An exhibition

Elmer Dumlao, a Filipino parishioner of Sacred Heart church in Amman, presented his artwork at the Zaro Gallergy at the Hyatt Hotel near the Third Circle tonight. I was glad to see his artwork that were multi-media pieces set on wood and assorted materials as wall hangings. His theme for these pieces were Humans and Animals. Each piece had a reflection of the human with animal/nature images. About 15 wall hangings were displayed.

My favorite piece was a silver and red piece called "Breed." It was quite elegant. The top portion was an sensuous, but obscure image of a triumphant woman whiles its mirror piece was a bold mare. The red central square was the place of intermingling.

I also like the piece called "play" as it incorporate music, dice, card games with two acrobatic pieces. It was light-hearted. Another piece had great colors. It was a woman who had taken the feathers of a peacock and made them into her own gown and tiara. Still, a third interesting piece was of a man turned away from the crowd with a tortoise shell on his back. It was like Sisyphus who shouldered a great burden.

The art crowd from Amman gathered to view the pieces and meet the artist. I hope there are lots of opportunities like this because the Amman art scene appears small. While there may be great visual arts, I hope to go to theaters and concerts. We'll see. One thing at a time.

The exhibition was in the hotel that had the major bomb blast a few years ago.

The hotel across the street is the Royal Jordan Hotel. It has great lights flashed on it during the evening hours. It was built by an Iraqi and is said to represent Samaria.

Both hotels seem to have very fine restaurants in them. My parishioners work in them.

The weather is peculiar. The temperatures have reached the high-90's/100 degrees the past few days. A mixture of clouds with dust occurs when the winds come from the south. A few days ago we had some sprinkles; tonight we had more rain. The sky was lit up. I assume it was lightning from the weather front.

Tomorrow, the three Jesuits are off to a place in the north that is said to contain ruins of the earliest Christian community in Jordan. We will go to a village that has 30 churches, but one of the caves we will visit supposedly has a chapel discovered below another chapel. It is rumored that the 70 persecuted Christians took refuge there. I'll understand more of the story tomorrow.