January 13, 1994 - Winter's White BlanketFocus on Nature
Winter's White Blanket
By Paul Stoutenburgb
The first snowfall. We watched the
weather channel all day and listened to
reports of the upcoming cold front that
was moving in to create havoc with the
rainy and cloudy weather we'd been
having for the previous three days. Sure
enough, the jet stream caught the tail
end of the low pressure area we were in
as it moved offshore, giving us big wet
snowflakes late in the afternoon and
then a driving snow as the wind in-
creased out of the northeast toward
nightfall.
The snow plastered the black trees of
our woods with a white coating on their
windward side. These trees that nor-
mally stand out in black silhouette now
dissolved into a blur of swirling white
snow.
We were up early to greet the new
snow. The first duty was to refill the bird
feeders. In no time the finches, spar-
rows, chickadees, nuthatches, titmice,
cardinals, and others swarmed in to re-
ceive their energy supply. Barbara's
sharp eyes picked up a new caller
amongst the ground feeders, a rusty
blackbird. This stranger usually haunts
the wet areas of our woods and swamps,
but the lure of a free meal probably
brought it from the pond down below to
our feeders.
Perhaps it was drawn by the flocking
of other birds that came and went before
it. Normally we get a few of these rusty
blackbirds on our Christmas Count, but
generally speaking they are hard to
come by, so we felt quite fortunate hav-
ing this visitor on our snow-covered pa-
tio.
Just before our snow and cold I had
a call from a lady all excited about a
"sea lion, otter or seal" on a rock in
front of her place. I assured her it was
no sea lion, but to make sure I'd come
and check it out. Binoculars and cam-
eras are always at hand for these quick
getaways and in no time Barbara and
I were off in the pickup.
We were greeted by a charming but
excited lady who promptly took us to the
front of her home overlooking the wa-
ter. Sure enough, there atop a rock was
a harbor seal. This one had a silvery
white coat. Seals come in a variety of
colors: brown, almost black, white and,
of course, mottled. We were quite far
away so I wanted to get closer. I asked
if it would be all right to go down the
stairs and across the beach to get a bet-
ter picture and the reply was, "Of
course, I was down there earlier. I even
sang to it."
Perhaps that was what did the trick,
for my sneaking approach did not
bother the seal a bit. Usually seals are
wary of people and will slip off into the
water as soon as you approach them.
Seals come out of the water to rest and
get warm. Their body is normally pro-
tected from the cold by a heavy layer
of fat and I could see this layer almost
vibrate as the seal moved about. Har-
bor seals have the friendliest face and
are almost comical to look at; and I was
having my fill as I looked through my
500 mm. telephoto lens.
After taking the necessary pictures,
I stood up; even so, the seal stayed put.
Another stretch in which its back tail
flipper spread out told me Mr. Seal was
truly relaxing and enjoying the sun.
Many seals will be sighted this winter
along our shores and all sightings should
be reported to Okeanos Ocean Research
Foundation Inc. in Hampton Bays (728-
4522).
Look for seals wherever rocky out-
croppings occur: Montauk and Orient
Point, the rocks around Shelter Island
and along the Sound and at breakwaters
in Montauk, Shinnecock and Moriches
Inlet. All are good places to see these
visitors that show up throughout the
winter months.
A Literary 'Still Life'
(Continued from Page 16)
lodged inside his head) to invest him
with, if not a personality, perhaps a des-
tiny. As a (potentially) doomed man he
takes up real space —a reassuring solid-
ity he will miss when he is given a clean
bill of health.
For her part, Azadina "of course, is
both real and illusory, as all lovers are
who appear and then disappear in one's
life." Aldous falls in love with her at first
sight. Perhaps before first sight, sug-
gests Leonard, "for had not his sixth
sense brought them together ?"
The meeting was, in fact, a perfect ex-
ample of one of those random occasions
when a banality of daily life leads to
something extraordinary. In this case it
was a simple misunderstanding, a word
mistakenly heard, that sent Aldous to
the wrong cafe for a meeting with Le-
onard, who awaited him elsewhere.
That Aldous met Azadina instead can no
more be considered a miracle, claims
Leonard, than, say, the purchase of half
a dozen free-range eggs, for no partic-
ular reason, on the day before an unex-
pected visit from a vegetarian friend
can be interpreted as divine interven-
tion.
"We consider, in retrospect, the di-
vine nature of our acts; we construct
from banality, magic, from the super-
ficial, the miraculous! For the most part
secular beings, we invest our lives with
godly attributes," writes Leonard/
Lane.
At one point, Leonard warns his read-
ers that he must disappoint those who
"are possibly still waiting for the ap-
pearance of a 'rounded character. "' De-
votees of the old fashioned fictional
virtues— characters with heft and integ-
rity, linear plot lines that move chron-
ologically from beginning through
middle to end — perhaps even a moral —
will probably have problems with Still
Life With Books. Post- modernists who
can't take it straight any more, who pre-
fer to come at reality from odd angles,
even if it means risking a miss, will ap-
preciate Mr. Lane's wit and humor, be
charmed by his quirky love story, and
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intrigued by the truths that lurk bene-
ath its strange surfaces.
Going Out
The Stephen Talkhouse in Amagan-
sett (267 -3117) holds an open jam to-
night, Thursday, January 13, beginning
at 10 p.m. Dick & Jane arrive at the
Talkhouse on Friday, January 14, also
at 10 p.m. Rumor Has It plays the Talk -
house on Saturday, January 15 and on
Sunday, singer-songwriters Michael
Hennessy and Brian Leclerc start to
play at 10 p.m.
After its appearance on January 14 at
The Talkhouse, the six-piece band, Dick
& Jane, will move on to Burke's Road-
house in Southampton on January 15,
when show time is 10 p.m. The mem-
bers of Dick & Jane are local musicians
Ed's Music Inn in Bridgehampton
(537 -1700) plays music with a world beat
every Saturday night. Generally open
Saturdays only in winter, Ed's will
make an exception on Sunday, January
23, when singer - songwriter Caroline
Doctorow will perform with legendary
banjo player Eric Weissberg.
January will be enlivened by some in-
teresting theater events, the first of
which opens at The Stephen Talkhouse
in Amagansett on January 16. Leah
Kornfeld Friedman's "Cowboys Are
Waiting for Me in Montana," directed
by Glyde Hart, will be performed Sun-
day through Wednesday nights, Janu-
ary 16-19 and 23 -26.
The Hampton Theatre Company will
present a special series of staged read-
ings of A.R. Gurney's "Love Letters"
for two weekends only in January—
January 21 -23 and 28-30. The story of two
lovers who never connected, as seen via
letters throughout their lives, will be
performed by different couples on dif-
ferent evenings. Actors are James Ew-
ing, Andrew Botsford, Rosemary
Ewing, Sarah Hurmewell, Diana Mar -
bury and Phil and Eileen Eberhardt.
The curtain goes up on Fridays and Sat-
urdays at 8 p.m. and on Sunday after-
noons at 2:30 p.m. For additional
information or reservations, the theater
can be reached at 653 -8955.
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THE SOUTHAMPTON PRESS i JANUARY 13, 1994