First of all, it’s usually clear blue, and sunny. The other morning sunrise was beautiful pink. I got to see it since the clocks moved ahead.
I liked the reflection off our window.
The főhn or “Chinook” winds are often over 50 mph and the elongated clouds show it.
Even the prospect of snow or rain creates a pretty sky.
And jets leave their trail.
Here we are, tucked in this beautiful valley.
We were lucky to have family visiting for a few days and did some exploring with them. We walked the trail ridge at Lily Lake and saw great views of Longs Peak and the northern Front Range.
Yesterday I returned to Gem Lake, 987 ft elevation change, easily, and have acclimatized.
The view from the Stanley Hotel may have been even better.
We had a paper airplane contest up the hill, behind the ranch, which offered a view of this valley.
A rock wrapped in paper (?!) travelled the longest distance but a complex design had the longest float. Both winners!
Here is a coaster I wove on a rigid heddle loom. It was a slow but gratifying process because I had to select all the pattern threads by hand.
We needed an image of Shrek for a card and I got to try another watercolor.
This morning, the trees are bending in the wind with gusts to 70 mph. They continue to look beautiful after they die. Hopefully none will fall on my car.
The highlight of the visit was when the local elk herd decided to change pastures and cross the road. The kids said it was the best thing they saw, so Tim turned the car around to watch them some more.
Yesterday, we finally took our first hike in Rocky Mountain National Park and hiked to Gem Lake. Should have.been a piece of cake. It wasn’t. Apparently I am not acclimated to the altitude yet. With any climbing, my heart rate increased to the 140’s and was mildly uncomfortable. Nonetheless, the views were lovely with several optical illusions, at least to my eye, or maybe it was oxygen deprivation. Elevation gain 1000 feet, give or take.
Love these clouds, getting ready for strong winds to arrive.
There were loads of cool rock formations. This is one of them. Not quite sure how such a perfect round hole was created.
Rock formation in a different perspective.
I see a monkey riding a dog. How about you?
Bowels of the owls???
The lake was most remarkable for the rock formations, which surrounded it.
The walk out was a breeze.
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.
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.
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.
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.
We decided, just in time, that this was not our ideal gig. Just in time, because two planes were already scheduled to fly in, before the weather turned, with 12 barrels of fuel. It snowed a little the day before the planes were due.
Our replacement arrived on the first plane, and we left the next day on the second one.
He was already familiar with the property, is a big ice fisherman, and brought his own augur, ice fishing tent, and heater!
We spent 24 hours together reviewing the systems, the back up systems, and enjoying a few meals together.
Then we flew off – to what we learned is the most dangerous city in Canada: Thompson, Manitoba. The primary employer, a nickel mine, closed in 2017, which created a lot of poverty in the region. Gangs formed, drugs arrived, violent crimes occur frequently, sometimes by “machete kids”. Our replacement never left his hotel for these reasons.
But all the hotels were sold out. So we booked an overnight bus to Winnipeg. When we told the pilot we needed a place to wait until the bus station opened for our 10 pm bus, he said he would drive us and find a safe place to wait.
We did and were fine. Since it was a late night bus, many people were in “good spirits”. But there was a strict bag check policy, and for good reason.
The week before, in the same bus, two guys tried to get on with loaded guns and drugs. They escaped. Even worse, in 2009, a passenger BEHEADED another passenger! Toto, we are not in Kansas anymore. Bring back the bears !!
Our trip was uneventful except the bus had no heat and it was 20 degrees !! We survived. Luckily I was still in lots of layers.
We arrived in time for balmy autumn weather in the Adirondacks. Then we headed south to summer weather in Washington, DC to congratulate my daughter and her fiancé on their engagement.
There’s no place like home.
The fog rolled in one afternoon last week and this boat sailed off into the mist.
The bees around the lighthouse are busy pollinating the marigolds, beach roses and ragwort. My neighbor spotted a few bees at my hive. I suspect they are merely robbers but time will tell.
We took the Maine DOT ferry to Swans Island last week with bikes and had a grand time despite all the hills. One stop was the Burnt Coat Harbor Lighthouse. It shows what a community working together can accomplish. From about 2007 to now, they restored it to its current, pristine state. Well worth the stop.
After another hike, we drove Acadia’s Park Loop Road. We saw first hand some of the parking issues elsewhere in the park. There was a mile long line of cars parked alongside the popular Sand Beach.
We found some quiet spots anyway – not at Sand Beach
As summer rolls by, many beautiful boats pass the lighthouse.
They make us wonder, for a moment, if we would like another boat, besides Sparky.
Just for a moment.
The hammock offers a peaceful retreat from the crowds. There is usually a breeze and it rocks me right to sleep.
While the sunset is beautiful, we discovered you can’t actually see the sun sink below the horizon from the rocks, in summer. It’s a winter spectacle when it sets further south.
Island and North Country Life 