Day 107, 1 Sept

9 Visitors before we left the island

Cynthia, Sacatar and all our Stuff Leaving the
Island for the Last Time

Our last morning on Seguin was foggy with Tooter tooting away. It seemed too quiet and I checked on my rescued gull only to find him dead. I had gone to bed at about 3 am and he was fine so he passed in the early morning hours. One last, sad, death in my midst to make my leaving even sadder. At least he didn’t die cold and wet in the raging storm in the night. He had a nice warm, quiet place to leave this earth. I placed him in a tranquil, special place and I named him Albert. I raised the flag one last time and made some blueberry muffins with fresh blueberries for breakfast and had a Chai tea with my last shot of Bailey’s. The calm before the storm of packing, cleaning and leaving. It was requested of us to leave at noon – WTF? No way in hell was that going to happen.  The last we heard it would be 3:00pm. We were going to take our time and clean properly and leave the place a hell of a lot cleaner and nicer than we found it

A Final View of the Lighthouse as We Leave

for the incoming people. Another irritating treatment of us particularly after there was discussion had, about us about having a more reasonable leisurely time for our last day, so much for that talk. It made us feel like expendable-hired help. Another thing we found out was the bell that was supposed to have been helicoptered out in June was to be delivered Thursday, September 4. So we would miss out on that special occasion after looking forward to it all summer. One last disappointment to add to our summer on Seguin. How ironic that most everything that was planned was delayed but not our departure which was right time on the day it was scheduled and even requested to be even earlier in the day.

So we worked quickly all around the hot humid morning to pack up our remaining things and get the house in

Sacatar on the Leeward

order. The fog started to lift in the early afternoon. I packed up the cold foods in a bin and shoved it into the fridge to stay cold. Ethan arrived with the bigger boat, the Leeward, since the Guppy was not big enough for the new group had five members with their tons of supplies that were to last them two weeks. Fred mentioned they had more for two weeks than we had for all summer.  Ethan also brought out Lindsey, his wife, three additional friends and Pepper.  Bill was one on the incoming and he was a keeper in 2009. I showed him all my gardens and plants and asked him or somebody to water them as needed and to help themselves to the veggies in my big garden. I did harvest more carrots, lettuce, another cucumber, basil, green beans and beets. I packed them up to leave with Cyndy to enjoy. I didn’t get to try my broccoli that was just getting big. My watermelon plants were starting to grow good with blossoms. It would have been nice to have another month to fully enjoy my garden or even another week.

Fred had carried all our stuff to the tram and used it to bring it all down to the cove.

In the midst of leaving there were still visitors to host and I took a group of 7-8 up for my last tour. This group included Lindsey her friends and her doggie Pepper. I sold two last T-shirts to one visitor. I

Ethan and Lindsey's Dog Pepper

went back to the house where Bill was stocking the fridge and told him I was going back up into the tower to say goodbye to Beauty one last time. Bill was very gracious and understood. I had my last talk with Beauty and admired her immense incredible magnificence. I told her I hoped to see her again sometime and to keep shining bright for all to see. Earlier I did call the coast guard and left a message that during long power outages; the lens does not relight, as it should when the power comes back – who knows if they could care about that. I worry that she will be dark and no one will reset her during the long winter months when no one is there. One last look at her and I went down the spiral stairs and out the door. I said goodbye to Bill and took one last look around the house and grabbed two bags of stuff and set out down the trail in the hot humid sunshine taking one last look back at the house and Beauty.

Down at the cove I went to the boathouse dock and introduced my self to Brenda and another lady who were going to replace us for two weeks. I had a nice chat with them and proceeded down to the cove. I looked up at the tram to see Fred carrying Sacatar down. Bill had also helped carry her since she couldn’t walk down the tram like she walked up it in May. I didn’t think she would leave the island alive but

Cyndy's Dog Hinckley, All 165 lbs of Him!

thanks to Dr. Sue she did. We have plans to see Dr. Sue tomorrow for lunch so she could see Sac and say goodbye. She requested to see Sac, which was real nice of her. So we got in the dinghy with a few things and our beloved Sac and went out to the Leeward for the last time. While the dinghy went back to get the other passengers, Fred jumped into the water to cool off and Ethan and I pulled him up onto the boat. He had made about 10 trips down to the cove and 20 trips up and down the stairs carrying our stuff to the beach.  He also rowed the dingy our and back numerous times loading our stuff so he was pretty hot and the cold ocean water felt great.

Before we knew it we were off heading out of the cove and away from our beloved island home for the last 3.5 months. I sadly looked at the island and Beauty as they got smaller and smaller and snapped a few pictures. The afternoon was glorious in the blazing hot sun and all too soon we were back at Popham unloading our stuff. We got Sac safely off the boat and up the ladder onto the dock. We said our goodbyes to Ethan and Lindsey and gave them big hugs.  We gave pats to Pepper before we left the Leeward. I went and got the car and we loaded it up and went to Spinney’s for a take out lunch that we ate in the parking lot. We drove over to Cyndy’s house first stopping to drop off our

Sequin Island Blackberries on Muddy Boots Ice Cream

recyclable bottles and cans at the grade school one last time.  We arrived at Cyndy’s to an empty house. Cyndy was working and where was Hinckley? We brought all our stuff into her house, which already had the previous loads. I unloaded the cold foods into her fridge and shortly after Hinckley arrived home with Jay and Chewbacca, his buddies who took him for a walk and swim. It was so nice to see and greet him again. I was exhausted from my tiring and trying morning and took a nap on the couch. I got up after an hour and started to make dinner for the 3 of us. I made up a nice salad from mostly my garden and got the other ingredients ready for my Hawaiian chicken. Cyndy got home after 9 pm and we had the salads as the chicken simmered with mushrooms, garlic and onions. After the salads were done I threw in the sweet sour sauce and pineapple and

Our Dear Island Vet, Dr. Sue Matteson with Sacatar

a bit of sharp, garlic cheddar cheese to heat up and melt. We had this scrumptious concoction with my steamed green beans, which tasted ever so sweet and needed nothing on them. How I wished I could have enjoyed them more than once. My cucumber in the salad was very sweet tasting also. I do hope Cyndy enjoys all the veggies I left her. For dessert we had Muddy Boots ice cream with the fresh blackberries that I had picked the day before. Again I wished I could enjoy more than one serving. We didn’t last long that evening with the big meal and soon went off to sleep. I fell asleep on the couch to keep Sac company and to think about the popovers I was going to make for breakfast the next morning. Hopefully in my subconscious I dreamt I was back in a little upstairs room with the sound of the sea lulling me to sleep and a magnificent beacon guarding my soul till a new day could dawn to explore and marvel on a special little isle in a far away place called Seguin.  Cyn.

This will be our last blog entry for our wonderful summer at the Seguin Island Lighthouse.  For those of you that followed the blog, thanks so much for your comments and feedback.  It means more than you might think.  I would also like to thank all the FOSILS members for their help and support during our stay.  Special thanks go out to Cyndy, Ethan, Sue, Anne and Ken.  Of course, special thanks go to Hinckley and Pepper who always greeted us warming and eagerly with wet kisses us at Cyndy’s home and Ethan’s boat, respectively.  Fred.