Day 27, 13 June

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Cynthia at the southern tip of the island in the driving rain

Fred at Cobblestone Beach

Today was a cold, stormy, windy rainy day as predicted. Before it got too bad Fred went down to the cove and retrieved the 3 lobsters that Jackson had left us in the keeper box.  He did this in the light rain by hauling the dingy down to the water and rowing out to the buoy where the keeper box is tied.  The keeper box is a floating plastic box with a latching cover where Jackson stops by in his boat and leaves the live lobsters in the box.  He bands the claws making it easier to retrieve the lobsters.  However, this time, one lobster’s big claw had no band.  This made it tricky to grab her as it was flailing all over the place.  Fred decided to drag the keeper box to shore and retrieve dinner on land instead.  Box had to be moved anyway.  He put the lobsters in a 5-gallon paint bucket 1/3 full of seawater.  Then covers them with seaweed to keep them calm.  After securing the dingy back up above high tide marks he carried the bucket back to the house in the now much heavier rain.  We finally met Jackson at the dock on Wednesday when Ethan dropped us off. Jackson was there with his boat the Black Diamond and we had a nice chat with him. He was wondering who were these people were, who left a blank check in his truck to cover lobsters all summer. We usually see him everyday along with other boats around the island tending to their lobster traps.

Two seagull chicks and one egg, near southern tip of island

So as the weather got worse and the storm began to rage we stayed indoors catching up on email, writing the blog and performing indoor chores. We finally went out for a walk down South trail in the windy rain. I got to check out my new rain pants from LL Bean and they worked perfectly to keep my legs dry. I did get some leakage though through my rain jacket that has venting along the shoulder – the horizontal rain got blown through a bit. So we had a careful walk to the south point on the island where we spotted eggs in their nests and two chicks in one nest. Fred snapped a picture and we quickly got away so mom would come back to her babies. We got back to the main trail and then went down to Cobblestone trail and to the ocean to have a look in the rain. More seagulls were sitting on their nests and ducks with their broods in the little cove. Back up the trails we went to the house to get back for hot tea and cocoa and a bit of knitting and relaxing. At around 6 pm I couldn’t stand it and had to go play my violin in the tower – I had been listening to Vivaldi’s 4 seasons on the radio and got inspired. So in the pouring rain I ran over to the tower with my violin and went up the stairs to set up to play. First, I had to check on my Beauty – the lens and see how she was doing. To my horrors I spied a small leak and some rainwater had blown onto the lower prisms from the vent. I grabbed a microfiber towel and tenderly wiped her spotted areas so she was dry and clean. After all it was a dark and stormy night and the noble wooden sailing ships would be in dire need of the great light to guide them in the howling tempest safely to harbor!  After cleaning Beauty I went back down below her to finally play. Again after a few warm up pieces I rifled through my music folder looking for some pieces I hadn’t played in awhile and played some of them. After all I didn’t want to play the same things over and over again and meet the same fate as a rumored ill-fated pianist suffered long ago on this island. So I played for about 1.5 hours with the loud din of the storm raging outside and pounding on the glass lantern windows. It was so loud that I was concerned for Beauty and went up to check on her and she was fine – I had closed the vent so the spray didn’t blast her. Back to playing and I played till my fingers got too cold. I checked Beauty once more, opening the vent a bit so condensation wouldn’t settle on her and returned back to the house in the rain. Time to make a salad and steam the lobsters!

It was comical, us trying to retrieve the lobsters out of the bucket that Fred put them in with seaweed in the morning.  We read the cookbook on how long to steam them but it sounded kind of long from what we remember Michael cooking them when he was here with us. So we called him in Manhattan where he lives to check. He was so kind enough to tell us what to do and chat a little bit. So we had the steaming pot ready and Fred grabbed the little beasties and placed each one in the pot. Put the lid on and set the timer for 16 minutes while we ate our salads waiting for the main event.  The beasties were bright red (good sign they’re cooked) and we fished them out of the pot and tore into them to enjoy the grand feast. Oh my, they were good and I ripped apart the third one, able to get both big claws out intact and the tail. We had good training a few weeks ago from Michael, Cyndy, Ethan and Lindsey. I was tempted to scarf down the second lobster but restrained myself to take a picture of the de-sheathed, tasty, creature on the plate and put it in a container to store for lunch tomorrow. We did give Sac a few tasty morsels since she was a wanting some as we stuffed ourselves in her very presence.

Cyn cleaning the great lens

Fred about to put the lobster in the steam pot

Cyn about to dig in or break-in to eat

Success!  Intact claw and tail meat

We retired to the living room to watch the LA Kings play the Rangers in the Stanley Cup Finals. I worked on knitting the front of my dress and after a while got up to do some weights and exercises. The game was tied and going into overtime. It went through the overtime and into another. I had finished my workout and we watched the 2^nd overtime to see finally the Kings score and win the Cup – YEA!  Glad that was over! It was bedtime finally and dreams of hockey pucks flying through the air.