Well I did it. I swam all 26 letters of the alphabet with a few repeats. Some need imagination. By my count, we swam in 10 lakes and ponds this summer.
Please enjoy My Alphabet Book
The many faces of Seguin
All beautiful. Seguin always delivers. A little rain, fog, the foghorn, great trails, monarch migration, some visitors but then a week without another person (except Tim of course), nightly cricket invasions, clouds, sunsets, waves, the view of Mt. Washington, ships, near and far, lighthouses along the shore, rocks, spider webs, good food, at least one mink this year, bald eagles, the prism rainbow, but no rainbows this trip, the weather was too nice. Feeling on top of the world.
All in a day
Never too old to learn new tricks. We have a problem with the tractor engine, please don’t ask, and it was decided we should remove it from the tractor snd take it off island. We, meaning the Royal We.
I was up to my elbows in grease – no wonder all those you tube mechanics wear black vinyl gloves – when Tim came down to the Whistle House, to check my progress.
So I stopped for the day, cleaned up a little and made salmon cakes.
Yesterday, I went back at it and set it free. The task itself was straightforward, but access to nuts and bolts was ridiculously hard. Now we just have to figure out how to get it down the quarter mile hill, onto the beach, into the dinghy for its ride home.
After I finished, I made a batch of scones and a loaf of bread with somewhat clean hands.
Tomorrow is closing day, our last day on island, which will be a flurry of activity, after no visitors for a week due to windy, wonderful lighthouse weather.
And while here, I finished knitting a baby bonnet in silk/wool, which I spun while at Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse, a pair of mittens and started a hat. All in a day’s work.
Flotsam and jetsom
It’s been windy here on this offshore island. Seas are big, waves are crashing in the cove and we had a super, high tide, with the full moon and a north wind.
Bottom line, no visitors for a few days and lots of debris and seaweed in the cove.
We had to haul the dinghy up to higher ground. Our next few dinghy trips should be interesting. Not today though. Small craft warning persists.
Land snails seem happy enough, until I hear one accidentally crunch underfoot.
Nothing can keep a beautiful sunset down.
Not even a seagull photobombing me.
“W” is for whirlwind
It has been a crazy couple of weeks. First we went camping to evade a music festival in town.
We worked out a kayak lift system that didn’t break us. We hitched our kayaks to a horse drawn carriage and were transported in comfort to the shore of a beautiful lake.
We loaded up the boats and headed to our favorite campsite, complete with Adirondack chairs.
It was sunny but cool. I swam my final letter in the alphabet, “W”, and sunned myself on a rock to stave off hypothermia. Tim swam longer than me and had a harder time warming up.
Not my best but it’s too cold to keep swimming.
We found a great tent site, where a tree had already fallen. Nature won’t strike twice in the same place, would she?
We sat and looked at the water and clouds for hours on end.
We returned home Sunday, I worked Monday, we went out to dinner for our 18th anniversary, then packed again.
We are back on Seguin Island! This will be about our 14th fall. We spent summer 2008 ad season caretakers and have returned most years since then to help close up the island in the fall.
We packed enough food and water for as long as we will be here. Luckily the Wednesday Warriors were here and they were a big help hauling our gear from the boat to the beach and then up the hill.
We were soon joined by one set of kids and grand kiddos. What a blast. Naturally we ate lobster and corn, found beach glass, hiked trails, gave tours of the tower, flew airplanes, cracked crab claws, watched sunsets, ate delicious meals, hunted crickets in the kitchen, and played lots of cards.
That’s them at the sunset bench we built in 2008.
Great memories are made here.
“V” is for victory
Although I tried to complete the alphabet today, I messed up “W”. There’s still time.
Kayaks are loaded on the car, bags are packed and we’re taking a horse and carriage ride into Great Camp Santononi tomorrow. And maybe I will get to swim.
First I have to pick out my camping, knitting project.
On a roll
We hiked with friends on Sunday and then swam to freeze off. We created, what I am sure would have been, a beautiful “R” but my gps hiccuped. Instead, I improved my “P”.
Today I was motivated and it paid off. Three letters! I could still feel my fingers when I was done. Drumroll…
“T” is missing because I already swam it when a “K” fail became a “T”.
Since I started at the end of the alphabet, I only have one, maybe two letters left. Maybe, because I could flip an “M” to make it a “W”.
We’re going kayak camping this weekend. I may really complete this challenge.
Summer squeeze
So much to do before the end of summer: finish swimming my gps alphabet; canoe camping at Great Camp Santanoni; train to climb a big hill with stuff.
The hill starts today. We’re hiking Rooster Comb, with friends but no gear. I will hopefully get to swim an “R and S” after our hike.
We’re getting ready to return to Seguin Island for a few weeks to help tuck it in for winter.
This is truly one of my favorite places in the world. We’ve helped out almost every year since 2008. I may know the 64 acre island better than my own little piece of paradise.
But to get there, we have to take a boat, then a dinghy to the beach, offload everything, then climb up another couple hundred feet to the top of the island, where the lighthouse is perched. I have knots in my stomach already even though Tim does most of the hauling while I unpack in the kitchen. I and/or some our stuff usually take a dunking as well.
Next weekend there are big goings in in our little town and we like to high tail it out of here. Tim arranged a horse drawn carriage to bring our kayaks four miles in to the great camp, where we will look for a nice camping spot- another of our favorite places.
Are these the dog days?
Minding my “P’s and Q’s”
They are both a bit of a stretch but autumn is coming. It was 49 degrees at home this morning! I swam with a brave friend who let out such a whoop when she got in the water, it echoed for minutes off the cliffs around Chapel Pond.
Not sure what I triangulated. Or how it happened. I split the letters into 2 swims to keep it neat. It’s hard enough retracing one letter. I had to quit early because a few fingers went numb.
My “Q” is weak.
Autumn is coming!
So I knit my fourth pair of jaywalker socks.
Just say no
Or not yet to fall. A tree has already changed in the Adirondacks.
But I’m stil swimming.
Letters of the day: “N & O”. It took a bit of flipping and turning to make it legible. I stopped the track when I was still across the lake so I didn’t have to backtrack.
Island and North Country Life 