lighthouse

Island crafts

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It’s another beautiful fall day, 50’s and breezy. A great day to be stuck on an island.

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No visitors or crickets yesterday but a couple of float planes passed overhead.

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I wandered through the museum and thought about how keepers and their families spent their time. Just like me, there was food preparation, although they had a barn, animals and a garden. And down time to pursue hobbies, fiber and otherwise.

This linen is displayed in the museum. The center panel was taken from a linen cover, which protected the lens and oil during the day. Mrs. DeShon crocheted the lace around it in the 1940’s.

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This quilted panel was donated by local ladies. It’s hard to see but there’s a lighthouse in the stitching.

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Dorothy Hart made this trolly in the 1950’s from scrap material and used it as a planter.

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I frequently scrounge around looking for things to improvise since we never have exactly what you need. Here’s my weed snipper strap.

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And a mat from old rope.

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And my swift and nostespinne.
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My food requires some improvising too. For the first time ever, the cupboards were bare when we arrived. In years past, there was always lots of spices, oils and vinegars. This year, not even a shaker of salt was left behind. I totally support this but it caught me unaware. I had to bum salt and pepper.

So the first night, cashews provided the salt for braised pork. I’ve put aside some wine to use in salad dressing. Gingersnap cookies provided the spice in an apple pie. And it’s all delicious.<br

Preparations begin

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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!

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We could hear the falls before we saw them and I’m glad we approached from the downside.

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Very dramatic.

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Make that 51 shades of gray

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I spoke too soon. Yesterday was forecast to be partly sunny. If that means fog so thick you can’t see 100 yards, then it was. We were surprised by a knock at the door in the dark and fog by a trio of young men who sailed here from Portland. I expect we’ll hear more from them this morning.

We had a few other visitors during the day.

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A photographer, Friend of Seguin, came out to photo-document the buildings. Capt. Ethan also brought a young family from our neck of the woods, Lake Champlain. They own a CSA, Blue Heron Farm, on Grand Isle, VT and were here for an end of season vacation with their adorable daughters. Their CSA includes yarn!!!

I have yet to identify a family of small hawks who call the island home. I can’t find the Peterson bird book that used to be here, so I am using my Audobon app which is even better.

Today is glorious. Sunny and warmer. I’m not even wearing any wool. Very optimistic.

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I may even need my sunglasses with their homemade croakies.

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Back to island life

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We left home at 0800, passed a stray cow on the road at 8:15 ( the farmer didn’t seem to mind), boarded a ferry, drove through mist, fog, heavy rain and light rain. The leaves in northern VT were beautiful.

We got close to the final boat ride and it was raining steadily (but the wind wasn’t too bad). I have to admit I thought the Holiday Inn in Bath looked pretty attractive at that point, but figured it’s always a minor hassle moving to the island, it would probably be more pleasant in nice weather but a little rain wasn’t really a problem. Besides, Capt. Ethan assured us it would be sunny on the island and he was right. So we donned our foulies, put our stuff in garbage bags and Away we went.

And he was right. I even saw a rainbow wannabe. It was more like a prism on the horizon because it was truncated by the low cloud ceiling.

By 5 pm, we were ashore and our food was in the refrigerator. So we had plenty of time to admire all the work which has been done since our last visit and to settle in to island life again.

We’re settled in and the wind picked up and blew all night from the Sou’west. Perfect lighthouse weather!

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Ignore all signs

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At least three times during our trip to Puerto Rico we were told, you will see a sign that says, “Don’t Enter”. Just ignore it. So we did. Very unlike me, because I usually obey all the rules. The first was for Flamenco Beach on Culebra. We were advised not to pick anything up while snorkeling because it could be an unexploded device. No problem. So while I ignored the do not enter sign, I didn’t touch anything.

We wanted to tour the derelict lighthouse on Culebrita. Who knows, we could end up as caretakers. We met a Belgium couple whose paths we crossed a couple of times and one of them explained the lighthouse was well worth seeing. It’s surrounded by barbed wire and a fence that says, “No trespassing” but just ignore it. So we did. I can see why the sign was there. The buildings were in quite a state of disrepair. There were a lot of similarities to American and Australian lighthouses but the outbuildings definitely had a Spanish flair. There were open courtyards with tiled floors, and ornate stonework, which was really quite magnificent. The stairs were missing quite a few pieces and the tower’s cupola had blown off and was lying outside the barbed wire fence. But the light still worked and we could observe it from our anchorage.

Back – to the lighthouse

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Not physically but in photos. What can I say? There were no rainbows in the Adirondacks today. We enjoyed the Milky Way tonight from the hot tub but I don’t have any photos to show for it.

This shot is looking north towards Popham Beach, ME from the North Trail, historically Tim’s favorite trail.

North view

Here’s a shot of the keeper’s quarters and lighthouse from the South trail, my favorite trail, with clouds radiating from the lighthouse.

Seguin from the South Trail

Fog horn and fog light

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I remember the first time I noticed the lighthouse’s unique effect in the fog at night. The vertical bars in the windows project out as shadows and it looks as if there is a huge umbrella originating from the light, providing protection for those under it. There’s even a lot of bird activity at night as they get distracted by the light during their fall migration. A hawk family of four stays around the island and one definitely buzzed me today when I ventured outside. The fog horn has been on more than it has been off over the past couple of days. We’re debating whether the sound would be different if it blew during clear, dry weather as opposed to damp, wet weather. The jury is still out on that one.

Seguin at night

Fog light

We are not alone here

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Well of course not. We have the cats with us. But even during the storm last night, a boat was tucked in behind the lee of the island. They must have been waiting for the tide to change because the weather didn’t really get better until later today and they were gone by early morning. We had several hours of sun today, which was very nice and brightened our moods. Even the cats were a little stir crazy. We were all happy to be out for a while today. Lobsterman were back out and a tanker went by about 3 miles south of the island this afternoon. There’s a hawk, which circles the east and south sides of the island and a few seagulls about. There’s an assortment of migrating birds passing by and attracted to the light.

Enterprise

I accomplished a lot of knitting yesterday and now find I like to have several projects going at once. I used to be almost exclusively a serial, monogamous knitter but there are so many projects. Some I have to focus on and others are more mindless. I’m knitting a “one stitch lace scarf” for patients who receive chemotherapy at the hospital, in a teal, machine washable blend. It’s simple garter stitch, with a dropped stitch lace pattern, and great to knit while we catch up on old episodes of Dexter.

Knitting trio

The gray and pink lace scarf was a mistake but now I’m so far along, there’s no stopping me. The stripes, combined with the lace, are too busy but I’m six feet into it so there you are. The pattern is Traveling roses, a pretty pattern but 43 stitches by 43 stitches for one repeat and this old mind just hasn’t been able to memorize it. I have it on my Kindle and insert a note to remind of the last row knit.

Monkey socks

The third project is a pair of socks for me with knitpicks stroll in a heather. Very pretty yarn and I have made myself a pair of socks each time we have been here (I’m wearing my pair from 2008 now). So I want to keep up the tradition. It’s a nice reminder all year of the wonderful time we have on Seguin.

One stitch lace scarf

Traveling roses scarf

Seguin 2011

Outhouse bound

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Outhouse outfit We’re in the middle of a four day storm.  Hurricane Ophelia is passing offshore tonight stirring up the wind and water.  There’s no way on or off the island for a few days, which is always interesting. It makes me just a little more cautious.  No power tools, careful walking the quarter mile or so (in full foul weather gear) to the outhouse and spend way too much time indoors.

At least I have several knitting projects underway and lots of food to cook. Yesterday I made a couple of loaves of bread, chile and chicken soup. Tonight I’ll bake an apple pie. What could be more cozy.

Microwave mystery

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Microwave mystery
Getting to know an old home again has it’s benefits and disadvantages.  I can’t figure out one of the icons on the microwave. I’m not sure if I ever knew what it meant but now I am curious. Middle row, right.

I understand the cup with wavy lines over it will heat my coffee.  Defrost and clock are fairly self-explanatory although I would never trust top-brown. So what does it mean? I tried baking a potato with it to no avail.  It looks too smooth for popcorn but I will give it a shot.  The only thing it reminds me of is the Rolling Stones image but what would I cook with that?