Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
I was sitting outside in an Adirondack chair in my back yard, looking up to the sky to see the meteor showers, and this speech from “Macbeth” came into my head. One cannot look at the vastness of our universe and not feel insignificant. Our lives are less than an instant in a cosmos of billions of years. Our daily concerns, so weighty and seemingly life-altering, mean less than nothing.
The Webb telescope just observed what is believed to be the most distant star, 28 billion light years away. Its name is Earendel, and its light is estimated to have been emitted within the first billion years of the universe. It is all unimaginable to my unscientific mind, and totally awe-inspiring. If you haven’t looked at the images online, do. Still, I am content to look up at the sky at night, just with my eyes, to see the constellations made up of stars, to remember the long-ago tales of gods and goddesses.
Closer to home, preparations for the Agricultural Fair are proceeding apace. The fairgrounds are busy with Ag Society members working nonstop. Rides and booths are setting up, bandstands for live music, display tables, shelves, and partitions inside the hall, the fiber tent, animals installed in pens, rings for horses and dogs to perform in. It will all be ready by Wednesday evening, when judges come in to award ribbons for the best chocolate cake, the most perfect string beans, the tallest sunflower, and the tiniest flower arrangement, art, quilts, family projects, and more. It’s anticipated all year by everyone on the Island, the highlight of our summers.
White hibiscus are blooming around the edges of Parsonage Pond. There is such a variety of plants and shapes that I always admire when I drive by. I was looking at Leslie Baker’s painting of Parsonage that is in her show at the library. It was painted when there was still a pond there, a moment in time.
At the library this coming week:
Thursday, August 17, 4 pm, there will be a book talk and collage workshop given by Ariel Aberg-Riger. Her new book is “America Redux: Visual Stories From Our Dynamic History.” Sign up at wt_library@clamsnet.org.
Saturday, August 19, 3:30 pm, Willie Mae Brown will talk about her new book, “My Selma: True Stories of a Southern Childhood at the Height of the Civil Rights Movement.” Books will be available. No sign-up required for this event.
Sunday, August 20, 4 pm, the Climate Book Club will meet on the library porch. The group is currently reading “The Climate Book: The Facts and the Solutions.” Books are available at the circulation desk. Sign up at wt_mail@clamsnet.org.
Hannah Beecher stopped by the other day to show me the new painting she had just bought at the Artisans’ Show. It was a lovely little landscape by Tessa Bryant. Tessa is the daughter of Justin Bryant and Emma Kiley. Brava, Tessa.
You may have noticed that this week’s column contains no complaints about a lack of rain. I have no complaints.
If you have any West Tisbury Town Column suggestions, email Hermine Hull, hermine.hull@gmail.com.