Friday, June 2, 2017
I woke up this morning to the first blue sky we have seen since Sunday afternoon, not just any blue but the pristine blue that is almost blinding in perfection. I knew we had a whole lot of grass cutting ahead of us today because the grass seems to have grown 6 inches while we were off island yesterday. I decided my cup of coffee would be best appreciated on an early morning walk along the Cove Trail to check on the seagull nests. I can’t wait until the eggs hatch, patience has never been a virtue I excel at, and this waiting game is driving me crazy. I finished up my walk to realize no babies today!
Brian and I split up the grass cutting areas, he was going down to cut near the Cove and Tramway, while I got to ride the mower and get the yard cut. As I was cutting the perimeter, the steering didn’t feel right and of course not, I had a flat tire! A quick call to Brian and he came up to see if he could fix it with the tools on island. We really do have to be self-sufficient out here, but it is not as easy as it should be. In the meantime, I found our 2 guests were arriving within minutes, so down to the Cove to meet them while Brian is tinkering with the mower.
Jim and Janice from NJ were visiting Bath for the day and decided to take a chance and come out to the island for a visit. They were wonderful and so much fun to show the island to. I usually offer the option to our guests of having the lighthouse tour first to orient themselves with the locations of the trails and their surroundings, and then send them off to explore. Jim & Janice opted for this and up the tower we went. Again, it was a perfect day to climb the tower, the skies were perfect to see as far as Mt Washington in New Hampshire. After we finished with the tour and museum, they asked if I could show them the seagull nests along the Cobblestone Beach Trail. I love showing others the nests and my hopes to see my first seagull baby. As we were slowly walking along the beach trail, I pointed out a nest of 2 eggs very much out in the open and as I did a quick second look, I realized one egg hatched, all within 3 hours of my sunrise check! Janice was ecstatic getting to see it also! You never know what you will get to see when you come out to the island.
Back to the flat tire – Brian tried everything he could to fix it to no avail. Conveniently, Ethan was picking up our 2 guests and we handed off the wheel to Ethan to try to get it fixed asap. As Ethan was taking our guests back to Popham Beach, another boat was motoring into the Cove. We would soon have a fun invasion of a college philosophy class from Manhattan College in the Bronx. The professor grew up in Georgetown and his class is called ‘Living the Good Life’. It is based on showing his students alternate ways of life and how you can live your life with purpose. As I was sitting for a few minutes, 17 people arrived up the Lighthouse Trail, wow! We ended up having an impromptu class on the front lawn of the cottage with Brian and I explaining our cruising life on our sailboat and how we came to this lifestyle. I explained to the young people, Brian and I decided to live the Flanagan Dream and not the American Dream. We want to be responsible earth citizens and live to make memories and not money. Once the impromptu lecture was over, I broke the group up into 4 groups and started the tours of the Lighthouse. I was completely wiped out when I finally waved goodbye to the group.
Ok, the day started out blissfully slow and kept gaining momentum. The only problem was we were down a riding mower, time to bring out the push mowers. If we miss more than 2 days of grass cutting, it causes us hours of raking the grass. When Brian finally finished the lower island, he came up to see we have one more visitor on island, a single-handed sailor on M/V Minstrel, the boat we watched sail around the island. He wanted to know if he could stay on the mooring for the overnight but first he wanted to check out the nests along Cobblestone Beach after I mentioned one hatched egg. He asked if I could show him where the nest was. No problem, 3rd trip along this trail today. He was thrilled to let his wife know he saw the hatchling! He also had seen Puffins earlier in the day off Easter Egg Rock, another first for him. We did warn him the Cove was going to be fairly rock and rolly tonight but he didn’t seem concerned.
By the time we were alone again on the island, we had surpassed exhaustion. I almost begged off from our sunset but the skies were still clear enough for a great view from the top of tower. What would one more trip up the tower cost me, my legs were slightly wobbly by the time we reached the top. 3 trips around the Cobblestone Beach Trail and 6 trips up and down the tower along with pushing the mower for 2 hours, you can’t buy a work out like this. The night was done and my night is not completed without a sweet something, but it turns out while we were ashore I forgot chocolate, yikes! First thing tomorrow I was going to need to get the cook book out and start baking because me without sugar is not a good thing for anyone, especially Brian!
Guests today – 20
Guest total – 47
USCG – 6
