Month: July 2022

This Blog is looooong!  Grab a beverage, get comfy and enjoy!

Sunday, July 10th – Beautiful low wind day!  Three boats stayed overnight.  We are working on a pipe in the wall of dirt leading to the beach at the Cove.  This water appears to be pretty clear and we wanted to make a dam of sorts so we can capture some of it in case it turns out that it is potable.  Here was the attempt at putting the pipe in, but the water is not running out through the pipe. We need to think like a beaver and build some type of dam….

By 10:00 we had another boat join the group in the Cove.  We had a group of four come up and they wanted a tour.  They had two young children who were very well behaved during my tour.  Here we are with their kids in their swag by the fog bell!

During the break, I took the liberty of trying to look up some more data on the 1^st order Fresnel lens.  That is pronounced “Fru-nel” (hold your nose so it sounds more nasal and French like). I’m trying to figure out how many pieces of glass there are in our 1^st order lens.  I have two numbers , 264 and 284.  I counted them, but it didn’t match either one of those numbers.  I can’t tell which pieces of the lower or dome prisms have seams.  The other piece of data, is how much does it weigh.  We found 12,000lbs in one place, so I’m saying now about 6 tons, but regardless, it’s VERY heavy!

A couple more pictures of the lens. 

Steve headed off to spray some Poison Ivy (PI) on the North Trail.  The North Trail has a loop and if you take the loop, this is where the irises grow and you walk along some pieces of board through a damp area.  This is where the PI is growing and is right along the edge of where you walk.  So, we decided it was best to tell folks to avoid this area.  People are walking in sandals or Teva’s, Chaco’s, etc. and their feet are right near the PI.  In a few days, hopefully we’ll see it start to die off and we can open up this portion of the trail, but until then – it’s a place to avoid.

I chose to make some more bread today as well as the crackers.  I’m really digging the crackers.  You make them using the sourdough starter that you would normally throw out when you “feed” your starter.  That is part of the reason I stopped making bread with starter a couple of years ago as when you feed it with additional flour and water, the part you removed can be used to make bread or you throw it out…. or unless you’re making crackers!!!  Next time I make them, I’ll be sure to take a picture.  They are yummy and easy!

We didn’t have time to head to the Cove as a group of 3 came up for a tour, Paul who has been here before and Janice and Steve.   Then as I was making the crackers and bread, another group of 2 came up.  They are on a really nice trawler.  That’s my favorite type of boat.  I’ll see if I can find the picture, we took of a Grand Banks trawler we looked at a few years ago.  I wished we had bought that boat!!!! Oh, I did find it, here is the picture.

Steve took over for dinner as I was giving tours.  Tonight, was chicken marsala, with peas and wild rice – delicious – oops no picture though!

Monday, July 11th – Up about 7:30. I walk around just putting things away, washing the last couple of dishes, make my list for the day.  It’s always more than I can do but anxious to get some stuff done. Another beautiful day, not sure I’ll ever tire of this view with the flag and the blue ocean.  I head down to the Clivus to do the maintenance after a busy weekend; rake, fluff and water. Only one boat left in the Cove.  I walk back up the trail, gather my cleaning materials and head to the Tower.  I swept, cleaned the wall at the top (as people walk up, they put their hands on the wall and the section gets a dirty), sanitize the railing, etc. – it was a busy weekend. 

When I finished cleaning, we went down to the Cove to see what’s going on.  It was a little “swelly” or “rollers” as they call it in Maine, but we decided to row out to the closet 3 mooring balls to write on them.  I brought my paint marker with me to write “Mooring Donation, Venmo Seguin_Island”, many folks come and spend the night in the Cove but never come ashore and this way they can make a donation for staying. They came out great but it was tough to write in a straight line!

Then I found down at the Cove an olive-green Vans slip-on sneaker had washed up!  I said I should send to Carney to post on Instagram “Looking for a mate?”  This is where you laugh!!!! I decided to sit by the boat house for a bit when Gary (our oldest son) called and we chatted quite a bit.  While I was talking to him, I yelled down to Steve who was on the beach to say, “hey the other sneaker is floating in the surf!!!”  So, I guess the person lost both sneakers! After talking with Gary, we worked a little more on the pipe we stuck into the dirt in the Cove and now it is “running.” Now we can rinse our sandy feet off before we put our shoes back on to climb up! Time to walk back up the house.  On the way up, we noticed again the beautiful view of Cobblestone Beach.

Took that pic from part of the trail closer to the house.  Well, it’s time to get some crabs (back down to the Cove to row out to get them) and then back up to the house to cook them up.   Here’s our bucket of 9 crabs.  A few hours later, I had picked, picked and picked enough.   I picked clean 7 bodies I might add and did a most excellent job in making sure there were no pieces of shell or cartilage!

Once we were done, we took the shells down to the Cove to send them back to the sea.  Here’s a pic of a vein of quartz I noticed in the rocks here, it’s very cool!  What’s interesting is as soon as we got there with the bucket, the seagulls started arriving, obviously thinking there was food! Then a whole raft of ducks came over towards us and they all flapped in, landing in the water and then stood on a rock.  Eventually the tide moved in and the group got tighter and tighter, then they started leaving one by one! It was pretty funny to watch!

Here’s Steve with the empty bucket and then a picture of how much of the sun was still left. I like sitting on this side of the Cove as we get that extra sunlight, and it provides a different perspective. Here are some more pictures of how the rocks are shaped on this side of the Cove, it’s a mixed bag for sure, wished I had studied geology.

Then there go the ducks.  The tide came in so they left their perch.  Well, I guess it’s time to walk back up for the final time today.  Now, it’s time to make Crabmeat on English, a Thompson family favorite.  A Thompson gathering isn’t official unless Judy makes a batch of crabmeat on English.  I texted her and luckily, she was home and could send me the recipe. This is “high test” for sure, no diet here!

Well, it’s sunset. I decided to walk up to the lens and see what interesting shots I can get for the blog. First here is the sunset, then the sunset through the lens. Plus a few more random shots.

So peaceful and calming!

Tuesday, July 12th – Nice day but super windy, don’t really expect anyone to visit today or at least this morning. We walked down to the Cove just in case someone came in overnight – nope, Cove is empty.  But while we were there, I noticed there were a lot of fish jumping.  There was a large dark shadow in the water, so it must have been the fish.  Steve went to get his rod in the Donkey Engine House and meet me on the rocks near the Cove Trail vista.  We stood there a while and he would cast right into where they were jumping, but no one was biting.  Guess that is how they roll.  The Cormorants were swimming and every once in a while one would duck under the water and was gone for a long time!  But then, one of them would come up with a fish.  Turns out it was a school of Pogie and not really good for eating but are good bait fish and in the old days, they used to use them for making paint as they were very oily.   

Took a picture of Ellingwood Rock which is beyond our Cove and you can see the waves crashing on its rocky shore. Because the waves are really crashing, thought it would be cool to head out to Cobblestone Beach to see what it looks like – it also had crashing waves that were pretty big and strong!  It was high tide with a full moon which means the high is really high and the low is really low.

I walked back up to the house to grab my water bottle and my gloves and head back down to mow the Cove Trail and the campsite.  Things are still growing but it’s definitely slowing down.  I also picked up some more sand to top off a few sidewalk seams.  As the wind blows here almost all the time, it blows some of the sand out of the cracks. 

Steve headed to the South Trail to pick up the Poison Ivy sign and move it to an area on the North Trail (the area I mentioned last week where the PI is starting to grow along the boards you walk on).  Many people walk the trails in sandals or flip flops, so we thought it best to close that part of the trail for a few days as we don’t always catch everyone that heads out to walk the trail.  When I came back to the house, the cloud cover was getting thick and fluffy and was moving quickly.

Then we decided to head up into the Tower as the radar was showing a pretty big area of rain moving in.  Here I am holding the phone with the radar screen and here are a couple of pics of the storm

Tonight, was a Spot-the-Station (the International Space Station-ISS) night.  I get texts alerting me to the times when I might be able to view it based on my location. Luckily the storms up here roll in and roll on out.  Viewing time was around 10:45 pm.  I was able to get a pic of it by itself, then a pic to the right of the tower from the gift shop side (there is a little blue arrow pointing to the dot that is the ISS). As it was approaching, from my angle, it went zooming by the last star in the big dipper handle, and as it departed and then faded, it went by the top right star of constellation call Cassiopeia (it looks like a ‘W’). I was VERY excited as the viewing time was 6 minutes tonight! It was crazy to be able to see it even though there was almost a full moon! Then I turned to see the moon – amazing!

Wednesday, July 13th – Tonight is the full moon!  Overnight, the tide was up to 11 feet (a normal high tide is about 8.5 to 9 feet) and the low tide was 1.4 feet below mean low tide! Weather report – it is very foggy right to left but if you look straight up it’s sunny!!

Not a shore day.  Weather was too iffy earlier this a.m. so it was moved to tomorrow.  Walked around the house and noticed this spider web on the picnic table.  Then down to the Cove to see if there is anyone there and there were several ground spider webs with dew reflecting the sunlight.

While down in the cove, I took a picture to show Steve how far up the tide came overnight as you can see the seaweed line!  We had brought the boat up the highest we’ve ever done and the water still came up to the middle of the dinghy! As I walked a little on the beach, I saw these foot prints.  Looks to me like a goose walked up and then walked back into the water

Came back up to the house and Steve was doing some of his yoga.  I took a few pics, this one is the one he let me put in the blog!

I finished getting the guest quarters ready for some overnight guests this weekend.  They are coming here to spend their 40^th wedding anniversary!  Brenda and Steve from Litchfield, Maine.

Since it is pretty calm, we decided to go down to the Cove and row out to the other moorings and paint them.  They are a little further out and we wanted to wait until the Cove was pretty flat.  We came back in and decided to just sit and hang at the beach a little bit.  Our Canada geese family came by!  The little ones aren’t so little anymore, but they are still not flying. Then I climbed on some rocks to the left in the Cove as I didn’t want to sit in the sun.  No sunburn yet and want it to stay that way!  Here are a couple of pics of the rocks that line the Cove as well as looking straight up at a tree that is growing out of the rocks! I haven’t figured out yet in WordPress how to deal with two pictures side by each when one is landscape and one is portrait without losing some of the landscape photo.  So, I’m just going to show them separately!

Lastly, Steve just standing in the water enjoying the view and the serenity of an empty Cove. Here’s the pair of Vans, that no one has yet claimed.  They are dry now and I have emptied out all the sand out from getting bounced around on the waves coming into shore!

With that we saw a boat headed our way.  It was the Whites from Popham and their daughter and family.  Great family pic in front of the tower. As we were chatting, they shared that they live across the cove from Ethan’s pick-up / drop-off spot.  They said it was the blue house and I said, the one with the red chairs?  Exactly Sam said!  We spent a long time chatting with them after the tour.  He shared that their house is built next to the Fort St George site in Popham which was the first settlement in America before Jamestown!  They are the people that came over on a boat, cleared the land and built that first ship in the U.S. called “The Virginia”!  Anyway, he shared a bunch of information about that story and before they could build their house on the property, they had historians come in to monitor their digging and searching for artifacts.  They found the oldest coin on their property!  Well, how’s that for a history lesson! Very friendly and shared a lot on local Popham.

I would like to just chat a moment about my new saying from out here…. “My existence is my exercise.”  We are busy about 80% of most days, unless it’s raining.  And most of that 80% is physical exercise, up or down the main trail, cleaning up the other trails, going down to the donkey house for something, etc.  I really like that.  It’s not perfect as sometimes we don’t feel there is enough cardio, but if you just add a gallon of water to your walk up from the cove every time – you’ll notice it. I feel like there is always something to do here.  Of course, I look for things to do.  Those that know me well know that’s no surprise!  Well just wanted to share that as it was a little bit of an ah – ha moment for me.

Ok back to the pics….Besides the absolutely amazing supermoon (also referred to as a Buck Moon) rise we had tonight, I had another viewing of the International Space Station (ISS).  This time it was for 7 minutes and it was very high in the sky!  So, I’ll make a deal – how about two moon pics and two space station pics? Ok, maybe three moon pics and 1 ISS pic! The ISS is just to the right of the dome on top of the Tower.

Here they are in chronological order.

Thursday, July 14th – Happy Birthday Diane!!! Hope you have a fun day (or had a fun day since I’m writing this a week later)! Pretty overcast on Seguin this morning.  Here’s a picture of our low tide this morning.  It’s VERY low as I mentioned earlier in this blog due to the full moon. Had to carry the dinghy a long way to get to the water! However, during the boat ride to the mainland, it began to clear up.    I took some pics on our way in.  It seemed like we were at a slightly different angle leaving Seguin, you are looking at the north end of the island. Then check out the heron on the top of Fort Popham (not to be confused with the Fort St George I mentioned above) and then here is our favorite part, schlepping our stuff up to the pier!  Roof Tom and Project Chris were there waiting to head back out to the island. Oh and more pictures….

There is Sam and Fran’s house with the red chairs, notice the heron is now in the foreground of the photo, but check out how LOW it is!

We had egg sandwiches at Winnegance (I had veggie, surprise, surprise and Steve had egg, sausage, cheese – no surprise there either).  We did the usually round robin, but we planned to have enough time to eat lunch at Spinneys as they are now open! 

We got gas for the car (only a few gallons but the prices were dropping), did laundry, water, library, Wilson’s Drug Store, Reny’s, Cyndy’s, Shaw’s, and Swango (the produce place).  I think that was everything! And we were on our way to Spinney’s about 1:15 which gave us plenty of time to sit and enjoy a nice lunch.

Steve got a Fish (Haddock) Sandwich, I got Fish (Haddock) tacos.  Both were really delicious!  We splurged and each got a local beer.  I had Tumbledown Red, an Irish Red Ale and Steve had a Peak IPA.  Yummy!  Our waitress was Natalie and she was very nice and helpful. So here’s a plug for Spinney’s.  They are open 11-3 and 5-8, not open Tuesdays.  They recommend making a reservation for dinner which you can do on-line.  https://www.spinneysonpophambeach.com/

And now, here are the ‘after’ pictures (high tide) of what I took this morning, the boats and the view of Sam & Fran’s house!

Ethan pulled up with a group that had been on a lobster tour with him.  We had time to chat as Ethan wanted to clean up a little before we got on with our stuff.  They got off the boat and she noticed my VCU Physical Therapy shirt.  She asked what that was, we explained and proceeded to chat about lots of random stuff.  They were a family from Bakersfield, CA., first trip to New England and had a their young children with them.  They had started at a lake in CT, stopped somewhere I can’t remember in Massachusetts then up to Maine where they rented a cottage in Popham.   But – I forgot to take their picture! You’d think by now there would be an internal alarm that would go off!

On the ride back, we needed to get 4 lobsters as our friends Sharon and Brent are coming in tomorrow!  Yay!!!!  Here is Steve picking them out to put in our lobster car.  Couple of nice boats in the Cove on our return. Here is Steve carrying up 10 gallons of water from the Cove to the donkey engine house and here is all our stuff on the beach (looks like it will be a long way to move the dinghy up as it will be another very high tide tonight)!

I still had some cleaning to do in the guest quarters before the 40^th wedding anniversary couple come in tomorrow (a little welcome basket, with a few treats, napkins, etc.) and Sharon and Brent are arriving in the morning too! 

Steve made some dinner, chicken meatballs with fake pasta, salad and my bread.  The ISS is going by tonight again, but earlier, so the sky was still light. This time I saw the ISS on the NE side of the house (near the fog bell display as you come up the trail).  It’s the bright star in the middle at the top of the picture!

Friday, June 15th – Happy Birthday Kari (my nephew’s wife) – Hope you “had” an awesome birthday!  I was up early today.  I get like that when I know I have a busy day coming up as well as a few things to address before the guests and our friends arrive! Since it was early, I start with some general pickup / cleanup around the house and straightening. I was looking at some of the old Lighthouse Digests that are hanging around and was making notes if they talked about Seguin on them or not.  I came across the Jan-Feb 2016 issue and noticed it was a picture of Seguin on the cover!

The note inside the cover says “This edition’s beautiful cover photo was taken at Maine’s Seguin Island Lighthouse by Peter Lerro of Peter Lerro Photography, who offers photography workshops.  It seems that while visiting Seguin Island Lighthouse he met James and his wife who were on their life long journey sailing around the world.  He asked James if he would put on a lighthouse keeper uniform for some photos as he certainly fit the appearance of a keeper. James was happy to oblige.”

Then I started to flip through the magazine to see what else might be in there and there were two more pieces on Seguin! Besides some of the interesting stories in the magazine, they often had some very old pictures of people, events, lighthouses, etc. even an ad or two. The funny one I saw in this issue was for a child’s book and record that was published in 1954 for “Blinky the Lighthouse Ship”, very nostalgic.

“He blinkity blinks with all his might, Blinkity blinks the day and night.  He blinks for all the ships at sea, Blinky, Blinky, that’s me!”

The next story was in the section titled “From the Archives of Lighthouse Digest” – An old newspaper clipping from the Portland Sunday Telegram and Sunday Press Herald, dated September 29, 1949.

“Near Tragedy at Seguin Island Lighthouse.  Quick action by Seguin Island Keeper Daniel Irvine, 23 and his wife 19 averted a family tragedy Friday when a tramway car broke loose at the top of the island cable railway, shown in the newspaper clipping and careened down the 750 foot runway to crash at the bottom.  When the hoisting mechanism failed and the car started to roll down the slope, Daniel grabbed their two-month-old son, Daniel Jr., (sitting in his lap in the photo) and jumped off the tram.  He shouted directions to Mrs. Irvine who tossed the 18-month-old Millie (also sitting on her dad’s lap in the photo), to safety but the car had gained too much speed to allow her to leap.  She suffered a broken thigh and cuts and bruises and another keeper’s pet dog died in the crash on the lonely island three miles off Popham Beach.  Mrs. Irvine is in “good” condition recovering in the Bath Memorial Hospital.  As a result of the incident, the Coast Guard strictly forbade any of its personnel to ride on the tramway.”

I continued to turn the pages and found another article “Memories of Life at Seguin Island Lighthouse!” It’s a story about Beverly (Stephens) Ramsey, who lived her first two years of life on Seguin Island with her parents Walter F. and Mary A. Stephens. Walter was an assistant Coast Guard keeper and they live in the same part of the house where we are living now!  The officer in charge lived where the museum and gift shop are located next to us.  Beverly’s mom, Mary, went home to Florida in October of 1958 to await the birth of their child as being on the island would be no place to give birth.  After Beverly was born, the U.S. Coast Guard arranged transportation for Walter to go to Florida and pick up Mary and baby Beverly.  They took a bus from Jacksonville to Portland and then arranged transportation to the island (yikes, that must have taken a few days). The wintery boat ride was blustery and cold and the water was choppy. As they left the Kennebec River, the swells or “rollers” caused the vessel to go up and down. The captain of the vessel ordered everyone be tied to the boat to prevent them from being tossed about or injured! Then they had to climb the narrow steep and slippery pathway up the top and snow was falling at a pretty good clip.  Things were going well for the young family until September 28, 1959 when Mary had to leave the island and travelled to the town of Bath months before her due date with a second baby.  Unfortunately, baby Linda Jo died a few hours after her birth. 

In 1999, Beverly and her mom Mary returned to Maine to place a granite marker at Linda Jo’s gravesite and they made a trip out to Seguin. Beverly fell in love with Seguin and its historic lighthouse.  In 2011, Beverly convinced her husband David to apply for the job of summer caretakers of the island and lighthouse. Unfortunately, Beverly’s father Walter S. passed away in October of that year and she wondered if her upcoming quest for the 2012 caretaking duties at Seguin Lighthouse would be joyful or gloomy. Beverly said she felt her father’s presence everywhere on the island. As a caretaker, or modern-day keeper, Beverly said it was a special treat for her to be able to stay in the same rooms that her parents lived in when she was a small child on a remote island off the rugged coast of Maine.  Beverly has returned to the island several times since.  She says, “Seguin pulls at my heart each time that I have to leave.  I have yet to find another place like Seguin Island.”

So, in our living room, we have a very old chair that has seen many years of use.  I wondered why such a chair was here.  Of course, living on an island, once something makes it way to the island, it never leaves! But interestingly enough, here is a picture from that article.  It’s baby Beverly sitting in that chair when she was one and then sitting in the same chair in 2012.  I now look at that chair with a whole new perspective.

All of this before 7:00 am in the morning!!! It was an amazing article and shifted my whole view on many of the items I see here in the caretakers’ side of the house.  Well now, I need to get crackin’!

I finished cleaning and sanitizing, putting little vases in both guest rooms, and a final vacuum.  Phew, ready now!

We headed down to the Cove as we got a text from Sharon and Brent saying they were on their way.

The two other women (Kate & Sam) that came out with Sharon and Brent are both from Georgetown & Brunswick.  Want to know how to get to Seguin?  One way is to reach out to Cal & Katrina at http://www.fiveislandsboattours.com/  Sharon and Brent said they did a most excellent job!

The next few pictures are of the visitors where I remembered to take a photo.  Today, we had visitors from Maine, Mass, NH and CT!

Just before 5ish, visitor traffic seemed to slow down so the four of us headed out the North Trail.  We got a picture of us and I took one of Sharon and Brent.

We also found the blueberry bush!  Sharon picked some.  They are the little ones, but boy are they packed with taste! We all walked down to the vista on the Cove.  That is the spot where you get the sunshine for a little longer.  Sharon and I got so engrossed in our conversation and watching the wildlife, that we forgot to take a picture of the men rowing out to collect our lobsters for dinner!  I could have sworn I took a pic of them at least carrying the dinghy back up….. but I guess I’m mistaken.

We had an awesome dinner and engaging conversation with our friends.  A wonderful day all around!  But the day wouldn’t be complete without a sunset picture of Mount Washington!! We did see the ISS again tonight, but there is nothing else in the for a reference, so it would just look like a dark picture in the blog.  Phew it was a busy but very fun day!!!

Saturday, July 16th – First and foremost, let’s look at our delicious breakfast Sharon and Brent made for us.  She made homemade from scratch “oh-my-godder” maple biscuits with homemade strawberry jam with bacon and scrambled eggs. Holy Cow, what a feast for the pallet! 

The guests staying in the Guest Quarters arrived today, Brenda and Steve from Litchfield, Maine. Very nice and they are super excited to be on Seguin.  We had a steady stream of visitors today, but not crazy.  Here are some pictures of our guests.

Kim by the bell – he is planning to stay overnight and is also in search of whales.  We call him the Whale Whisperer – it seemed every time we saw him sitting on a bench with binoculars, he was watching whales!!!

Left Photo: The Larkins from Maine and Mass. They were super fun and really enjoyed the tour!

Right Photo: Vanessa and David, long time supporters of Seguin picking up some new swag!

Nick, Susan, Tricia and Mike (not sure my order of names matches the picture) but hey I remembered to take a photo! Nice group and they really enjoyed their visit and tour!

Our last group for the day was Tom and Meg from Freeport.  The last time he was here was in 1955!  Steve and I had so much fun talking with them, listening to their life, etc.  What experiences they had in life.  They are planning to stay over night.  A picture moment didn’t really present itself, but I wish we had taken one.  There was something about them that Steve and I just wanted to keep talking to them! 

We kept talking to them so long, that we never got to hike Cobblestone with Sharon and Brent so we’ve delayed that till the morning.  They leave tomorrow but not till later, so we’ll go first thing as it’s supposed to be beautiful which translates to a busy day!

Cove time was in the Tower today as Sharon and Brent still needed a tour.  But before that I was sharing with Sharon how I make my sourdough crackers with the leftover starter.  She wanted to see how that was done.  We pulled the starter out earlier in the day to let it restart and then I fed it twice during the day so we could make two batches of crackers.  She brought some ranch seasoning and I made the other batch with rosemary.  Steve was a trouper as he watched the crackers while I took them on a tour.  He did get to join us a little later.

We had another amazing meal prepared by Sharon and Brent, felt like we were at a restaurant!  They prepared baked haddock, broccoli and zucchini from their garden, parmesan risotto plus she made homemade blueberry pie with local Maine blueberries for dessert! Everything was delicious! She is a Renaissance Woman for sure!  And what a night of conversation, just a joy to have them here!

Well, I think that is the most pictures in one of my blogs!  Did you have to get a second beverage? Hope you enjoyed!

Sunday, July 3rd – Well it’s July 4^th weekend and it’s official – summer has started in Maine!  I pulled out my yoga mat as I do really like to start the day with some stretching, reflective time.  To set an intention for the day… almost there when a group of 4 walked up!  I was almost done though, but still in my leggings and it was only 0830. This group was great and enjoyed every minute of the tour of the Tower. Picture is of Dave, Caroline, Maria and Greg.

We have friends Cindy and Dave from Connecticut that were our neighbors.  They moved into the hood the same time I did and it was the first home for both of us!  I started dating Steve and we became very close friends with Cindy and Dave.  Ok I did digress a little but there is a connection!  The next group were Dave and Cindy – this is the 2^nd “Dave and Cindy” that have been to visit Seguin and it reminds me of our neighbors! I need to send the Blog address to them.

Next was a group of 5 young men, the Colorado Boys!  I guessed 25-30 years old based on our guys,  but they were 21-23!  Yikes.  All super friendly, interested in the info I had to share and very polite.  I told them about the special picture I can take in the tower where the background is flipped and I took that picture of 4 of the 5 guys plus Steve took a group photo outside the Tower. But one of them was supposed to give me his cell to text the picture, but we both forgot! (Update: Eventually they reached out to Carney who does our Instagram and I was able to send the photo on the right to them – yay!)

Well today was tour, tour and more tours – somewhere around 8 groups. Powerboats, sailboats, young/old, dogs – we had it all today!  I thought today was a busy day. I didn’t know what was coming!

During the Tower tour, as we are walking the catwalk outside, I have pointed out how we get the dead grassy area around the rocks which eventually results in less mowing.  Here is a picture from the Tower of what it looks like.  The grass is dying because as the rocks heat up from the sun, it dries out the adjacent grass/dirt and the grass dies.  Pretty weird.  We’ve already begun to notice how a lot of grass is no longer growing.

We needed a quick dinner.  Steve had made some chili he had a bowl and I just piled some on a salad with some extra avocado. Light and yummy.

Tonight, was another Mount Washington night.  I tried to get a little more creative with the edges.  We also saw a lot of firework displays, up and down the coast but they were pretty far away.

Pictures below are a little sample of the fireworks we saw as well as a post sunset – the moon is up!

Monday, July 4th – Happy 4^th of July!  Sunny, currently calm.  Perfect! Check out the clouds behind the flag – looks like eyelashes!  First tour of the day, Peter and Dorothy, again, very nice folks.  Everyone is so willing to share, chat, ask or answer any question.  We’ve met so many fun and interesting people, definitely a perk of the job.  They are starting to sail a lot as they were able to accelerate their retirement.  Their kids are in college in Canada. Really nice couple, might see them again in August as they sail back through the area.

Finishing up the morning daily chores, one of which is to filter some more water using our Sawyer filter.  We picked this up while we were in St. Thomas.  They were handing them out in an effort to encourage the general population to use this vs buying cases of bottled water. Instead they could run their faucet water through the filter.  The filter only lets water molecules through!  It filters out Cholera, E. Coli, Streptococcus, Salmonella, Typhoid, Dysentery, Botulism, and it goes from yucky to crystal clear drinking water!  We knew our water was not potable and that we had to buy our drinking water and carry it up.  This filter allows us to filter it and use that water for coffee/ tea, rice, pasta, etc.  Here are two pictures, one of a jug of water before and then a pic of a pan with the clean water!  It’s amazing! And you just periodically backwash the filter and it will last and filter like a million gallons!

Expecting lots of visitors as it is July 4^th!  Annotated the Donation Box we have next to the guest book in the Tower (we have lots of donation boxes around) with our Venmo address.  Seguin_Island just in case you are wondering and felt like making a donation to support the preservation of this Maine Maritime gem! 

Then here we are all dressed in our patriotic outfits!  I brought all of these items just for today!  Yes, I know my pants aren’t the American flag (they are actually Norway’s flag), but they are red, white and blue!  Aren’t we just the cutest couple ever?

Since we don’t have any way of knowing when visitors come up the trail, we try to do tasks around the house and Tower so we’ll see them.  Even still, we find we miss a group or two when they first walk up.  So, I continued to work on putting sand in the sidewalk by the Tower.  I used up all my sand!  These two pics show a section of the Tower walkway where I’m done (around to the west) and a pic of the next task, the sidewalk out front leading to the flagpole.  It’s time consuming but very rewarding as you can see your progress! 

We had a mix of guests today. I think a total of 29, but they were spread out, so that was nice.  I think we thought it was a long holiday weekend, we would have had more – you know once word gets out that Carol is giving the tours!  Here’s a picture of a group I named “PIBS” – Peter, Irene, Bev, and Sean.  Sometimes my system works great.  But if I get more than 5 people in a group, the system doesn’t always help, plus I need a vowel! Peter and Irene have been here before but not the others.  They said they would be back again over the season.  Next up, we had a group of 9 from a powerboat.  The more senior person, we think his sister was a founding member of FOSILS.  It is amazing the connection the local area has to the island.  It’s an important piece of history to a lot of people, one worth protecting / preserving.

I headed down with my paint and paintbrushes to paint the “Seguin Walking Sticks” sign located near the donkey engine house, but as we did, a group of 5 came up, 4 adults and 1 little person. Very interesting group.  One of the women was into glass blowing so she was super intrigued by the lens in the Tower and I think it was her beau that was a Master Rigger at Robin Hood Marina (Robin Hood is up the Sheepscot River, take a left at Macmahan Island and you end up in Robin Hood Cove). When it was time to leave, it was the little persons job to push out the dinghy with the adults in it and hop in as she was the last one in.  She was having a little bit of trouble with it.  She got in, but the dinghy was coming back in on a little wave so Steve, pushed them out!

Guess where we went next?  Down to the Cove and the geese family were coming in.  Mom + Dad and three little ones, only they are growing pretty fast.  First, they came into the beach area, pecking on some seaweed, didn’t like that and waded back out into the water.  Then they came over towards us and walked up right behind us to nosh on some grass under the tram section.  We have noticed a significant increase in goose poop in that area!

Walking up from the Cove, we noticed the sun was passing through the lens.  Made it look like it was on!  Tonight’s dinner was swordfish, cumin cauliflower and roasted butternut squash arugula salad with toasted pepitas, chopped figs and maple vinaigrette and yes, she remembered to take a photo!

Spent some time down in the whistle house researching flights to try and get Colin (our younger son) and Aliese (his girlfriend) here for a few days.  Oh my, flights and times were crazy trying to get from Richmond, VA to Portland, Maine.  Then it’s a bus ride to Bath, then an accommodation if you’re in the late evening, then a ride to get the boat in the morning!  Yikes.  I’m crushed as I really wanted them to visit.  

Back up to the main house.  On the way up, I noticed several more firework opportunities! There were a couple much closer to us tonight.  I later found out that there is a competition between Phippsburg and Georgetown!  These we could almost hear!   Steve was on sunset bench.  He thinks he has seen a whale breeching the surface.  It was definitely a large dark shadow in the water….Once the fireworks were over we went in to watch some more of “Call the Midwife” on Netflix I think. I’m really enjoying that series.  Later that night, we walked out to check the stars – another Milky Way night!

Tuesday, July 5th– Relaxing morning.  Weather report – squinty!  We ate breakfast on the porch as usual, took our time and rallied about 10. Decided to continue working on the front sidewalk since that is what visitors see right away.  All done!  This won’t take as much sand as the back sidewalk. 

Well, our first guest came up, it was a single person by themselves.  I’m always amazed that people would boat by themselves. That seems a little risky to me. He was followed by a group of 9.  This was a group of three adults and 6 young people.  Captain Jeff and Liz Armor run “Different Drum Sailing Adventures, Educational sailing adventures in Maine, Chesapeake Bay and the Bahamas for teens, adults, teachers, schools, scouts and families.” ( www.differentdrumsailing.com ) The group was very interested in the Tower and they were very polite and courteous.  Liz and Jeff usually run 4-6 trips a summer up the Maine coast and almost always stop here at Seguin.  So, I will be seeing Liz again! They stopped in the gift shop to buy some swag and I pulled out my little glass full of shells that have an opening if you want to wear one on a necklace or hoop earring.  I said to the young women, you have to select one that speaks to you.  They were very excited to select their very special Seguin shell from the Cove to wear!  That was pretty fun! They headed on their way and I headed down to paint the stick sign.  It didn’t take long and was definitely in need of a coat of paint.

Last but not least, we have our first zucchini in the garden!  Nothing else in my notes – how can that be?  Oh, not going ashore tomorrow, weather is not cooperating.

Wednesday, July 6th – Overnight it was pretty stormy and rainy which was perfect timing as the garden was in need of some water and we also started the foghorn. Steve took a walk down the main trail towards the Cove looking for some snail things that hide in the moist grass.  He was using them for bait, but wanted to collect some so he could tie up to a mooring and fish a little bit.  Once he got on the section of the trail that has a little bit of a canopy, he found a bunch.  He put them in a container with a little grass and poked a few holes in it.  Not sure you would have guessed what they were by the picture but to me they almost look like garbanzo beans except for the grass!

Once he got to the Cove, he noticed a good size seal on the beach pretty far up.  He came back up to the house to get some gloves, a broom and a few other things to see how we might get him back into the water.  He found phone signal and looked up how to help a beached seal. First thing they said was to be careful as they will bite.  By the time we got back down there, he was just swimming away, but there was a small powerboat in the Cove and a man standing on the beach! 

Turns out, because of the seas, he was feeling a little ill, so they dropped him on shore to recover for a few minutes while they went and caught some bait fish.  Another person on the boat had taken a video of the seal.  He looked a little beat up they said, not quite injured but he had some cuts on him.  Anyway, I guess he found enough energy to flip flop himself back to the water.  Once in the water he looked like he was swimming ok.  I took a frame from the video, not very clear. See what we might have missed! All of this before 8:30 a.m.!

The weather started clearing a little bit but it was interesting to see the fog going by as well as the sun being out. I had a video of the flag with the fog rolling by, the clear sky above and the fog horn going, but too much work to put it on YouTube to then put a URL here. Oh well, use your imagination…

I was randomly checking email and Cyndy forwarded us an email about flying our flag at half-mast until July 9^th. It was a very official email as the original email was from the President – “As a mark of respect for the victims of the senseless acts of gun violence perpetrated on our Independence day, July 4^th, 2022, in Highland Park, Illinois, by the authority vested in me as President of the United States by the Constitution and laws of the United States of America, I hereby order that the flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff at the White House and upon all public building and grounds, all military posts and naval stations and…. until sunset, July 9^th, 2022.”  Holy cow, can you image the distribution list on that email! Out we went to lower the flag.

Next was a group from Harpswell, which is around Cape Small and up a little.  Harpswell is the next ‘finger’ of land.  It was a mom, Jessica, her three kids, Eloise, Adair, and Augusta and her parents, Amy and Nelson, in a 15’ Boston Whaler!  Even though the weather had cleared up, the wind was blowing and was expected to get worse.  Turns out they own a farm in Botetourt, VA near Roanoke.  The grandmother got a little wet coming over so she had left some of her clothes drying on the beach.  Gave them a tour and they were all excited about being here. 

They could tell the wind was getting worse and decided it was best to head back sooner vs later.  Small craft advisories had been issued and frankly, we were nervous.  We politely asked her to text us when she arrived back in Harpswell.  As they were leaving, Amy mentioned how she wished she had a raincoat since she got really wet coming over.  I said we can give you a large contractor grade trash bag as we are a full-service Lighthouse, we aim to please!  She said that would be great!! We cut a little hole in the bag for her head.  She didn’t want any arm holes as she was going to just wrap it around her.  I asked Jessica to send us a pic of her on the boat.  Here they are leaving the Cove and the picture of Amy in her latest fashion raincoat!

Next group was from a powerboat as well, but a little bigger!  It was a grandfather, a couple of adults, 3 young adults and 1 child.  His name was Bill Webster.  A quote from the 200^th Anniversary Seguin book states, “In the spring of 1986, Anne Webster, assisted by her father, S. Sewall Webster and friend Pat Moffatt, decided to see whether she could find local interest in maintaining and preserving Seguin Island.  The response was overwhelming.”  Anne was Bill’s cousin and Sewall was his uncle.  That was pretty cool! Everyone joined in on the tour of the Tower!

I was trying to build my acronym but I said I can’t do with without a vowel!  Someone pipped up and said well, we do have an Elizabeth – still too many letters!  Anyway, Charlotte was the little person and she was so well behaved during the tour.  Up in the top of the Tower during my lens discussion, she politely raised her hand and said, “Can I see where you live?”  I said absolutely you can when we finish up with the tour!  I took her over to our side of the house and gave her a tour.  I pointed out my sea glass collection and asked her if she wanted a piece and she said YES!  We selected a curved piece of frosted clear glass with which she was very excited. Then we rejoined the group in the giftshop.  I also pulled out my shells for them too!  Some of them selected their favorite one. Lastly, I mentioned while in the gift shop that there is a picture of a Mr. Webster painted by someone with the initials ABW in the lower right.  They were going to check and let me know if that Webster was related to them!

When they headed out, I headed down to check the Clivus then joined Steve and we headed off to clip the South Trail and spray some PI (Poison Ivy).  It was beautiful!  I don’t remember walking this far out on the South Trail.  I definitely want to go there on a low tide day as I’ve seen some cool pictures from someone that must have climbed down and took pictures looking back up! Also today, for the first time I saw 2 sets of baby seagulls up close.

As we came back, you could see Cobblestone Beach.  The waves were crazy! Also, when we head out like this to do a few things around the island, we have a whiteboard we hang on the door to let folks know where we are or when we’ll be back.  When I came back, I finished up the second half of the back walkway with sand.  Now the back is all done!

Last part of the day, we walked down to the Cove again.  It was very windy today.  No geese or ducks.  We toasted to Steve’s cousins who were gathered today for Re-Re’s funeral.  I also talked with a friend Sharon about coming to visit July 15 & 16.  She has requested the Friday off, but won’t know till next week.  I’m hopeful – throw it out to the universe as we say!

Thursday, July 7th – Today we went ashore! Rise and shine campers!  We like to be in the Cove by 0645 so we can get the oars, uncover the dinghy and bring all our stuff down to the water line. Last week we forgot a few things to bring with us, but this week we are on it and ready early!  We also didn’t have as much to bring in as the Transfer Station is closed on Thursday.  Cyndy was kind enough to let us drop our trash with her!  Thanks lady! The volunteers were bringing in some wood today as some facia boards needed to be replaced in preparation for the new roof coming the end of July.

Very interesting ride in as Ethan wanted to pull a trap before we got into Popham. Sam, Ethan’s summer helper, is getting the fish head bags ready to put in some traps, but next to it I noticed a lobster cage with a wooden frame in it.  I asked Sam what that was and he explained they drop the lobsters in, their tail first, so they can put bands on the claws.  Then I saw the metal crate sitting above it – notice it’s called a “BandMate.”  Gives an alternate meaning to ‘band.’ I should send that photo to Tom and Ken (Steve’s friends in their garage band).  I also noticed a very tiny starfish on the floor of the boat.  I picked it up.  Didn’t look like it was moving, but I tossed it back to its home just in case. Then I took a video of them pulling up a trap and opening it up and pulling out the catch, dropping them into the wooden frame and banding them.  Pretty interesting and you need to do that with EVERY lobster!

As I was waiting for Steve to pull around, I was walking around and saw a pretty plant that was flowering next to some rocks on the side of the road at the Fort Popham Historical State Park. I have the “Lens” feature on my google phone which looks up the picture and tells you what plant it is. It’s called Common Milkweed. Didn’t look like that to me. I thought milkweed was the thing we painted in crafts at school and it had all the little seeds with light feathery things that blew away in the fall. Anyone know what I’m talking about?

Next stop at Cyndy’s to give her our trash and she has a bell for us to hang somewhere that visitors can ring to let us know someone is here!  From there, it was the laundromat.  Steve headed out to get water and he swung by the fish store and the produce place to see what they had to help us with our shopping at Shaw’s. 

Today we were a little crisper moving through our tasks as we are meeting my Mom in downtown Bath and my Southport Sister – Diane, for lunch!  She had brought Mom up to her place for the July 4^th week.  It’s great of her and my other sister Judy to take Mom once in a while to their summer fun places so she has a chance to get out of “dodge” as we say.   We ate at Bruno’s Wood Fired Pizza on Front Street.  Steve and I had pizza there back before we headed out to Seguin.  Here’s our lunch pic.  We all had pizza’s and Mom had pasta and sauce that she said was delicious. I brought Mom a T-shirt from Seguin!  She was very excited.

We left the Bruno’s Pizza and stopped at the P.O. to drop off some birthday cards.  Mail Mike was working and I heard him mention to a person a few people ahead of me that the price of stamps was going up to 60 cents.  Here’s two perspectives for you.  I still think it’s a deal that you can send a card clear across the U.S. and it will get delivered in a few days, for 60 cents.  I shared out loud my thought and the woman ahead of me replied, “it all goes up and the service goes down.”  She went on to explain that she has to come in to get her mail and drop off her mail.  They no longer deliver or pick up where she lives.  Guess I never really thought about how there might be a lot of folks in rural areas that don’t get any U.S. Postal services due to increasing costs, less staff, etc.  Something to think about next time you walk out to your mailbox. 

Ok – so off to the dock to meet Ethan.  Did the usual, unload Carol and all the stuff and Steve parks the car.  I carried everything down to the floating dock (yay!) to wait.  At the back of Ethan’s boat, he has a fiberglass tank that holds his haul.  The lobsters in here have already been banded and are ready for sorting.  When they pulled up, they needed to unload the tank and put them in the lobster “cars.”  This time he filled three of them.  He still said his haul today was light. Once he fills them, he puts them in the water and ties them off in his skiff slip till he comes back after dropping us at the island.  Then he drives them to where he sells them to a distributor.  It’s a long day for a lobsterman!

Well, we’re on our way in.  Sam started to untangle a mess of rope on the back platform and Ethan told him not to worry about doing that.  So, I took it upon myself to see if I could get it untangled before we arrived at the Cove – Stop the clock – she did it!!!  It’s sort of a thing I enjoy doing, the challenge of untangling.  I’ve untangled lots of stuff including several necklaces for a friend of mine.  Humm, so where does that come from…..

We got everything in the dinghy, onto the beach and up the first set of stairs. We were deciding what needed to go up and what could stay and low and behold a Boston Whaler pulls up to the beach!  His name was Yash and today was his birthday.  He took the day off from work and his wife suggested he go for a boat ride (another boater by themselves).  Really nice person – he helped us carry our stuff up to the house!  I gave him a tour, which he very much enjoyed.  He works for Hinkley (the boat people) but he works in their power boat division. Missed taking a picture again!  I’ll probably learn to remember taking one about the time we’re due to leave!  I went back in to put our shopping away and Steve went down to help him leave (push his Whaler back out) and 2 more groups came in! One didn’t have time for a tour but the other did.  So, back in to host mode! But I did get a pic of the group that had time for the tour.  Oh, and Mom sent me a pic of her in her swag – looking good Anne!

The second group that came in was on a large catamaran – S/V Thirsty, beautiful boat.  You’ll see a few pics tomorrow.

I finished up around 7 and luckily Steve had started cooking dinner. We seemed to have found our balance between who does what.  Many times, if I’m late with tours, he starts cooking dinner, which is awesome! Tonight, was fresh haddock, red potatoes and salad.  I’m tired just typing it all up!

Friday, July 8th – Good Morning! Breezy, with some clouds that look like wispy eyelashes! We sat out front with a fruit plate (nice, since shopping was yesterday although the cantaloupe doesn’t look like it faired too well in the transport!)  I took a picture of the guest log book.  We have a subtotal through June of 119 and you can see the tally for July so far is 114!  Things are picking up!!!! 

This morning I also came across a photo book published by Michael Boonstra.  His friend Frances Cousin discovered Seguin in 2007 and suggested they apply to be caretakers and they were here the Summer of 2010.  His photo book was amazing!  The light was working and it’s source was a 1000 Watt incandescent lightbulb.  It was interesting to see how in 12 years somethings have changed yet so many things have remained the same, the furniture, the dishes, the view!  We sat on the porch for a little bit flipping through his book and enjoying all he captured. In addition, he also had pictures of the museum.  It was great to see what it looked like as now we have these really cool aluminum-clad posters that have all the information on them.  Guess I should do a post on the museum! The picture to the left shows our light source, an LED. There are 12 little strips each with 3 dots that light up.

The other boat I mentioned yesterday, ‘Thirsty’, their crew came up this morning for a tour.  They were Shamus, Amy, Bob and Barb.  They are sailing north for some races and ultimately up towards Roque past Bar Harbor near Jonesboro. We chatted with them for quite a while. It has been super interesting to hear of various peoples’ stories, their journey, what brought them to Seguin, etc.

Well, let’s see what’s on the agenda for today.  We headed off to whipper snip the North Trail.  There was a lot of new growth, mostly on the sides and the seagulls are not too happy with us being near them.  After lunch we noticed a rather large boat approaching the island.  Good binoculars are key here.  Turns out it was the Harbor Princess out of Boothbay Harbor.  I think it is a whale watching trip.  Steve said it looked like there were a hundred people on the boat!  They made a pass by the island then headed down east. We waved, but not sure you would see us unless you had binoculars on the boat!

Not sure where the rest of the day went, but it has a way of doing that….. We headed down for Cove Time and saw our geese family approaching… the goslings are getting pretty big, but they still can’t fly yet.

To the left is a picture of another squall that came in around sunset. The colors were amazing!

I worked on the blog – feeling much better as I now run about a week behind the current week, phew.  Tonight, we had lamb, beet greens and wild rice.

Saturday, July 9th – Happy 91^st Birthday Joan! (Steve’s Mom) Many of you may remember my effort last year to send Joan 90 birthday cards for her 90^th birthday and we were very successful in that effort and already another year has gone by!

We had a yummy little breakfast and remembered to take a pic with only one piece left.  It was homemade sourdough bread, a little pesto, greens, tomato, smoked trout and a little kalamata olive.  Almost bite size pieces as if you make it whole, then try to bite it, everything falls off!

Weather is beautiful, a little cool and wind has settled a bit. We took a brief walk down to the Cove just to check on what’s going on.  Here’s a much better picture of the Rosa Rugosa’s on the way down the main trail.  We had two boats spend the night. 

Back up to the house to get ready for the day. We had several large groups today.  Usually there is a couple of people in the group who have been here before bringing new friends to come and enjoy the beauty of Seguin.  When we have a bright sunny day, you can catch some amazing pictures in the Tower as the sunlight comes through the lens and creates a prism on a wall or the floor.  Today was one of them!  The capability of the whiz bang cameras on the phones today seem to enhance the brightness and intensity of the colors in the prism.  These were taken around mid-day today.

I’m getting a little better with the names of the visitors! We had Spencer and Elizabeth Gray, former board members of FOSILS.  Very nice folks and they enjoyed the various overlooks on the island.  Then there was a large group, some of which wanted a tour, one of the couples knew Diane and Dave from the Southport Yacht Club. It really has been fun meeting so many people with so many amazing stories and learning about why they LOVE Seguin! It’s very heartwarming! Here’s a pic of our busy day in the Cove!

As a side note, today was also a VERY exciting day for Diane & Dave, their “new” boat S/V Tenacious, arrived at the boatyard near them!!!  She was able to be down at the swinging bridge that brings you over to Southport and catch a quick video of it coming across the bridge.  We are very excited for them and hope to see them at Seguin someday soon!

The afternoon settled down a little bit.

After looking through the picture book Lightkeeper Michael made, I have a new perspective on some of the views around the island.  For instance, we walked over to a rock where a seagull was standing where we’ve never seen a seagull before.  Then we remembered that was where a large group had their picnic lunch today  and figured maybe there was some piece of bread or something.  We never found anything, but it’s amazing how the bird knew to come here and check it out.  When I walked up there, I thought well this is a cool angle of the house and tower.

We did have one group come just for a picnic dinner.  They came over from Popham.  How fun is that!

Then later on as the sun was setting, I walked around again with my new perspective on light and angle. I guess I feel I compelled to share these pictures as each is different and unique from the ones previously posted. The lighting, the time of day, the subject matter etc. all create a different look.  Interesting how there are only so many buildings on the island, but so many ways to capture their beauty.  You can almost feel the history.

The last picture is of the moon and those little white dots are the fishing boats.  Sometimes they are there all night long as I see them still there in the morning.

Well, another week in the Blog!

Sunday, June 26th – Beautiful day!!!  Woke up early and saw another sunrise.  Took a picture out the front window upstairs, a slightly different view. We decided crab cakes with eggs benedict would be a great way to finish the last two crab cakes!  Boy were they good.

Four seemed to be the popular number today.  First group of four was “RADD” – Ron, Alicia, Dave and Dave.  They are a random group of friends from MITA (Maine Island Trail Association).  Most have been here before, but they decided to put in nearby and come visit again.  We saw them coming in towards the Cove, then we actually saw them going around the island!  I hope to see the South and West side of the island someday.  Ethan said he could take us around it at some point.  Anyway, they finished going around then came into the Cove.  I of course gave them a tour and we both spent additional time having an interesting conversation with all of them.  They hung around for a while, did one of the hikes, had lunch, then headed on their way.

Next group of four was a family that was from Southport.  The next obvious question, was if they new Diane and Dave.  Turns out they were very familiar with them.  Janeen (not sure I’m spelling correctly) knew both of them as D&D are often out in their Boston Whaler taking pictures when the youth have their sailing races.  Their parents don’t really get the ‘see’ that part as they are out in the Sheepscot River. We chatted with them sometime about our experience so far, how we got here, etc.  They came to Seguin for a picnic lunch.

Next group of four were from Boothbay Harbor, but they had a limited amount of time as it was just a quick stop and just a brief tour.

Things slowed down a little, so I went over to where we have one of those sign posts that say how far places are, like North Pole ‘x’ number of miles.  It’s amazing to see how the paint has worn away, but more interesting is how the board has worn away from the wind and what was painted is raised up and hasn’t worn away.  The paint maybe off, but there is more wood.  See if the pictures explain. I updated the paint on some, added Richmond (number of miles was as the crow flies). The top ones I couldn’t reach without a ladder. Task for another day. I think I should add the North Pole…

Steve headed down to the Cove as there is a trickle of water and we were wondering if maybe it would be less iron as it filters through more dirt and sand at this point. So he brought a piece of PVC with him that he cut on an angle and then jammed it into the area where the water is running down.  Well see… wouldn’t that be a hoot if it was better than what we’re getting out of the cistern!  Forgot to take a pic, so I’ll have to post the picture another time. Coming back up, took another picture of the trail, this time with Steve in it for some perspective.  We, really Steve, is continuing to ensure the trails are clear and wide.  As things are starting to grow, we are snipping!

When things are not crazy with visitors, I offer to some visitors, a special, free of charge, photo op of them through the lens.  I have to go up and walk around to the other side and I guess I look pretty funny (like a fun house mirror), but because the angles of the glass lens, it becomes a prism and it flips the scenery behind them upside down.   I’ve already posted these two pics, but look at them again and you’ll notice the background behind them!  It’s very cool – well I think it’s cool.

History Lesson II

• How about a few more historical nuggets.  In 1817, Winslow Lewis installed a new lantern in the first lighthouse, but reported the original wooden tower had gone to pieces so badly he wasn’t sure it would stay in place.  Congress acted, authorizing $2500 for a stone tower that was erected two years later. 
• In this second lighthouse, the light consisted of 15 Argand lamps with parabolic reflectors, 21 inches in diameter.  J.P.Lewis, Inspector, recommended the addition of nine lamps which would make it capable of being seen 19-20 miles in clear weather. 
• It was a a fixed white light and as it still is today (meaning it is not a rotating light).
• Extreme weather conditions led to the demolition of the 2^nd light. 
• In 1853, the Lighthouse Board reported that the station needed to be improved and because of the importance of shipping on the Kennebec and Sheepscot Rivers, recommended that Seguin should be a First Order Station.
• Stay tuned for info on the current light.

Although not from Seguin, here is a pic of what the Argand lamp and parabolic reflectors arrangement looks like.

Another amazing night of star gazing – this is just like sunsets; they never get old and they never look the same.

Monday, June 27th – They (you know, that group of all-knowing people) said it was going to be rainy and windy all day.  Doesn’t look like that right now.  I spent most of the day getting ready for our friends Gwen & Jim that arrive tomorrow morning.  The finishing touches, flowers in the room, vacuuming, etc.– just like at home.  Well, here in Maine they say, “don’t like the weather, wait an hour and it will change” and it did.  The picture to the left is the house after the weather shifted to what I like to call a ‘Maine-u-lar’ day.

Side house topic – We have a sump pump in the basement that has a level switch that clicks on when the level gets too high and pumps out to a leaching field.  It’s for our kitchen and shower water.  Steve makes checking the sump part of his daily rounds.  It’s a fussy switch, but this morning he moved a few things around and now it appears to be working on its own without having to give it a daily jiggle!  Yes, we get excited of little things like this!

I mentioned a Steve drawer project and today it was finished.  The two “catch all” drawers in the kitchen, do collect everything small and random.  They are the drawers under the microwave. Well, I asked him to make some dividers in the drawer to the right and it already had some cutouts for pieces of wood.  He put the right to left divider in, lived with it for a day or two, then I decided I wanted a least one divider that went front to back.  So, he added that.  It’s perfect.  Instead of searching for the tools I use all the time, I can find them lickety split!  Ok, stop laughing, again it’s the little things we do to make this house our summer home!

Today I made some granola and brownies this afternoon.  I was almost out of granola and the brownies are for dessert tomorrow night.  I was having a little issue with the oven.  Sometimes the temperature is what we set and it stays there, other times it seems to creep up to a temperature I don’t want!  The granola got a little over cooked and the brownies were a little under cooked in the middle.  I don’t mind that but most folks don’t like it. Oh well, I can always cook them a little more tomorrow.

We took a walk to Cobblestone Beach.  This is one of my favorite places… actually the whole island is my favorite spot.  There isn’t one place I don’t like!  It was still very foggy.  Found a pretty nice, fairly new 5-gal bucket down there.  Steve opened it up and found a special “surprise” in it.  So, I took a look and put some ocean water in it, swished it around and dumped the contents out.  Yep, I think it was poop!  Who would do that then throw the bucket overboard?  Anyway, I just rinsed it some more, swished some seaweed around and it was as good a new.  You can always use another 5-gallon bucket. You never know what you’ll find on the beach for sure! 

On the way back I picked some Rugosa Roses to put in my vases.  They are sooooo fragrant.  Here is a picture of them.  I remember when we were working at Millstone (in Connecticut), we’d go for a walk at lunch and the path would be lined with these bushes.  They are roses that have only a single row of 5 petals.  But I can’t put into words how wonderful they smell.  The bushes are so loaded with buds as I think once they open up, the flower only lasts a couple of days, the petals fall and a new bud opens up.  There she goes again, off on another tangent!

Turkey meatballs for dinner with some, you guessed it, fake pasta.  The sauce was jar sauce but we doctored it up with loads of veggies including sauteed mushrooms. And we treated ourselves to the “dipping” sauce we make with EVOO and spices to swipe up with my homemade sourdough.  Delicious!

Well, that’s a wrap for Monday!

Tuesday, June 28th – Today Gwen & Jim arrive – should be here around 9ish as they are coming from Small Point.  Gwen and I were texting along the way as they were parking at the church so when we come in tomorrow, their car will be with ours.  Here they come and Steve rowing out to get them!

They did a most excellent job in packing light! One small backpack each.  Gave them a tour of the keepers quarters (they stayed in our 2^nd bedroom), showed them the ‘operation’ of the Sun-Mar toilet and gave them an orientation of the museum. 

We talked about a walk and I shared info on all the trails.  We picked the North Trail to walk.  On this trail there is a little trail that branches off to an overlook of the Cove.  It’s a little side trail with very different vegetation. Lots of pines grow here and some interesting ground cover.  Looks like something from the lily of the valley family.  Back to the main part of the trail out to the North point.  Still, lots of seagulls squawking and protecting their new little ones so we did not go all the way to the tip of the island.  We did see one twosome of newbies – little and furry.  Too far away though to get a decent pic. We stopped on the way back for a picture from a vista on the trail.

Came back for some lunch and they decided to take a nap.  They were up early this morning to travel and meet up with Bill, the person that brought them out. I went out to the garden and noticed some weeds coming back. I weeded the area and then walked around to collect some dry grass clippings to spread around more area of the garden as that seemed to help keep the weeds at bay.  While I was doing that, we noticed we have a zucchini coming in!  How exciting!

Then on to some more weeding of the sides of the back side walk… making progress. We sat out front enjoying the view and noticed a pretty large boat going by.  Steve checked it out on one of his apps (Marine Traffic) that gives you some info on the boat just by where you are and what boats are in the area, then you click on a boat and it gives you a few nuggets of info.  After a while you can tell which boats are pretty large in the expanse of the huge ocean!

As I was doing that, Steve was doing some additional mowing and clipping down under the tram and out the Cove and Cobblestone trails then up the main trail.  Done for the day.

Then it was back down to main trail for Cove Time.  Here comes our geese family, although they walked up to the beach, the little ones pecked at the sand for a little bit, then they walked back in to the water and went on their merry way. Also, the men brought up the dinghy and covered it for the night. When we came up we decided to do the tour of the Tower and we took one of those pictures where the background flips because it’s through the lens!

Side note is AJ and Sean showed up and were spending the night in the Cove.  AJ is the person that is installing the new roof on the main house the end of July and Sean is a friend of his who is an amateur photographer here to take pictures of the Lighthouse and the stars / milky way tonight!

Well, bet you can guess what we had for dinner!  Lobst-a, salad, tots and brownies!!!!!  Then to top it off – it’s sunset bench for a special moment taking in the 360-degree beauty of Seguin including Mount Washington.

The last picture I want to share is a picture Sean took with his drone of the sun setting through the 1^st order lens in the Tower. He was kind enough to share it with us so I could post to the blog.  Sean can be found on Facebook – Sean O’Connell Photography/Midcoast Maine Drone (here is the url but not sure how it will appear in the blog (www.facebook.com/Sean-OConnell -PhotographyMidcoast-Maine-Drone-Imagery-100960558669563/ )

Wednesday,  June 29th – Here we are, headed ashore again.  AJ and Sean were up early doing their stuff but they helped us carry some of our stuff down. Steve rowed out Gwen and Jim with all our stuff.  AJ actually gave me a ride out in his dinghy so Steve didn’t have to come get me.  The Wednesday Warriors were here and they took our dinghy in with all their gear. Here we are on Ethan’s boat heading in – thanks Jim for taking the pic!  We don’t often have pics of Steve and I together.

Gwen and Jim are not in a super hurry to start the journey home, so they are going to join us for breakfast.  But first we have to stop at the transfer station and as always – check out the free section!  I picked up some small Ziploc type of food storage containers as I don’t really have any small ones.  All in great shape!  Gwen was excited to find some Tervis glasses! Win-win for everyone!  On to Winnegance….. I would have bet money that one of us gave the phone to Chloe, our waitress to take a pic, but no one has one!

Steve had an egg sandwich on an English and both Jim and Gwen had an omelet.  I had a special of peach and raspberry glazed sourdough French toast with maple butter.  I haven’t had a breakfast like that in I don’t know how long.  But how fun to sit at this place enjoying a yummy meal with great friends.  Life is grand! We parted ways and headed on to Bath to start the round robin of laundry, groceries, fish store, etc. and they headed on their journey home.

Today we had some extra time as we didn’t have any other stops to make.  We decided to spend some time walking around downtown just enjoying the pretty day.  The town was decorated with banners etc. in preparation for July 4^th. As we walked around town, we thought of getting a growler of some Bath Brewing so Steve went off to taste it and I went over to the tattoo place.  I wanted to talk to them about my Seguin tattoo!  The name of the establishment is Old Bones and there are three artists.  I explained what I was looking for, where, size, etc. He suggested I go on line and look at the work of the three people to decide who would be best.  I’ve looked once, but need to look again as I’m just not sure.  But since I only have so much time, I want to plan ahead and book an appointment.  Here is a pic of their building.  They are on the 2^nd floor, standing outside is Shawn the artist with whom I chatted. It should look familiar as it is next to Best Thai II!

Next stop was the Kennebec Meat Market downtown.  Steve thought it was a BBQ restaurant based on the logo, etc., so we stopped in.  It was a real meat market with a butcher and some crazy cuts of meat!  They also carried a bunch of locally made Maine only products for people who don’t have a brick-and-mortar place.  Super cool.  We chatted with a few patrons and some employees and of course we said we were the keepers this year at Seguin Lighthouse.  It was fun to talk to everyone. We decided not to get lunch today as we had a big breakfast.  That way we’ll be hungry for dinner!

At the fish market we picked up swordfish and salmon and then we went next door to the Swango Produce Market.  It’s a little market that carries some local produce and a few products.  Their strawberries looked amazing but it was a quart and it just looked like too much.  But they had some local asparagus and some beet greens.  They grow their beets for the greens and the beets still attached were small and so cute!  I’ll take a pic next week but I also bought some local made popcorn.  Seemed to see it in a lot of stores so I had to try it.  It’s Little Lad’s Herb Mix.  They have other flavors, but I decided to try this one.  I met Rose, she is the owner here.  We talked about so many things, then got on to Yarn!  She is a knitter and used to work at Halycon Yarn which is supposed to be an AMAZING yarn store.  However, they only do curbside, which is probably a good thing for me.  Anyway, we just chatted and chatted.  I went out to the car and Steve said what no strawberries?  We changed our mind and got them, here I am with the strawberries!  So sweet and all red inside!!!! Well after all my dilly dallying around – we headed on our way to meet Ethan.

We were there a few minutes early actually!  Steve dropped me off in the circle near the pier and dock.  It’s high tide so that means, what?  You’re catching on, we get to use the floating dock!  Yay!  I started carrying our bags out on the floating dock and a person walking by asked if I needed help – I said sure.  His name was Marty and he used to own a place in Popham for 16 years but sold it a few years back.  Now he just comes and stays at his neighbor’s house because his neighbor can’t come anymore.  We chatted about a few things, he’s from Hancock, NH and we talked about Ethan still bringing the caretakers out, etc. Then he shared some people fishing in the river today (the river being the Kennebec), said they saw a couple of tuna!  Holy cow – that’s pretty wild to see tuna in Maine!!  Anyway, nice guy! Should have snapped another photo!

When Ethan pulled up, Sam his summer helper, was on the boat and they needed to separate today’s catch into hard and soft shell, put them in the lobster cage and then tie it off next to his skiff.  We loaded our stuff in and we’re off.  Back on the island (I love how that sounds) we waited as the Wednesday Warriors came out and we pulled in their gear, put ours in the dingy and we rowed ashore.  We unloaded, carried up from the beach then covered the dingy. Then we regroup some of the items and decide what needs to be carried up right away and what we can leave in the donkey engine house till another day.

As we’re climbing up the main trail and I get to the sidewalk in front on the house, I see a powerboat coming back to the island?  Is it Ethan? Humm, did someone forget something here?  I texted Cyndy to see if anyone had left anything here and she responded no.  I headed down to the cove while Steve was starting to put fridge stuff away.  Turns out it wasn’t Ethan but it appears we’ll have some visitors!  So, I headed back up to help Steve.

The group was Kevin, David and Ian.  Kevin and Ian are father and son.  The connection is Kevin has been renting a house in East Boothbay for years and they rent it from a relative of Dave’s – I think I got that right.  But they have been renting for over 20 years and have become good friends.  Ian lives in South America but comes up for a month or so to visit/vacation here in Maine.  Super nice group and we bonded for sure!

Ok – good day all around.  Decided to try my “shrub” and mix it with some bubbly.  The Shrub was the raspberry artisan drink mixer.  Dinner was fresh salmon, beet greens and I put the little beets in some cooked quinoa and I remembered to take a photo! Phew – on shore days are always busy!

Thursday, June 30th – Well we’re getting ready for the July 4^th weekend.  I just checked my phone and didn’t take a pic all day!  How can that be….oops wait a minute, I took one.

Steve headed off to whipper snip the Cobblestone Beach Trail including the sides.  What we’re finding is that the trails are getting walked on almost enough but now the sides seem to have stuff growing towards the trail.  I went down and tended the Clivus, the public “restroom” on the island down by the donkey engine house.   Just as we were getting ready to go back up, a foursome came into the cove.  They had a center console boat and he whipped it around, three jumped out onto the beach, then he took the boat to a mooring and paddled in using a paddle board.  They were Bill & Lynn (Freeport) and Dave & Pam (don’t remember). We stood there chatting for a bit and they offered to help us bring our stuff up!  How awesome! 

While they were walking around on a trail, I did some Blog work and loaded some pictures.  They came back and I gave them a tour – super friendly and very engaging.  Next guest was Paul, from Madison, CT and he is up in Robinhood.  Robinhood is a popular marina many folks stop at or stay at as it is well protected.  It’s up the Sheepscot River, then you cut over just past Five Islands and you’ll arrive in Robinhood Cove. A picture of a map might help….. I’ll have to find one that will work in the blog.

Next visitors were Chris and Steve.  They are from Belfast and on their way to Portland to pick up some friends.  Oh, and today some campers (John and Katie) have arrived by kayak.  Looks like they are staying for 2 nights due to weather.  Rest of the day, I swept the Gift Shop and the entire Tower including gently in and around the stand that holds the LED bulb. Hard to tell in the picture, but it looks way better!!!

Well, that’s all I have in my notes!

Friday, July 1st – Both of us were awake early today.  We actually slept with the window open last night – how refreshing is that compared to a month ago!

I’d like to pause a moment here as Steve’s Aunt Marie (affectionately referred to as Re-Re or “Misery” as Steve called her when he was small) passed away this morning peacefully. She was a very loving, caring and warm person.  We were the lucky ones to have known her. Always there with a quick remark “Well praise be to God for that….” or “Well, you know I’m almost 90.” She would always be there with a plate of food if you were hungry.  A few years ago she moved into independent living and began taking painting lessons!  Turns out she has a real talent and painted many paintings for friends and family members.  Most recently, she wanted to paint something for Steve and I.  She checked with Steve’s mom Joan who suggested she paint the lighthouse, Seguin, for us.  Marie said she didn’t have a picture.  So, Joan sent her one.  And low and behold when we were in Florida this past March, Cathy (her daughter) wrapped up the painting and gave it to us!  What a wonderful gift!  We were so touched and moved by her beautiful painting!  It hangs prominently in our home and will remind us of her kind and gentle soul.  Here is a pic of Marie and the painting. When I look up at the sky tonight, I will find a new star and name it ‘Re-Re.’

I headed off to whipper snip and clip the Cove Trail.  The campsite, which is in the middle of the trail was already mowed but I needed to get to the edges.  I met the campers and explained my plan.  They were fine with it.  Also, I wanted to grab a lobster trap I noticed on this trail (that had washed up at some point). I was pulling the trap through the campsite and they came to help.  Yikes it was heavy!  They helped me carry it over to the old ramp that leads to the tram.  It seems our signage is not enough.  “Tram Unsafe – Use Path” the sign says.  I figured it might act as a deterrent to walking up the tram.  Time will tell.  John and Katie said they would like to come up later for tour. 

Well, we walked back down to the Cove for a little bit. Nothing but just beautiful scenery.  Steve posed for a different angle down at the Cove.  It was a little chilly (hence the sweatshirt). Time to head back up for dinner.  As we came around the corner to see the house, I could stand so the sun shone through the lens.  Not quite as fancy as Sean’s picture, but I think it looks pretty.  Just before dinner, Steve went out to take the flag down as the wind was picking up and it was around sunset.  However, we had a slight issue!  The clip for to the lower part of the flag came off!  Now there was no way to pull down the flag!  We tried a couple of wiggles and shakes, but the wind was too much and the flag doesn’t weigh enough to pull itself towards the ground.  Guess we’ll have to figure it out tomorrow – nothing else we can do now!

Saturday, July 2st – We got up about 8.  Kind of late for me.  I like 7ish – that seems to be a good time to start the day.  I decided to make more banana bread.  Sometime the bananas say “we want to be bread, we want to be bread.”  That usually happens when we have too much fruit and they end up getting a little too ripe for just eating.  Well you know the recipe and I used a glass loaf pan which worked much better.  However, we don’t have a cake rack (yes I’m putting on the GW list).  You’ll see a rack under the bread but I’m not sure how that one is supposed to be used. What I like about this recipe is you can melt the butter/shortening and mix everything with a spoon – no need to break out the mixer and then have to wash it! Once it went into the oven, made Steve a fancy breakfast.

After breakfast, Steve went out to try some ideas he had on how to get the flag down.  Took a few try’s.  The rock went flying one time, yikes, thought it was headed towards the window in the house!  On the next attempt, he got it, yay!  I walked down to the Cove as I wanted to get some seaweed for the garden and some more sand for the joints in the sidewalk.  When I went down, I noticed the campers were all packed up in their kayaks and just getting ready to launch.  The weather was cloudy, but the breeze was warm.  Here are a couple of pics of them leaving.  Their boats were sooo packed with gear, they only had a few inches of freeboard.  Off they went….

While I was down there and since I reference the Donkey Engine House, I thought I’d take a couple of pics and share a few nuggets about the tramway and the engine and their roll here at Seguin.

• The original tramway, a 1006-foot-long railway built on trestles, was a valuable asset used to haul coal, furniture, heavy equipment, food, supplies and people to/from the top of the steep island.  Currently the trams stops at the top and no longer continues towards the fog signal house.
• Little is known of the early history of the tramway.  It may have well been powered by oxen or mules.
• During the period of Lightkeeper Elson Small (1926-1930) and his wife Connie Scovill Small (author of “The Lightkeepers Wife” – an excellent read), the tramway was condemned as unsafe and a new one was built. At that time it was powered by a mechanical engine.
• In 1995, the tramway continued to be operated, powered by the 1953 GMC diesel ‘donkey’ engine with four large levers that control the direction and speed of the wire cable attached to the ‘car’.
• While extremely useful, the tramway is also dangerous. As a result of an accident in the 1950s when the cable broke and the wife of one of the keepers was seriously injured (and another keeper’s dog died), the Coast Guard prohibited tramway use for passengers.
• As recent as our arrival trip to the island, 2 diesel mechanics spent a good portion of the day, working on the engine.  They are trying to locate a new water pump.
• FOSILS is repairing the structure a few “bents” at a time, as funding permits. If you are interested in the Tram project please call Cyndy at the FOSILS office. (207) 443-4808 Thanks!

Ok – here’s a picture of the yellow squash in the garden and it too is bearing fruit!  That’s pretty exciting given our conditions here.  The cucumbers didn’t make it and the tomatoes look like they have started to adapt! Here is Steve enjoying the shade on the front porch – but check out the clouds behind him.  I have learned so much about the weather by being here.

We headed down to the Cove as Steve was going to row out to one of the moorings in the dinghy and try his luck at fishing again.  It started to get pretty breezy in the Cove and it was spinning him around.  He decided to come back in.

We walked back up the house after bringing the dinghy in and covering it for the night.  Grabbed a beverage and headed back down for our Cove Time.  Just as we got to our usual spot of sitting in front of the boat house, a small cruise ship went by.  We’ve seen it a few times, but this time it looked pretty close.  I believe it leaves from Portland and heads up to Boothbay. Sometimes it’s just nice to sit on the rocks and absorb the heat from them – here is Steve enjoying the sunshine, a warm back and a cold beverage!  Once the sun goes down behind the tree line on the western side of the Cove, the temperature starts to drop and we start back up the hill.

We prepped dinner and ate about 7:30, marinated pork tenderloin, sweet potato and asparagus.  One of the dinning room windows faces due west so we can see if we need to head out the capture the sunset.  I took a time lapse one tonight and took a couple of snaps to post. The sunset picture was taken just about 8:30.

Hope you all are enjoying the blog and the stories of our life on Seguin.   Thanks for reading!

Sunday, June 19th – Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers reading our Blog!  Today’s early weather report is cold and breezy with some rain expected a little later.  Before the rain, I went down and picked up some more tumbled red ‘bricks’ to place them as cairns to mark the shape of original lighthouse as well as some small rock / sand mixture to put in a gap in the sidewalk outside the kitchen door where I have removed the weeds.  Here are some pics of the cairns.  Kind of a dreary day but you can still see them.

I thought it might be fun to share a few facts about the island / lighthouse in the blog.  Here is a picture from the museum that describes the original lighthouse and a few facts about that lighthouse.  

William Lithgow of Massachusetts headed a list of 55 signers on a petition to the General Court of Massachusetts in June of 1786 asking for a lighthouse due to the significant trade of the Kennebec River.  “If there was a Light upon this Island many Vessels would be saved from Shipwreck, and many Persons preserved from immature Deaths…”

It was almost a decade later when the Commonwealth of Massachusetts passed an act of cessation of 10 acres of Sequin Island to the United States for a lighthouse. 

It was built in 1795 at a cost of $6000. The structure was built of wood on a foundation of rubble stone.

The lantern was a fixed white light shining toward the ocean, with the land side being dark. Going forward I will try to include a few facts about various aspects of the island.

I headed down to the whistle house to pick up the pieces and parts of the towel rack that I painted yesterday and we put it up today!  It works great!

Gave my mom a quick call and her cousin Linda was visiting.  We chatted for quite a while and she had all sorts of questions about being here on Seguin, when we go ashore, what are our jobs, etc. Last time Diane (my sister) was at Mom’s, she shared the blog with her so she could see what we do, our pictures, etc.  She’ll be 95 in October; she’s doing great!

Gary and Colin did call Scuba to wish him Happy Father’s Day – one last photo.  Another picture of a Mount Washington sunset.  Are you sick of these yet?

Monday, June 20th – Another day to do some work on the Blog.  But let’s talk about what we did today. I mowed this morning, which is the area around the tower.  Steve did the under the Tram, the Welcome area, the Cove and Cobblestone trails.  Another big day of clearing.  We continue to keep the trails wide and not have anything growing into the trail. No pictures here – figure you’ve already seen enough of the trails.

In the afternoon, I sat down and started to clean out the weeds in the rock area near the side entrance to the tower.  It was easier to take out the rocks, clear the weeds, then replace the rocks.  It’s like a puzzle trying to get the rocks to fit.  I was planning to do just this area, then Steve sat down with me and we continued to clear the rock walkway to that side entrance. I keep forgetting to take a ‘before’ picture.  I always remember the ‘after’ one!  Here is a pic of an adjacent area that was similar. 

Early afternoon, we decided to row out to get the crabs in our lobster cage.  We think we have 8 of them.  Then we cooked them and put them in the fridge to clean them tomorrow.  I think it is easier to do it once they have been chilled.

Late afternoon we had two visitors – Ian and Donna.  They are from Australia and Ian just retired so they are taking 5 months to sail up the coast.  Their family is from Ridgefield, CT.  I gave them a tour and then walked them around the museum and the gift shop. They later joined us for 5:00 Cove Time!

Pretty chilly tonight, so we decided to eat dinner in the kitchen.  It’s the warmest room as we do all the cooking there and most meals require the oven to be on!!  Just the other day with Wendell, they were telling me how they take rocks and put them on the grates on the stove burner to heat them up and then put them on the floor so you can put your stocking feet on them.  Sounded like a good idea, so we heated up several rocks on the exhaust of the oven and while we ate dinner, we had them on the floor and put our stocking feet on them.  Ooo-weee, did that feel good!

Here is a picture of dinner (I remembered).  Homemade spaghetti sauce with fake pasta and chicken meatballs.  Accompanied by toasted homemade rosemary sourdough bread from yours truly!

Last part of the evening was a step outside to look at the stars.  Another Milky Way night (and we can actually see the Milky Way too)!  It’s just amazing to see all these stars. Of course, it’s too hard to capture it on the camera, so you’ll just have to imagine the perfect National Geographic picture and that’s what it looks like!

Tuesday, June 21st – Happy 1^st Day of Summer – the Longest Day of the Year.  Steve and I worked with this gentleman, Jack Quinn, who was an engineering supervisor and every year he would make reference to this day and point out how the days were going to get shorter from here on in.  Of course, in December, he would mention that now the days were getting longer by a minute every day.  Crazy what you remember!  Ok, back to Seguin.

Today I worked in the area next to the kitchen and there is a bunch of mint, chives and something else which I think is a weed.  So today I ripped out a bunch of the mint.  I don’t eat mint; I don’t like mint and I don’t even like Girl Scout thin mints!  I wanted to move the basil so I thought I would clear out this area as it doesn’t get sun all day, just in the afternoon.  The garden for the most part gets sun all day.

Beautiful day for being outside to clean crabs.  Here I am in my full glory, slowly and meticulously cleaning the crabs.  Of course, we picked the legs and the claws, but I told Steve that there is a lot of meat in the body, you just need to know where to look.  I used one crab as an experiment and then figured out how to get this meat out.  By the way, it is right by the joint where the legs attach to the body.  Then if you pull that part away from the crab, you’ll find a lot of meat in this area, separated by some thin cartilage type material.  We weighed our meat when we were all done – 14 oz!  Yikes that’s a lot!  We decided the best way to eat it was Steve’s homemade crabcakes.  Yowzah – can’t wait!

We have been monitoring the tides to watch for a super low tide so we can have a ‘burn.’  The Town of Georgetown requires you obtain a ‘Burn Permit.’  You have to log in after 9:00 a.m. on the day you want to have the burn, fill out the information and you’ll get a permit emailed to you.   So we got one for today as our burn pile in the house is getting quite large.  We walked down to the beach and you are required to have it at low tide and you have to remain near it until the tide comes up and over it to extinguish it.  We had a lot of stuff to burn (a lot of empty Cheez-it boxes)!  It was amazing how quick we ‘burned’ through everything.  Here is Steve at the burn pile! 

When we arrived at the beach, we noticed a bird by the dinghy.  He / she didn’t move even when Steve walked close.  We couldn’t tell if it was hurt or injured or if it was a 1^st year bird.  Many of the birds change their appearances during the first couple of years until they are a mature adult.  I’m pretty sure it was a 1^st year seagull.

As we were standing by the burn pile making sure nothing flew away, a small Boston Whaler pulled up in the Cove.  Then a little while later as larger boat pulled up with 6 or so people on it.  He had a dinghy and went to the other boat to pick them up and bring them onto the shore.  However, as they got close to the shore, the boat turned and a wave came right over the side soaking everyone!  They all took it in stride.  Turns out they were a group of college graduates that get together every year in Southport and take a trip – this time to Seguin.  Here’s a couple of pics of them coming in and a team photo.

Their plan is to take a hike down to Cobblestone and back around to the Cove, then came up to the Tower for some tours. Steve finished up the burn, really didn’t take that long and then came back up to the house.  By then the group was ready for their tours.  We split them into two groups as about 5 people at once is a good number for a tour.  He led the land tour and showed them the gift shop.  They all had a great time but it was time to start heading back to Southport. 

Oh and earlier in the day, he worked on my kitchen drawer project (picture coming when it’s all done) and I moved the basil to the little spot out of the full sun.

Wednesday, June 22nd – Well normally our on-shore day, but there was a call yesterday to let us know it was being moved to Friday.  Winds are supposed to pick up this afternoon making our return trip a little dicey.  That’s why we have food for 10 days just in case. 

We noticed a large catamaran leaving the Cove.  They must have come in last evening just to spend the night.

Took care of some business with some of our Marriott Vacation Club points today and made some reservations for Savannah in November.  It’s going to be a busy fall. I headed out back to rip out some more mint and clean up around the rocks along that edge.  I also walked around the property picking a few wild flowers to put in a vase in the vestibule between the two front doors.  Adds a little homey touch!

Steve mixed up the crab cakes as we wanted them to sit a bit in the fridge before we cook them tonight. We headed off to do the North Trail.  Then I headed down to do some whipper snipping under the solar panels.  The grass had been getting tall under there and I wasn’t sure whether they just let it go or they cut it.  Last week the volunteers made a pass with the whipper snipper and I took it down a little further this time. This afternoon a visitor named John that came with a friend a few weeks ago (I remembered his friends name finally – it was Alex).  Anyway, he stopped here on his way back from the Rockland race and this time he had his girlfriend and their two dogs.  I gave her a tour and she was very excited to hear all about Seguin.  They are planning to stay in the Cove tonight.

Time for the crabcakes, Steve cooked them up and I mixed up some of my favorite garlic aioli.  I was going to include a pic of the recipe but it was easier to list all the ingredients here:

Garlic Aioli – 3 cloves of garlic, ½ c low-fat mayo, 2 tsp Dijon mustard, 1 tsp of lemon zest, 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice, ½ tsp fresh ground pepper – put all in a little food processor and process till well mixed.  Store in fridge until you need it.

Ok back to the crabcakes.  That bowl of crab made 6 good size cakes.  We each had two with our edamame – delicious and she remembered to take a photo (actually Steve did)

I went down to the whistle house to work on the blog.  Spent a while on the internet posting and loading pictures.  I forgot when I left the whistle house how dark it would be – it was pitch dark as there is no other light!  I had the flashlight on my phone on, but it really didn’t do much.  Thought for sure I was going to walk into the historical sign we have down there, but luckily, I didn’t!  I did take a pic though of the house and Tower as I approached.  Kind of a cool pic.  As I was walking up, I was also checking out the stars.  So after I dropped off the computer in the house, we both went out to star gaze.  Just breath-taking.

Thursday, June 23rd – Gorgeous morning.  I took a walk over to the white bench by the weather station and decided to take a pic of the house and tower from this perspective. Today is Kevin’s Birthday (my sister Judy and Bill’s son).  He turns 50 today!!!! We called him first thing this morning to sing him happy birthday.  I’m sure that made his day! He’s working from home and had a few minutes to catch up.  He’s the one with 17-year-old triplets.  They are in the throes of looking at colleges for Matthew, Jessica and Jacob!  Eeeee -yikes, right?

This morning we needed to do the South Trail.  We both loaded up with gas, extra whipper snipper pieces, safety glasses, gloves, clippers, etc. and off we went.  I started at the beginning; Steve started at the end.  As we were walking back to the beginning of the trail, we met some visitors.  When we leave the house like that, we place a sign on the door as to where we are.  These folks were glad we did.  They found us!  They continued on the South Trail and said they would love a tour.  When I meet people, I like to come up with a way to remember their names.  Today’s group was GMP, kind of like GNP except I changed the National to Max.  Their names are Gale, Max and Pete.  Gale and Max are father and son, Pete was a local friend. As I walked back up to the house and looked North, it was a pretty view and there were a bunch of different clouds – so I took a pic.  GMP returned and I gave them a tour.  They were very interested, asked a lot of questions and really enjoyed the Tower and the museum.

By now it was time for some lunch.  We sat at the picnic table on the west side.  It was a beautiful day and just right for eating outside.  We spent a little time catching up with Gary.  Then I went off to whipper snip the ‘cradle’ area (there use to be oil tanks resting in these cement cradles – the oil was used to power the compressed air diaphone, a fog signal technology – topic of another blog). Next, I started pulling the weeds in the seams of the sidewalk and along the sides around the west side of the house.  The sidewalk goes from the museum to the kitchen door on our side. Here is a picture of my progress.   While I was doing this, I gave Steve’s cousin Cathy a call.  She was driving up to Mass to see her mom, Marie.  Marie is Steve’s Aunt (Joan’s sister).  Marie just turned 89 the end of May, but she is not doing well so Cathy wants to head up and see what’s going on.

Up the trail comes another couple – Lance & Shawna.  They were interested in a tour, so I put on my ‘tour’ hat (figuratively) and gave them a tour.  They were going to do a hike but we said we’d be down in the Cove around 5ish.  She said maybe you’ll want to come out to the boat – well heck ya!

We went down to the Cove and sat down in our spot by the boat house.  It was a pretty calm evening.  She yelled in from her boat and asked it we wanted to join them.  Sure, we said!  She came in using her dinghy which was very cool as it is a fold-up boat that lays flat next to her paddle board!  How cool is that.  We went out there and sat for quite a while chatting and learning about them.  Lance just recently retired, but she still has her business as a bookkeeper, as she can do that remotely.  They used to live in Napa, CA.  But now they live on their boat full-time as that was always their dream – to sail.  Great time listening to their story, seeing their boat and we had Dark & Stormy to drink – how yummy.  They have done a lot of work on the boat to maximize their storage.  Very nice people.  And yes, I have their contact information so who knows!  Here’s the pic of her and I in the dinghy coming back in.

We walked back up to the house, it was a little later than usual, but again another unique picture of the house and Tower.

Friday, June 24th – Well today is our son Gary’s 30 birthday – boy just how did we get here! A quick walk down memory lane

Today is our on-shore day since it was bumped from Wednesday.  It was a beautiful calm ride into Popham.  We learned from the last time to check and see if the transfer station was open today and it’s not. So, no stops between Popham and Bath. Oh yes we do, we have a couple of packages at Cyndy’s to pick up.  Oooo – wonder what they are!  We picked up our packages and headed to Mae’s Café & Bakery for breakfast.  Really yummy but too much food!  I ordered a veggie bowl of brussel sprouts, sauteed spinach, avocado, 2 eggs and toast.  I only wanted 1 egg and 1 piece of toast and it was still too much food.  Steve got eggs and real shredded corned beef hash with toast.  Steve said his was too much as well.  Ok, note to self, next time order 1 breakfast and split it.

Oh, so we opened our ‘mail’ and we had a gift from Challie and Jeff some neoprene bottle holder / carriers with straps.  It’s perfect for when we go weed whacking (oops whipper snipping), we can carry our water bottles with us! – Thanks C&J!!!  The other package was from Catherine and Melissa (the PA folks).  It was a box of locally made products like lemon vinaigrette, dark chocolate raspberry jam, a peach ginger chutney, sour cherry jam and a bottle of Shrub.  Yes shrub.  It’s like a tart raspberry liquid that you can add to seltzer, champagne or make a drink out of it.  I’ve tried the Shrub and the raspberry jam – all yummy. Thanks C&M!

Off to the post office to mail a few cards and then to the laundromat.  Made some plane reservations for Savannah, sold some Seguin swag and did our laundry.  A fairly productive stop there!  Steve went off to get water in our 5-gallon jugs and get the car washed. Since we have some extra time, we decided to go the Maine’s First Ship exhibit in Bath.  Just a few weeks ago they had a ‘launch’ of the “Virginia” which was the first boat built in the U.S.  It is located in the Bath Freight Shed on Commercial St. downtown. Instead of me trying to accurately recount the story, I’m pulling the following from their website. “The pinnace Virginia was the first ocean-going English ship built in the Americas.  She was built in 1607-1608 at the Popham Colony which was founded by the Plymouth Company in August 1607 and abandoned in October 1608.  The colony of about 100 men and boys was founded to exploit the wood, animal, and mineral wealth of the area and find the northwest passage.  Virginia was built to use in this exploration and to show it was possible to build a ship using local materials in the Americas.  When the colony was abandoned, Virginia was sailed to England, and in 1609 sailed to Jamestown, the Popham Colony’s southern sister colony.” It’s a very cool free exhibit and worth the stop.  Here are some pictures of the boat (which is not quite yet finished) and some of the close sail work.  All being done by volunteers in a very cool building with all tools of the era.  Very informative and amazing!! (Check out the internet at https://mfship.org – not sure if this will show up as an active URL)

Then we both did shopping.  Seems like every other week it’s a big trip, aka more expensive.  We did buy a lot this week and it has been 10 days, so that’s how we justified it.  Maybe it was just because Cheez-it’s were on sale!  Then a brief stop at the fish store.  We checked and they wanted $16 for an 8 oz container of picked crab – yikes!  Well, we got a deal there as Ethan gave us those ‘on the boat’ (get it? on the house?)  We finally got a chance to talk with Gary and wish him Happy Birthday.  He’s not been feeling well the last few days and like me, he never gets sick and has never had Covid. They gave him a Rx to help him as they thought maybe bronchitis.  But after listening to him and where he’s been, I think we all agree it was Covid.  He just sucked it up… Well, we talked with him until we ran out of service, which happens when we get close to this area of the world.  Spotty coverage.  I’m glad he finally went to make sure it wasn’t something else.

 So now we’re at the dock and it’s very low tide.  We stage all our stuff and I said to Steve we better use some rope to lower some of these bags, we just can’t hold them over the ladder and drop them to Ethan!  Here’s Steve with our pile of stuff this week followed by a picture looking down the ladder.  Ooo- wee that looks like a long way down. 

Well just then, Ethan pulls up in his pick-up truck and says, he thought it would be better if we put our stuff in his skiff and we’ll take that out to his boat on his mooring.  I like that plan a lot better until I see the skiff!  It looks like it was built with leftover porch wood and the engine only goes forward! Always an adventure! Oh, and the last picture is where the Popham Colony (the one we read about at the “Maine’s First Ship” exhibit) was located.

The ride back was awesome, took a couple of pics of the wave splashes next to the boat and Steve took a pic of me.  I love a boat ride! Like a kid in an amusement park!

When we got into the Cove, Ethan pulled up the mooring and there was some kelp / seaweed on the line, bright green.  He pulled off a few pieces and said here try this.  I thought it tasted pretty good.  A little salty of course.  Even Steve tried it!  As we’re enjoying our seafood delicacy, we’re watching the two volunteers that came out today, pull the dinghy into the water and try to get in.  The waves were rolling in and oh no!  They ended up turning sideways, then the stern was facing out and a little wave came up and over into the boat!!!  The second pic is them having to stand the boat up to get the water out!!!!

So, resting in our boat house spot having another local summer ale!  Followed by another Mount Washington sunset.  Life is Grand here on Seguin!

Saturday, June 25th – Good Morning everyone.  Well, this morning is an example of living without the best internet can be a challenge.  Yesterday we made some airline reservations with American Airlines (AA) and put them on hold.  We went to pay for them this morning and when you are using a travel credit, you need to call.  They said the wait was over three hours! After brainstorming, we decided I would go on line, get a new reservation and see if I can use the travel credit.  In the meantime, yesterday I emailed AA to see if they could extend two travel credits we had that had expired at the end of April.  They were kind enough to reissue them.  This email said you can use them on line or you could call.  So, I took the computer down to the whistle house to make the new reservations while Steve continues to sit on hold at the house.  Then I go out to make the reservations and pay for them but now I can’t use two travel credits for two passengers.  Yikes, I have to cancel that process and start all over again.  One reservation for Steve and one reservation for Carol. OMG, what an exercise in frustration but we got there. I remember the good old days when you could call and talk to a real person.  What a concept. Ok, I’m done complaining!

I stayed a little longer in the whistle house and worked on the June 5 post.  I added the pictures and published it.  Yay!   I’m trying to catch up and only be a week a behind.  I’m typing this on July 2!!!!!

Ok, now on with our regular day.  It’s Saturday so I’m sure we’ll have some visitors!  Speak of the devil, I come out of the house and here come two people up the tram!  Son of a gun! I kind of jumped on them and said “You didn’t come up the tram did you?”  Because of where they were standing, maybe they just walked down the little section to look at the aluminum cart sitting on the tram.  NO.  They had walked up that way and said they didn’t see a sign for the path and if we don’t want people walking up the ramp why is it there?”  Our biggest concern is that if someone gets hurt, it’s not our job to help them get back to their boat and it would be a challenge if you were hurt.  Honestly, we just don’t want anyone to get hurt on our watch!

I took a breath and all worked out fine.  They are local people from Popham, he’s a retired Bath Iron Works employee and she was a school teacher, Scott and Marion. They said it was there first time here and they really did enjoy the tour, etc.  Here’s a pic of them in the Tower that I took and emailed it to them.  This is my favorite place to take a picture when I have a small crowd because the background behind them is reversed because it is being taken through a prism!! During their tour, I also took a pic of the prism you sometimes get in the Tower when the sunlight is just right.

Another group of two came up Andy and Heidi.  They too are local and have never been here before. Forgot to take a pic of them!  They were very nice, enjoyed the tour and then went on a hike.  In the meantime, “Window” Rich arrived.  He is a friend of Cyndy’s and he came to look at the windows in the house.  Many of these need to be replaced and Cyndy wanted his input as he has replaced many historical windows in his own home.  It’s a challenge to replace things as you have to go through the State Historic Preservation Society so that the integrity of the house/tower is maintained.  Steve spent a significant time with Rich walking around and looking at all the windows.  Wind started to pick up but I headed to the sidewalk again to keep pecking away at it.  It’s nice on the back side of the house even if it’s windy as you’re in the sun. I wrapped up my sidewalk effort for the day and joined them in the museum and we walked around the various rooms and chatted about everything from A-Z including life as a keeper! We also referred several times to Cyndy’s copy of Seguin Island 200th Anniversary book that was printed in 1995 which is full of interesting nuggets!

Well Rich was planning to stay over in the Cove so we asked him to join us for Cove Time! The three of us headed down and today we had a little visitor!  It looked like a young seal and he was just playing in the water.  We sat there for quite a while.  Rich got a call from his daughter and grandson and he was sharing the view of the seal just riding the waves in and out and playing around the rocks.  I guess I should have drawn a circle around the seal in the middle pic. Oh well, I’m sure you can see him if you look close!

Well, I took a sunset video which I’m not going to load as I’m not sure that will work.  So, I bid you adieu for another week!  As always, thanks for reading!