Day 101, 26 Aug

30 Visitors

Garter Snake Cyn Found in her Garden

Sunny and warm again for our morning wakeup. This time no one to get us up early. After raising the flag I started baking some peanut butter cookies that made a nice breakfast with my Chai tea and banana as I worked on yesterday’s blog. I got a few chores done with some flower watering and packed up some cookies for Ethan and Brooke. I finished the blog in time to grab a quick shower and raced down to the cove to greet the ferry passengers and get the cookies to Brooke. We also had a private dinghy arrive with 3 gentlemen aboard. They went up to the lighthouse just before I lead the first group from the ferry, a family from near Philadelphia. Their gregarious little boy had all kinds of questions as we ascended the trail. I immediately started giving tours as the rest of the boatload trickled in. The 2 hours went by fast as we did tours and manned the gift store. That little boy I met in the morning really wanted to see what the overnight guest quarters looked like and I gave him a tour. He was quite fascinated with the composting toilet. Everyone was gone by 2 pm and the island was all ours again.

Cynthia Playing with Her New Friend

We had a nice lunch on the front porch as the wind started to pick up. We had lunchmeat and chicken salad sandwiches and I finished my lobster bisque soup with the last of the leftover lobster in it. After lunch Fred headed down to the cove to work on the tram and relax. I gave Sac a walk around the house and watered my flower rock gardens, which have some nice flowers finally making appearances. I noticed a good-sized garter snake crawling near the corridor to the annex room and scooped him up in my hands. He squirmed rapidly around with sleek cool constricting twirling. I wanted to get a picture of him – a snake selfie with me! So I ran into the house with the still squirming snake undulating in my hands. I attempted to snap some selfies but he was moving too fast and getting agitated. He started opening his

Cynthia and Snake Smiling for the Camera

mouth and I did get a few shots of us together. The little reptile was not amused and wanted back outside in the grass. He then gyrated around and latched on between my two knuckles on my left hand with his mouth!  Yes, he was biting me!  He was rather stuck on me and I couldn’t get him off without hurting both of us. I quickly got one of my small paintbrushes that was handy and gently guided it into his impaled mouth on my hand and carefully pried him loose. I saw a tiny wound and a bit of blood from his bite. I didn’t hurt at all but I was surprised he drew blood. He definitely was not a happy camper and I quickly ran outside and let him loose in my chive garden where I’d seen him before. No need to piss him off further. I went upstairs and washed my tiny wound with soap and water and put two coats of liquid bandage on it. We will see if I start craving bugs and mice in a few days after my “harrowing” ordeal – HA!

Cynthia's Foggy Night Painting of the Lighthouse

So after my snake encounter I finally sat down to finish my painting. It needed some fine tuning and putting the color on the lens and stars in the sky. I did a bit more on the eerie fog and radiating dark spokes. After 2 hours I knew to stop and sign the painting in the lower right corner with my CP symbol and the date abbreviated to 14. I do like it and believe I have captured the foggy wind blown night with a few stars peaking through and Beauty all aglow with the sparkles radiating out on the ceiling spokes. This is my favorite view of her, which I can hold and see forever – mission accomplished. I feel like a great weight has been lifted, perhaps that is why it took me all summer to have the vision simmer in my conscious and finally come out after much contemplation, it needed to wait that long.

Pretty Bird Down Near the Cove, Some Sort of Barn Swallow

After completing the painting I changed into slightly warmer clothes since it was getting chillier by the minute in the early evening. I went on down to the cove to join Fred who was looking for sea glass as the low tide was approaching. We hiked and climbed along the rocky shore and made our way to the cove point and worked our way around the peninsula. It was nice low tide and we could hike further out on the rocks. As we approached Cobblestone on a high cliff area that was fun to climb on I noticed a very young seagull the still had fuzz on it walking and trying to hide in the cliffs. I alerted Fred who had told me about this very late chick and we cut over to try to avoid scaring it. As we were peeking over the high edge Fred noticed a seal that had been sleeping on the rocks below. He was a pretty light brown color with those huge dark eyes. He was alarmed by us and started to make his difficult way to the ocean through rocks and crevices. We felt bad that we had startled him and disturbed his resting place. We tried to continue without being seen by him but he still wanted to get safely to the ocean. I continued on ahead out of sight from him and Fred went way high on a bluff to observe his slow progress. He finally did reach his comforting ocean and swam away. We poked around a bit in the Cobblestone area and continued on down Cobblestone trail to the cove where it was now officially low tide. We looked for sea glass and Fred went up soon after. I stayed for about ½ hour to pick up a baggie full of the multi-colored glass. I put my shoes and socks on my cold, numb, sandy feet and ventured back up to the house just in time to see sunset.

Seal on the Rocks Near Cobblestone Beach

I cooked Sac her chicken for her supplement for her dinner and had just enough daylight to dig out 3 carrots and retrieve lettuce, cilantro and chives for the salads. I had started a nice bottle of cabernet from our latest overnight guests and continued to bake some Red Lobster cheese biscuits and prepare the salads. I also had about 10 large shrimp with cocktail sauce to complete my dinner. Those biscuits are so damn good – we call them crack biscuits.

I managed a few rows of knitting before getting too sleepy and took a nap and awoke around midnight. I stayed up to write this blog before going outside to see Beauty shining in the night and take one last look at her in the starry and windy night sky. Yes, my painting is complete and I can leave Seguin very content. Off to sleep with an angry little garter snake munching on me in his time of discontent and an amused Beauty bearing witness to it all!