2020 Life Logs, Day 317: Shopping Away a Rainy Friday the 13th
Date: Friday, November 13, 2020
Weather: Rainy and Cooler; High 52, Low 39 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA
My plans for laying low on Friday the 13th changed when I woke up worried that we are going to be in another lockdown period soon because of the rise in coronavirus cases. Falmouth is in Barnstable County and there have been 137 new cases over the past seven days, according to the State Department of Public Health. The Barnstable Town Health Agent Thomas McKean is quoted as saying, “We are definitely going back up to the height of that (pandemic peak) curve in the spring.” That got me to thinking that my planned computer work today could be delayed so that I could make a trip to Costco. There are enough items that I buy only there because they are eons cheaper than anywhere else, that it warranted the trip off-Cape to do a little stocking up. , Luckily, just before the spring lockdown, I had made a trip to Costco to stock up for the next six months. I could get everything else delivered by Rory’s or by trips to Stop and Shop every couple of weeks. Then in mid-summer, things were better and shopping was almost back to normal. But that could end abruptly. So, Shadow and I headed north for the hour and ten-minute drive to Costco. I shopped for almost an hour and then we returned home just in time to pick Ollie up after school. It is a long trip, but I will rest better tonight knowing I have the pantry stocked for another lockdown “just in case”.
00 Deepavali or Festival of Lights in Little India
03 Evening in Bustling Little India
16 Little India–What a Magical Place
Everyone in our Dining-in Group got an email this evening from Olivia White wishing us ‘Happy Diwali’. That immediately brought back wonderful memories from October of 2009. Windbird sailed into Singapore on Thursday the 23rd of that year, and after getting settled in a marina on Sentosa Island, on that very first evening in Singapore, we headed to Little India for the Indian celebration of the Festival of Lights. We were told, “Little India is dressed to the nines with lights, lights, and more lights. You don’t want to miss it.” Along with three other cruising couples, Mark and I took a free shuttle bus to get off Sentosa Island and then hopped on the Mass Rapid Transit subway to Little India. Little India is the section of Singapore that is home to thousands of Indian men who leave their families to come work in Singapore and send the money home. It was just getting dark when we arrived and we found ourselves walking shoulder to shoulder down a street filled with thousands of people and Deepavali lights overhead that were just beautiful. We loved it so much that we returned the next night to attend a cultural performance. Diwali, as it is spelled in Northern India, is one of the most popular Hindu festivals. It is a five-day long festival that originated in India and is mentioned in early Sanskrit texts. “Diwali symbolizes the spiritual victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance.” It is a Hindu holiday, but it can easily be celebrated by all. Diwali falls in either October or November each year, depending on the cycle of the moon. This year, it begins tomorrow. It is generally referred to as the “Feast of Lights”. In South India it is called Deepavali which comes from the Sanskrit vocabulary meaning a ‘line of lamps’, but the Sanskrit word has been modified by the people of North India who refer to the festival as Diwali. Whatever you want to call it, I personally think we should all celebrate ‘light over darkness, goodness over evil, and knowledge over ignorance’ every day of the year.
