Day 54, 10 July

32 visitors

We didn’t go off the island today because Ethan gave us the option of going off Thursday and Friday and we chose Friday since that would give us another full day with Karl and Lori. The day was absolutely gorgeous, finally being more calm and calmer seas. I took out Sacatar for her morning walk and business and she remained outside for her snooze fest.

Broken Door Frame due to rotted wood

We had a good number of visitors and got a call from Jeff that he would be bringing out some lumber at around 10 am and he needed help to get it ashore with a dinghy and use of the tram. I was about to bake popovers when he called and delayed the baking. We went down to the cove to wait arrival of Jeff and a couple came ashore from their boat so we greeted them and I escorted them up to the house for a tour. Karl and Fred came back up and we were finally able to bake my popovers for breakfast. As they were cooking I got a radio call from Ethan that he was coming over with a boatload of visitors. They were to arrive as my popovers were to be ready. We also had a group of our FOSIL member show up at the same time to do some work. As the visitors began to arrive I went out to tell them they we were eating breakfast and would be out on 10 minutes to start tours. We sucked down our yummy hot popovers with butter, jams and honey and went off to host our visitors. Fred gave most of the tours in the tower while I hosted people in the museum and gift shop. This went on for 2 hours and I had started to put together the ingredients for my chicken, asparagus, mushroom, cheese, almond casserole for lunch. I was about to finish it up when another couple arrived for a tour and I gave them one. Fred was working with the work crew on various things.

The most serious was the top hinge of the well house door completely came apart due to rotted wood from the dampness.  With instructions from Jeff who is a bit of a carpenter, Fred removed the door, and the rotted doorframe member, found a suitable replacement from the wood stockpile and sanded it.  Jeff installed the door jam it before he left.  Fred will install the door in the near future.  I was finally able to finish putting together the casserole with the help of Lori and put it in the oven. We had a nice chat with the workers – the first time we were here together at the same time. We usually are on shore leave when they are here. They all left for the day and we finally had our late lunch of the delicious casserole.

Another Gorgeous Sunset

After lunch I made up some guacamole for later and went outside to relax and read a bit with Sacatar. Lori was out reading on a bench already.  Fred and Karl went down to the cove to retrieve the four lobsters left by Jackson in the keeper box tied to one of the moorings.  I tried to take a nap on the grass with Sac but she was restless. So I got up to join the others and we went on the big rock just south of the house to relax and chat and have a mini happy hour. Then they decided they wanted to hear me play a few songs in the lighthouse, so I lugged my violin up there and set up. I played 3 songs for Karl and Lori to hear in the wonderfully acoustic lighthouse before going outside of the tower and viewed the gorgeous sunset with beautifully lit up clouds and we took some selfies together.  It was getting late and we needed to cook up the lobsters that Jackson had left for us. We had a great feast ripping into the tasty beasties with corn on the cob and a bottle of Prosseco that Sue had so thoughtfully given Karl and Lori to welcome them making it to the island. After dinner it was relaxing with more knitting and watching the news. Everyone was tired and Fred had to get up early to catch the ferry at 5:30 am to go to town. Ethan had a chartered fishing trip in the morning and we would have to leave really early for shore leave. I opted to stay and be with Karl and Lori and hopefully we will depart the island at 1:30 pm when Ethan brings out and then returns some visitors. That way I can sleep in, tend to Sac and meet Fred later and we could all have lunch before Karl and Lori leave. We hope that plan works tomorrow. So here I toil on the blogs at nearly 3 am but I need to get them done before they pile up and get too far behind.

I’m sleepy as I write and I’m signing off to get a few hours of sleep before my busy, tiring and wonderful life as a lighthouse keeper resumes the next day. Sweet dreams tempered with the thoughts of Karl and Lori leaving soon. We will have 2 paying guests arrive tomorrow for an overnight stay tomorrow and all is ready for them.