Ten years! Hard to believe, but it’s true. Just one quick decade ago (give or take a few weeks), your right-handed and far-flung left-handed correspondent (at large) stepped over the threshold of the 200-year-old building at 290 Main Street to assume the role of proprietors of Canio’s Books. Then-owner Canio Pavone told us the years would go by “like that,” and snapped his fingers. And they have. And it’s been a blast.
A ten-year anniversary celebration of Canio’s Books under the direction of your correspondents will be held on Friday, November 27, from 5 to 7 p.m. We’ll take a look back at some of the highlights of our decade in the bookshop and look ahead to some changes to come. We will also be announcing the creation of Canio’s Cultural Café, a new nonprofit organization whose mission is to secure and expand the cultural gatherings that have been ongoing at 290 Main since October 1980.
We’re using the term café figuratively. “Baristas” will continue to serve up interesting books rather than frothy lattes, and the community is, as usual, welcome to gather and exchange ideas. The Café will host a moveable feast of ideas not just in the bookshop, but at other locations around the East End. All are welcome to the post-Thanksgiving Day reception. A $25 donation is suggested. For information, call 725-4926.
Writer Priscilla Dunhill will lead a talk tonight at the John Jermaine Library on the research process as it led her to interesting surprises. While Ms. Dunhill, author of “An Island Sheltered,” about Shelter Island, was researching a book about gold prospectors she found real treasure in prospecting for valuable seeds. Join the discussion on Thursday, November 19, at 6:30 p.m. For information, call the library at 725-0049.
Yearning for yoga? Keen on Qi Gong? Curious about the Chartres Labyrinth walk? If any of these spiritual practices sound intriguing, there’s an opportunity to learn more and even to sample a few. On Saturday, November 21, the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the South Fork will host a day of spiritual practices that is free and open to all. Try chanting, make a soul collage, or participate in a five-senses writing workshop. Two morning sessions will each offer a choice of three different practices to experience. A “stone soup” and salad lunch will be served midday. Participants are asked to bring something for the common soup pot or salad bowl. The afternoon will be devoted to a guided labyrinth walk. For more information, call the congregation office at 537-0132.
The hubbub surrounding the spectacular blooming of our night-blooming cereus has subsided somewhat. The plant’s once exquisite flowers have withered and dried and fallen from the mother plant. Blanca, as we affectionately refer to her, is at rest after what must have been, for the plant, a very strenuous effort at procreation. For her fans, that meant three nights of late night observation during which more than 15 aficionados came by to witness the splendid show. A loose-knit group of friends exchanged plant tips, and the Sag Harbor NBC Society sprung up.
on Nov 17, 2009