To the Editor: I read the words of the author of “The Mythic Past” letter last week with some regret. Then what should appear on the facing page but the obituary of Otto Fuchs.

To the Editor: This may seem like a strange question, but it’s a topic I heard about last Thursday night, in a meeting where our State Senator, Lois Kolkhorst updated listeners on the latest session of the Texas Legislature. There are presumed to be about 12 million Uyghur in China, and you might do your own web research at https:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uyghurs or by any other means.

To the Editor: How interesting to get the Tuesday Time Capsule email today. Ten years ago, Fayette County commissioners had proposed a new 2014 tax rate of 41.930 cents per $100, the front-page story said.

To the Editor: Thank you so very much for the beautifully illustrated editorial cartoon tribute to Maui in last week’s newspaper. The heart-shaped pink flower lei surrounding the island was perfect.

To the Editor: Whenever this country has a problem, you can be certain that Hollywood will soon have a movie about it. No doubt the country has had a lot of problems and a baker’s century of movies to help air them out.

To the Editor: I was somewhat taken back by Joe Biden’s lack of empathy towards the survivors of the wildfires in Hawaii. Somehow offering a paltry sum of $700 reminded me of Marie Antoinette’s phrase of “let them eat cake.” Even Biden’s old boss, Barack Obama, said the survivors needed more than our hopes and prayers.

Right now my rearview mirror is filling with August on its way out. As months go, hasn’t it been a doozy? Normally I kind of like August, at least in Houston where it cuts traffic inside the Loop to about half the usual density.

T EXAS History Two weeks after breaking the Texas League home run record that had stood for 32 years, Ken Guettler hit his sixtieth round-tripper of the season on Aug. 26, 1956.

C Texas public student scores in standardized testing continue to improve since the pandemic, but more than half of those taking the test still struggle with math and just under half read below grade-level, the Texas Tribune reported. Students in grades three through eight took the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness tests in math and reading last spring.

These days, in the intense heat of a long, long summer, I spend a lot of time, perhaps even too much, working puzzles. Some of them are word puzzles, like Wordle online, but many are jigsaw puzzles of all types and descriptions: artworks made into thousand-piece mysteries, like Van Gogh’s Sunflowers (which is spread out on my dining table as I write this, with just the edge completed so far); Charles Wysocki paintings of Americana, such as a 1930’s airplane show or a fall pumpkin festival; whimsical pictures of kittens or puppies; Dickensian England shop windows; Parisian street scenes; Venetian canal vistas, Monet gardens, and so on. In addition, I like to tackle Sudoku puzzles, and occasionally I can fight my way through one of the “diabolically difficult” ones to a successful completion!