From our home to yours, God Bless you, and have a blessed Thanksgiving!
I am taking these flowers to my Aunty Gail's house. Lady has yet another trip. She has been to Thailand, and down south in India this month. Now she is headed west. I am thankful for Aunty Gail, and for Aunty Delena and my timeshare families for having me over when Lady travels.
I am thankful for meat, cheese, pizza, stuffies, a warm blankie, sunbeams, carrots, and humans who love me.
Well, I survived the big night of Divali. We had a full house with five little humans under age seven. They liked the incessant fireworks, and squealed with delight and "Oh, Wow!" and lots of excited screams. Our landlord came over the night before and brought us sweets, which is a tradition. Our neighborhood was all lit up, and the families lit candles after dark. The explosions and fires started early in the day but really kicked in after dark and continued until 3:00 am. Lady tried to get me to take care of business but I was having none of it. Are you nuts? So, I got her up at 5:30 this morning and took her out to survey the aftermath, and take care of business, of course.
This is my lane
Just look at this mess!
Lights are still on.
My friend (or I should say Lady's friend -he isn't nice to me) came to greet us. He was in hiding all night.
She's nicer to me. She begs Lady to scratch her, and jumps up on Lady.
They are street dogs who live on my lane, and keep other street dogs away.
They made a mess of my park!
The festivities will continue a few more days but hopefully not too many crackers.
That dreaded suitcase is out again. Lady has three trips this month. The first is to Thailand, and the other two are in India. I'm staying here until Aunty Delena picks me up. My little humans will be here for a couple more days. She's taking my laptop so I guess it will be Flat Marley going.
Divali is my LEAST FAVORITE holiday of all. It is the celebration of light over darkness, good over evil. So, what's wrong with that? FIRECRACKERS! The festival begins Sunday but they have already started with the crackers. Our street is all lit up like Christmas. It's very colorful. But I am, and will stay, in Lady's lap until this thing is over. I do not like it -not one little bit! This is THE major festival in India, with gift-giving, new clothes, special sweets and treats, and family gatherings. It's a major Hindu festival but is also celebrated by Jains, Sikhs, and Buddhists. Most of our neighbors are Hindu and Sikh (the ones with the turbans). We put up our Christmas lights early and leave them up through Christmas. It is the custom to give all the helpers and workers gifts and money for Divali, but Lady and I give out gifts and bonuses at Christmas instead,
because that is our tradition. That is our faith. We won't take part in any of the poojahs (prayers) or other idol worship during this festival, but we do put out lights to remember the Light of the World! Lights are very much a part of the Christian celebration of Christmas as well. People have candles everywhere, and tons of electric lights! The marketplaces are all covered in lights. Lights everywhere!
Our friends are doing so much better now, and are out of the hospital. My buddy Wyatt is coming tomorrow. I bought him a plane from the movie, PLANES, to cheer him up! But today we found out another friend has dengue fever. He has five kids under 7, so this is not a good thing at all.
Oh no, the crackers have started up!
