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.