I should know. I cleaned the outside of the lantern today. Parts of it were covered by calcium rich droppings and there were little bombs of matted grass and skeletons, similar to owl pellets.
Lighthouse caretaking
Traffic
Boats to the east of us travel south through the Wrangell Narrows, which can only accommodate “smaller” boats like the ferries and fishing boats. Cruise ships enter Frederick Sound (our summer home) from the west from the Gulf of Alaska. Cruise ships to the left, ferries to the right, here I am stuck in the middle…
I spent a half hour tonight watching a whale slowly cruise by, taking snorkel breaths, diving and flapping a flipper. A sea lion was hanging out on the other side and the eagles were fishing. Somebody pinch me!
The keeper’s quarters are tidy and bleach has obliterated my sense of smell. The countertop convection oven has produced an apple pie, pizza, kale chips, bread and brownies with a little help from me.
It’s still light out when I crawl into my sleeping bag anywhere between 9 and 10 pm. Ambient light makes it easy to read five pages before crashing.
Five Finger helipad
My world at Five Finger Lighthouse as seen from the helipad – the place to be to see whales, porpoises, visitors and to get cell phone reception.
I took this photo while on hold with ATT for an hour trying to straighten out the internet. Never happened so I write this from the lighthouse tower!
Lighthouse impressions
Lovely! We’re busy cleaning and mowing but are also enjoying the gorgeous sights. We share the island with a pair of eagles while whales and sea lions swim right offshore.
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The tip of the iceberg
We took a three hour tour to the lighthouse and saw eagles, whales, sea lions and icebergs. We went up to this one to attempt to get some ice. Boys will be boys.
Internet is sketchy at the moment and I write this from the lantern room and it looks like I can only add one photo. More to follow. Time for bed.
Play date in Juneau
Is anybody out there? We’re listening.
Beautiful fireweeds grow, well, like weeds.
We watched ginormous cruise ships dock and caught a glimpse of Mendenhall glacier from a city bus. Juneau is a city filled with cars with no place to go. I almost forgot the best part. There’s a fabric and yarn store just across the street from our hotel.
Tonight we’re off to the Alaska brewing company and king crab. Tomorrow is the big day; shop, load, a 60 mile boat ride, unload, put away, clean and crash.
Meal planning
Taking my time. Wrote it out on the back of an airline napkin and will shop tomorrow. Seven hours to NYC yesterday. Today 2/3 flights done; 10 hours, 5 to go.
Direct flights next time but I have had plenty of time to think! And plan.
And we’re off
I pulled two almost all-nighters and they had nothing to do with packing for our trip to Alaska. I accomplished that in three hours; one backpack for me and a carry-on bag for my projects – camera, quilt hoop and yarn. My hula hoop and jump rope fit in the backpack.
My foul weather gear takes up most of my clothing space. No fashion show here. We learned this week that 1) noone has been to the lighthouse yet this year (I hear, “expect dirt and critters”); 2) the “big” boat won’t be ready for our 60 mile trip along the inside passage so we’ll take the tender (hence the full foulies); 3) oh yes, and the ramp is out so we’ll dingy our stuff ashore (hence the need for rubber boots). Yet I’m psyched.
Tim found this great slide show to put me in the mood, put together by an artist in residence a few years ago. You can find it here.
I lost sleep due to self imposed deadlines. I had to weave several placemats to complete a set I made for my daughter and I did – in 24 hours! The first part of the set only contained three placemats due to warping mishaps. Now she has a complete set of eight and she will know how much I love her.
Then I had to finish a quilt to for my son since I will be away for his birthday. So I had to finish it six weeks early. I’m a crazy woman but I did it. 3072!! That’s the estimated number of stitches I sewed to finish the binding. The quilt is 96″ x 96″ so the circumference is 384″ with about 8 stitches per inch for a total of 3072 at the rate of about 500 stitches per hour or 8 stitches per minute. I must be slow and crazy.
Pièce de résistance is the quilt label. I used my phone to generate a QR Code, which I printed onto fabric and sewed to the back of the quilt.
It’s a private message so I’m only showing an unfocused photo. I wonder if there will still be QR scanners a hundred years from now.
He’ll have it for his birthday and know how much I love him.
Now to catch up on sleep so I can plan my food shopping for a month.
My geraniums are in the Halcyon Yarn catalog
Really. Halcyon Yarn is located in Bath, ME. I’ve stopped in once or twice and they have a wonderful weaving section plus knitting, spinning, the works.
Last year, a few weeks before we arrived to help close Seguin Island Lighthouse, Halcyon Yarn went out to the Island for a photo shoot – without ME!
Whatever, I’m over it. I encourage you to get a copy of the current catalog. It’s a lovely display of fiber projects in a beautiful setting. They have even devoted a line of knit, woven and hooked projects to Seguin.
But I digress. Back to MY geraniums. As we closed up last year, I found two potted geraniums under the porch. They had been in outdoor planters that brightened the entry during the season and were now discarded. I was determined to bring them home, by dinghy, the Leeward and car to nurture them over the winter. And they flourished.
Here they are featured on the back cover of the catalog from last season on Seguin.
And here they are brightening my dining area today.
A convergence of passions: Seguin and fiber – and pretty flowers.
Preparations begin
Our departure is a month away and our thoughts point west to Alaska. I was googling Five Finger Lighthouse and came across this link about our temporary home.
Just when I have embarked on a regular running regimen, we head out to a three acre island. Three acres! 130,680 square feet or 361.5 x 361.5 feet! Oh my. That’s a lot of laps – 3.6 laps to run one mile. Luckily the island’s size doubles at low tide. I’ll have to watch out for slippery rocks.
We’ve asked the three most important questions: Is there internet service; is there cell phone service; and is there hot water? Happily, the answers are yes, yes and yes. There aren’t mosquitos or gnats but spiders were mentioned twice. Can’t be as bad as Australia’s huntsmen spiders. I hope.
We will miss prime boating season on Lake Champlain so yesterday we boarded our sailboat, Boreas, and headed up the Otter Creek in grey, misty weather to Vergennes, VT. We only hit one log in the water but this one is waiting to make the dive over the falls!
We could hear the falls before we saw them and I’m glad we approached from the downside.
Very dramatic.
