fancy meal of.. poop! Well, chocolate and dates and things that
looked like poop, anyhow. All served on fine silver with white lace tablecloths.
Two ghostly ladies with blackened teeth (Megan + Claire)
were joyfully handing out coprophage-friendly snacks!
It was beautiful and gross all at the same time. I love my friends.

Nina, Lester and Betsy frolicking- footloose and oh so fancy!
The Krewe of Eris was named for the Goddess of Chaos–
She who flung the golden apple. Harbinger of change,
androgynous troublemaker, the all wise mischievous girl-child,
perpetually defiant, protector of insurgents, patron of miscreants,
spinsters, seers, tipplers, dandies, tomboys, vagrants, vandals, and spies.

Pandora was a Devil’s Food Cupcake- is this making you hungry yet?

Pea + Alix, in a moment of hysterical laughter- which there was much of,
despite a few frustrating encounters with the police- Eris prevailed! Hail, Eris!