Whoa, Humberto...Hello Ramadan!

When reading the Beaumont Enterprise this morning, I saw that the little tropical storm in the Gulf turned into Hurricane Humberto overnight & is currently pummeling my vacant, for sale home in Port Neches. That's a little unnerving being that we're across the oceans. Oh well, que sera, sera. Never the less, I hope everyone fares well over there. In the meantime, over here, Ramadan has arrived. The crescent of the new moon was seen last night, so now Ramadan is here until the next new moon. As my understanding has it, Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset during this time. No food, water, smoking or sex during the sunlight hours. Actually, it's an "arrestable" offense to be seen eating or drinking during fasting hours...I'm talking about even those who are not Muslim. But when the sun goes down, the party begins. They gather together and meet in specially set up Ramadan tents, local restaurants, or friends' homes for "iftar" (the meal that breaks the fast). During Ramadan, the Muslims are only required to work five hours daily by law. They go home early from work and school to rest and sleep in preparation of the festivities that begin after sunset. Supposedly, all the malls & grocery stores close at 1:00pm during this time. No restaurants in town are open during sunlight hours while Ramadan is going, and the word is that you don't want to be caught on the road after or right before sunset. Everyone is rushing to get to wherever they are going to break their fast. That's my very short, unofficial definition of Ramadan. I probably need to add a disclaimer at the bottom of this page. You know, this is already killing me & today is the first day. Eating and shopping are my thing, if you haven't already figured that out. Good news about Kristi's getting to school dilemma. The bus company emailed David this morning to let him know that she can start riding the bus this Sunday morning. She will be so happy that she's not going to have to take a taxi everyday (Chevron's solution). Ramadan Kareem everyone!!