BASICS


BASICS: "Hummingbirds.....where is the person, I ask, who, on observing this glittering fragment of the rainbow, would not pause, admire, and turn his mind with reverence..." (J. J. Audubon).
This is a blog about my summer life at the Baiting Hollow Hummingbird Sanctuary, at my winter garden, Calypso, in the Bahamas, and aspects of life in general.
This private sanctuary is now permanently closed to the general public, as a result of a lawsuit brought by a neighbor. Only my friends and personal guests may visit (paul.adams%stonybrook.edu).

Thursday, July 23, 2015

Please be patient!

I know many of you are watching the blog for the promised "slot" time postings, which give the date and time you would be eligible to request permission to visit the sanctuary in the coming month. I still hope to open as usual, starting aug 1, with many additional days available throughout the month. However, for various legal reasons, I cannot quite do so yet. Please be patient - I'm fairly confident that I will be able to post available visiting times very soon (probably by monday evening), but not yet sure.
In addition, though I'm seeing increased numbers of hummer, activity is still fairly low.

Over the long weekend the sanctuary hosted, for 4 days, the very talented artist Daniel Hauben. He painted entrancing pastel scenes of the garden and I hope I will be able to show you some of the beautiful results fairly soon. It was a great pleasure to see his complex conceptions develop rapidly from blank paper, and the intensity he worked (in throbbing heat). At the end we all went for a refreshing swim in Long Island Sound - after climbing over the huge ruts left by all the car traffic.

 Daniel is the artist-in residence this week at the East End Arts Council, and gave a fascinating talk on tuesday evening at their campus in downtown Riverhead (located on the south side of Main Street just east of the Suffolk Theater).  Before the talk Claire and I took a walk along the Peconic River there, and once again I thought how much potential there is in downtown Riverhead, with a setting that is far superior to many highly successful town centers like Port Jeff, Huntington or Westhampton Beach. On the other side of the Peconic River there's just a beautiful natural park, and I think the plan to build a pedestrian walkway across to it is absolutely brilliant. however this plan now hangs in the balance, for rather silly reasons. In addition, Riverhead should finally bite the bullet and build a multistory car park, allowing the magnificent Peconic Riverfront to be used for cafes, restaurants, galleries etc, not just blacktop for parking. I've lived in Riverhead (part-time) for 24 years and it's so sad to see all the potential frizzled away.

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