Summertime in Texas

We have moved into the second half of the year, a realization so frequently brought to this Bystander’s mind, “watching things go by” in the stream of life, of “how fast time goes,” to quote from passages read some time ago.

In the middle of this week,  the United States celebrated  Independence Day. The night before, from my daughter’s backyard here in Arlington, North Texas, we watched colorful fireworks in the distance, with a few shooting from a neighbor’s backyard and breaking out in a spray of colorful lights overhead.

Independence Day marked the end of the Fortnight for Freedom proclaimed by the American bishops in their campaign for Religious Liberty against a law enforcing anti-life practices, unacceptable to most religious beliefs. More on this next week, since I am writing this early to make my weekly deadline for  Cebu Daily News.

The political scene continues to heat up as election month, November, draws near as does the weather with the summer heat, even heat waves.  I have had a couple of sweltering days in the house, despite the electric fans AND the air-conditioning which I denied existing last week until my daughter corrected me!

Speaking of  dry heat that aggravated the current Colorado forest fires, remembered as “the most destructive in Colorado history,” it is also thought they might have been set off by  shots fired from police forces and/or the objects of their search for lawbreakers, as well as from careless campers or visitors.

But summer has also brought out a multitude of flowers of the season, which I mentioned last week, and the Cebuano name which I forgot then for the beautiful multi-colored periwinkles we know as kumintang. How time (or age?) plays tricks on memory! But not to forget (or before I do) some of this week’s highlights for me.

Last Thursday, in an early morning four-hour drive to Houston where my nurse daughter attended a professional meeting, I had the opportunity to enjoy and appreciate again the sights along the way in the wide open spaces of Texas, which I remember first reading about in Edna Ferber’s book, “So Big.”

As the meeting lasted through mid-afternoon, her friend, who drove for her, and I spent the time in a Barnes and Noble bookstore for a quick lunch while browsing through books and magazines. Sadly, I learned that another of the two bookstores I usually frequent in the States, Borders, had closed.

I found fascinating feature articles in special issues of familiar magazines, first, Time, for “The 100 Most Influential People of All Time” that included a brief mention of Magellan’s fateful encounter with our resisting Cebuano natives in Mactan.

Another was Newsweek, featuring the 60th anniversary of the continuing colorful and eventful reign of British Queen Elizabeth II. The other one, Life, featured the colorful life of Marilyn Monroe, 50 years after her tragic death. I  happily picked up and bought Thomas Keating’s “The Human Condition,” to add to my collection of his other books, mostly on contemplative prayer.

The highlight of this week for me was a visit with my daughter to the Arlington Museum of Art to view the current exhibit, “Rembrandt: An Evolution of Etchings.” Among the classic painters, I have always admired the Dutch master, Rembrandt van Rijn, widely known not only for his paintings but also for his mastery of drawing and etching.

In an film show before we viewed his etchings, I appreciated anew his mastery of light and shadow to depict the wide variety of human expressions in face and figure. The film showed and explained the creation of his sketches etched on copper engraving plates from which numerous copies of original detailed sketches could later be printed.

Rembrandt was critically acclaimed for his mastery of the art of etching, “achieving dramatic detail, while incorporating  the use of light and dark”, which he had mastered in his paintings. The notes given out during the exhibit explained that “Fascinated with the social outcast and those on the fringes Dutch society, Rembrandt use(d) his skill as a master storyteller to create penetrating psychology and touching humanity. Key examples of this genre on view (were) depictions of individuals participating in everyday activities, landscapes… indentified in the vicinity of Amsterdam… Biblical scenes, pictures with allegorical and mythological themes and more. This comprehensive collection contains Rembrandt’s complete etchings — over 300 works — shown in their original size” (from a small 40 X 45 mm to a full-page of about 7 ½ X  8 1/2 inches!)

Meanwhile, as we swelter through the heat in Texas, we learn that earlier, in April this year, a tornado tore through Arlington, destroying some 500 homes. While in Washington, storms have destroyed power lines, affecting power usage there.

And on labor, the American Airlines union and the Transport Workers union seem to have come to an amiable agreement with reworked contracts, while the Machinists Union has revised its contract with Lockheed Martin.  Good news, as I learned when I was still active at the Associated Labor Unions-owned Station dyLA: when negotiation works, everyone wins.

Until next week then, as always, may God continue to bless us, one and all!