Day 44, 30 June

25 visitors

We had another gorgeous morning to start the day with our friend Kim. We made blueberry and banana pancakes and had scrumptious honey roasted peanut butter on them that Kim brought. Kim and I worked in my garden, weeding and laying seaweed. We had a bunch of visitors arrive from the ferry and private boats so we gave tours and manned the gift shop for a while. Fred went up in the tower 6 or 7 times with visitors.  Kim continued to work in my garden and was very helpful since she has gardens back home.

Garden, showing green beans, Arugula, Lettuce, beets and more

After everyone left and we were done gardening, Kim made her delicious New Mexico style cheese enchiladas and we had a yummy late lunch.  After lunch Fred mowed the upper areas and Kim and I hiked the North trail doing some pruning. We turned left on the high vista point before the big down to take a view. There were a bunch of gulls squawking and when we got close to the top saw a chick looking scared. We took a quick look and turned around so as not to terrify it too much and went back to the main trail. The trail was dry enough to not get your feet wet and we rested a bit at the end of vista trail on the rock cliffs, taking pictures and enjoying the views. We were about to go back when I noticed movement in a rock alcove and was surprised to see a single fuzzy seagull chick scrambling to hide and stay still so he would be safe. I tugged on Kim to see the chick. I went over to the adorable baby who was staying absolutely still and took two photos. Kim took some also. We then quickly backed off and wished him well and climbed back up to the trail to go back. Did not see or hear any adult gulls squawking when we were looking at the chick and hoped he would be safe and found by mama. Kim was dive bombed by a seagull as we made our way up back to the main trail. So we continued the steep up still pruning here and there. It was nice to do this hike to work off some of those enchiladas. We got back and relaxed a bit – I finally finished my knit dress after picking up 96 stitches for the collar and purling 3 more rows. We then decided to go down to the cove after Fred to go retrieve the lobsters that we ordered. Kim and I got down there and Fred had already gone out in the dinghy and told us there were no lobsters!  WAAH!!!!! Why no lobsters? Did something happen to Jackson?  We picked around the beach more seaweed for my garden and then went back up to the house.  Fred called about the lobsters and found out Jackson’s boat was in for maintenance and he was attending a funeral the next day in Massachusetts and then he talked to Ethan and asked if he know of any other lobsterman who could get us 3 lobsters. He said the others were busy too but might be able to bring 3 out the next day if he was coming out with visitors. Ethan said he would if he was coming out – the weather might not be good but he did have a reservation with some people to come out. We were very disappointed not to get our lobsters but went to plan B – beef stroganoff. Kim is an excellent cook and looked at the recipe I had found in a cookbook here and we started to get to work. I quickly grilled some chicken for Sac’s dinner and Kim started grilling the beef and I started chopping onions and mushrooms. We combined everything and let the beef combo simmer for another hour to get nice and tender while we ran out to look at the sunset and relax more in the living room. I decided to try on my new knitted dress to see how it turned out. It fit perfectly and went all the way to the floor! A little longer than the picture in the pattern but that’s OK – it s looks even better full length. So where will I wear this gorgeous aurora borealis mermaid dress?  I hope to definitely wear it to one of my dear niece’s opera performances in the near future.  www.kathrynlewek.com

Seagull Chick huddled in the rocks

So after an hour of simmering the meat was tender and we added the sour cream and boiled the noodles for our sumptuous feat with a nice fruit salad I chopped of watermelon, apple, local strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and cherries. Again it was a late dinner – so much to do on our island paradise. So we relaxed in the living room and talked and watched the news till we were too tired and retired to bed. Visions of missing lobsters wandering our dreams.

Day 43, 29 June

37 visitors

Ethan DeBery's Leeward unloading visitors, our friend Kim is in pink

A gorgeous morning today started off with two visitors at around 9:30 am. I was still in my nightshirt and gave them a tour in that! Just had an hour then to shower, eat something and get down to the cove to meet the ferry. Our friend Kim was to arrive! Fred went down a little early to do a few things including gathering more seaweed for my garden. Our overnight guests said they had slept great and were still enjoying the island. A few more private boats showed up with more people. The ferry showed up with more people including Kim. We met her at the beach and helped carry her stuff to the tram. While she and I walked up to the house Fred loaded the cart to bring up on the tram. As soon as we got to the top and unloaded stuff from the tram I went to work giving tours. Later Fred and I switched and I worked the gift shop. We had a steady stream of visitors for a few hours. Sac was outside in the shade and many people greeted her and petted her. She was very happy to see her Auntie. She was just a pup the last time.  We had a nice young couple who had arrived on the ferry and the gentleman proposed to his lady on the beautiful afternoon. I believe he proposed to her at sunset bench. She said yes! I later gave them a tour of the lighthouse and noticed her very pretty engagement ring and told them congratulations. While I was on the tower, another family was eating lunch at the picnic table when I heard Fred asking a little boy not to dig in my rock gardens. He started digging up my little garden areas, which I have been trying to grow for weeks and some did have tiny seedlings in them. I was very dismayed at the damage and all my effort that was destroyed. Another area that clearly had little plants in it had a big fat footprint in it. I was rather pissed at these people who had no care or concern about the property that obviously had plantings in them. What were they going to do next? Rip up my big garden circle and knock over my flowerpots? Come on people have some respect and care!!!!!!!

Fred helping the passengers off the raft and on the beach

Dave Powers showed up in the tower with a Coastie named Jim. I learned some new and interesting info from Dave about the lens and tower. I gave them a nice tour and Jim was very appreciative of our care of the station and particularly of the lens. He could see how much we cared for her and how well she looked. He also mentioned how much they actually did use her to help guide them and again thanked me for taking such good care of her. How nice it was to have such appreciation voiced from one who did depend on her, another particular aspect of being a keeper of the light that is not always directly heard.

We finally were able to have some lunch at 3:30 pm. Kim chopped up some cheeses and salami and we had that with crackers, hummus, olives, watermelon and cherries. After lunch Kim and I took a hike down to the cove and picked up some beach glass and then hiked Cove trail and hiked along the rock cliffs to Cobblestone trail and back to the kiosk where we hiked back up to the house. Fred gave a tour to a nice couple from New Zealand who arrived on a nice big catamaran. They have been sailing all over the world for 14 years! 

Beautiful Night shot of Seguin Island Lighthouse
Photo by Jon Secord, www.jssecord.com

We relaxed in the evening with some delicious sangria that Kim brought from Whole Foods.

Kim made some phone calls to family members and we then took her up to the tower for her first look at the light. The afternoon was so busy that she didn’t get a chance to go up. So we gave her a nice sunset tour and enjoyed our special time with Beauty. We went down to start dinner of salads and grilled salmon. Kim brought a delicious mango salsa that was perfectly matched on the salmon. We relaxed more in the living room and I worked on sewing my knitted dress together – getting the remaining side done and one sleeve sewn on. We finally watched the news at 11pm and looked at some Seguin photos on the computer. One of the photographers, Jon Secord, from the night photo session the other night sent Fred one of his photos, which was breathtaking. The night view was of the lighthouse and house from the oil house path and the Milky Way was brilliantly blazed across the starlight skies. We can’t wait to see his other photos.  His business is J Secord Photography and his website is www.jsecordphoto.com.  He was gracious enough to allow us to share his photo.

We all got so tired from our tiring day and off to bed. Visions of my stomped on and mutilated gardens saddening my restless dreams.

Day 42, 28 June

2 visitors

Flowers up near the house and lighthouse

Fred got up at 7:00 am to help the photographers get their stuff down on the tram and then helped them get their stuff on the boat that picked them up this morning. The guys were very happy with the shots they got and showed some to Fred. A beautiful day and no visitors!  I went down to the cove in the morning after being with Sac. I got there in time to see the big sailboat sailing away. After going back up to the house I weeded a bit and Fred cleaned up the guest quarters for our arriving renters at 4pm. He cleaned up their mini kitchen, bugs out of the overhead lights and vacuumed the bedrooms as well as the whole museum and gift shop. I worked on the blog that is two days late and Fred made chicken salad sandwiches for lunch. As I worked more on the blog Fred rowed out to secure the keepers box for

More flowers up by the house

lobsters. We got word that Kim was in Dulles, WA, DC and on her way to see us.  So we called Jackson to leave three lobsters in the keeper box for a feast with our honored guest.  State law does not allow lobstering on Sundays.  I did pick up some rubber gloves to wear this time when I handle the cooked lobster. My thumb has just healed from last week’s dinner.  I went down to the cove, and while waiting for our guests to arrive, filled a 5-gallon bucket with seaweed.  Our first overnight guests arrived around 4:30pm, being dropped off on the beach from Ethan’s Guppy.  We helped them with their stuff, loaded up the tram (including my seaweed), showed them their quarters and tried to make them feel at home.  Our visitors are brother and sister, he from Los Angeles and she from the Cleveland area.  While our guests

Another great sunset!

were exploring the island, I took the seaweed and carefully laid it out between my rows of young growing vegetables.  Ethan mentioned, to cut down on weeds, which are popping up all over the garden, to lay the seaweed down to keep the weeds and bay and it helps fertilize the plants.  We will have a picture in tomorrow’s blog.  Our guests came back from the various hikes in time for Fred to take them up in the lighthouse to watch the sunset.  They were very impressed and said how lucky we were to be here for the whole summer.

For dinner Fred made a salad and I cooked up two pork chops with spices, onions and Worcester sauce. When the cops were done I threw into the pan sliced steamed potatoes to grill with the onions and drippings for a bit. We had a delicious dinner and the potatoes were particularly yummy. The evening was spent listening to classical music, mwatching the news and sewing the other half of my knitted dress together. Sleepy as usual and off to bedtime.

Day 41, 27 June

16 visitors

At last we got off the island after a 2-day delay. Got water at Cyndy’s house and gave Hinkley lots of hugs and kisses. Next was a quick bite of breakfast at the Creamery in Town and a trip up to visit with Catherine to turn in money and receipts from the week. Collected our mail and off to Reny’s for a few things and then to my haircut. I finally got my shaggy noggin trimmed very nice and short again by Jordan at Crossroads. She did a great job and I walked about ½ mile along a nice paved path back to the launder mat where Fred was doing our laundry. Along the way I noticed a nice big robin standing on the side of the road. Something seemed odd so I went over and she just stood there – I wondered if she had been hit and was stunned. I walked right up to her and picked her gently up in my hand. She stayed perfectly still and I ran back to the edge of the forest to let her go. As I put her on the ground she flew up and around me and entered the forest. I hope she will be all right.

So we finished laundry and headed to the vet to get more meds for Sac. Did a few more errands and then went to the Sea Dog Brewery in Brunswick for lunch where we sat outside right along the strongly flowing Androscoggin River. The river was very high with rapids due to the recent rains.  It was very pleasant to just sit and relax and have a nice lunch.

Sea Dog Brewery and Topsham's Bowdoin Mill (image from net)

After lunch we decided to drive North for a change and go to Wiscasset to see what was up there. As we drove up there we noticed little strawberry stands along the side of the road and thought to get some on the drive back. We got to Wiscasset with a bit of Friday traffic and parked a walked a little bit to get some ice cream and walked around a bit more. I did stop in a gift store and got the neatest plush blue/gold lobster. I had to get some friends for him so I picked up 2 blue jellyfish and a neat blue starfish – all stuffed toys. They would look real nice in our guest bedroom as décor for our personal guests to enjoy. So back we went stopping at a Shaw’s grocery store near Wiscasset to get our food. Continuing on the way back south we did stop at a little strawberry stand and got a quart of berries. Onward we went back to Bath to exit where we got caught on the shipyard road letting out all their employees at 3:30 pm. Workers everywhere and the traffic stopped for 5 minutes as the workers mass exited the shipyard.  Then to Phippsburg and back to the dock to catch the Guppy. Ethan was just pulling up as we got there and unloaded our stuff. We had a nice sunny cool ride back to greet our Friday warriors ready to head home. We were greeted in the water by the local Seguin Mermaid who looked very much like Cyndy!  Our Mermaid left a watermelon in the fridge for us.  How nice.  There was a great big beautiful sailboat mooring in the cove. On the beach were two young gentleman who just got there and they were photographers who were going to spend all night on the island getting spectacular night shots of the lighthouse and stars and Milky Way. Fred and the guys loaded up the tram with all our stuff and I gave the hand signals to have it reach the top. After unloading we had a nice chat with the photographers and told them about the trails and all about the lighthouse and ourselves. They wandered off and we relaxed outside in the warm still sunshine on a glorious late afternoon. I sat outside with Sac and cut all the tags on my purchases and Fred laid out on a bench to nap a bit.

This is NOT Seguin, but we hope to have a actual
picture posted later

The sea critters look really cute in the guest room that is shades of white and blue. I do hope Kim makes it out here to see and stay. Around 7 pm two gentlemen showed up from a sailboat in the cove and were interested in being up in the tower at sunset to take some pictures. I told them that would be fine and we chatted a bit and they busied themselves for an hour. At around 8:15 pm they returned and I took them for a tour up in the tower and we enjoyed a pretty sunset with Mt. Washington and they got some nice pictures. Went back down to secure everything and we had a chat with the photographers who were excited for evening to come for their night pictures. They showed us some of their spectaculars shots of other lighthouses and we were curious to see what they would shoot here. We were exhausted from our busy day and had leftover casserole and raspberry squares from the day before for dinner. My wrist was till aching so I finally took some Bayer Back and Body and it did help a lot with subsiding the pain. We kept just the lights in the living room on low in the evening so we wouldn’t disturb our guests. I even washed up by candlelight and went to bed that way- hmm just like in the days of old. Really feeling like a genuine Keeper!