Friday
July 22, 2016
We had a steady 10-15mph wind with comfortable temperatures and bright sunlight when we rolled out of bed this morning. We had fruit (pineapple, blueberries, mango and strawberries), yogurt, and granola for breakfast along with a pot of strong black, coffee.
After breakfast, we hiked out the North Trail where the Maine Island Trails Association (MITA) worked yesterday cutting back trailside brush. One of our visitors yesterday mentioned some brush on the trail and we know we need to get out there to weed whack soon (like last week). We each took a pair of clippers and cut a little here and there but MITA had done a good job and gotten just about anything that intruded on the trail. I went ahead of Patty so we were working on different sections and when I reached the point where I could see the Cove, there was a sailboat there.
Patty had stumbled upon a couple of baby gulls on the trail and the baby mama was harassing her so when I radioed to say I saw a boat, she was happy to turn around and go to the house to meet any visitors that might come up. When she got back, three people from the sailboat (their fourth stayed aboard) were in the museum and wanted to see the tower. The weather was looking a little sketchy by this point with the wind picking up, swells growing, and some big clouds growing over the mainland. The visitors were on their way from Small Point (to our southwest) to Boothbay (to our northeast) and said the ride so far had been really rough and they needed a short break. Patty spent some time with them in the museum and gave them a tour of the tower before they returned to their boat.
I came back a few minutes after they left and Patty and I had a pre-ferry group snack – Swiss cheese, crackers, cucumbers, carrots, and hummus in the kitchen and then waited for our first visitors. By noon, none had come up – no Ethan today. We thought he might come despite the seas because dockside at Popham is probably calm and the cove is calm but the seas between must have been too rough. With no group, we moved to Plan B for the afternoon.
I went out to the end of the North Trail, this time in my grungy clothes with the weed whacker, gas can, and a water bottle and weed whacking my way back to the trailhead over the next three hours. Patty raked the area of the front yard where MITA cut down a large swath of tall grass to get it away from the edge of the lawn. It was blowing onto the lawn like loose straw and also on to the Lighthouse Trail where it made footing slippery.
After she finished raking and while I was still out the North Trail, Patty went down the hill to get water and saw a dinghy coming ashore from a moored sailboat. Patty met two women from the sailboat (their Captain, husband of one of the women) stayed onboard and gave them a strict one-hour time limit to explore Seguin. The two visitors were concerned about the rest of their trip and wanted to stay overnight in the cove but their captain said he wanted to push on after this brief stop. After visiting the museum and quick tour of the tower, they went straight back to
their boat.
A little later, I came back from the North Trail and Patty told me about the visitors and pointed out their boat, rocking and rolling on the swells, as it sailed away from Seguin. We watched it recede from the front porch while I cooled off in the shade but before long, we noticed it wasn’t receding anymore. They had turned around and were heading back towards the cove. Guess the captain relented and decided to stay in the cove until the seas calm down? Their sail away from Seguin didn’t look like it would have been too much fun.
Patty made us a late lite lunch of tomato and cheese sandwiches and had also made her own hummus from chickpeas, jalapenos, and cilantro and another with some roasted garlic and lemon. I was skeptical and thought it was probably too much trouble to make when we can easily buy it with good ingredients in the store but I have to give Patty her due, it was really good.
After eating, we went down the hill again for more water and confirmed the sailboat in the cove was the one that was here earlier with the two women visitors. They really did leave and come back. It was nice and calm in the cove so we imagine they’re happy to be there and not out on the rough waters.
Later in the early evening, we were outside watching the beginning of sunset which was really nice for about fifteen minutes until we saw clouds building along the mainland coast and rain moving our way across the water from the area of Casco Bay. Over the next half hour or more, we watched as heavy rain and lighting slowly creeped across the water until it passed directly above us in a swirl of strong winds.
About a half hour after the first wave of rain, wind, lightning, and thunder passed and it had cleared briefly, another stronger cell made its’ way from the mainland to Seguin. This one had even stronger wind and a non-stop, more than once per second, display of lightning completely surrounding us. East, west, north, south, it was everywhere and ceaseless. An awesome display. This cell was either larger or moving more slowly than the first
because it lasted a lot longer than the first. We had been waiting since we arrived in May to experience a storm like this and the wait was worth it. It did not disappoint.
Inside the house, we realized that when it rains hard outside, it also rains lightly inside. Standing in the kitchen watching the wind, rain, and lightning outside, we started to feel raindrops falling on us from the ceiling along the wall between
the kitchen and dining room where our pantry shelving is located. We took everything off the top shelves and tacked plastic trash bags to the top, hanging down over the other shelves and put some rags on the floor. Problem solved. In the gift-shop (the mirror image in the duplex house of our kitchen), it was also lightly raining but we were able to move a couple of merchandise displays and the problem was solved there too. Well, maybe not solved but nothing important was getting wet on either side.
Since we ate lunch late, we didn’t eat until pretty late and ended up having breakfast for dinner – eggs, bacon, etc. It’s nice to switch things up like that sometimes.
Visitors – 5
Favorite Moment(s) – watching storms pass directly over Seguin.
Sunrise – 5:07am
Sunset – 8:05pm
#Seguinisland #seguinislandlight #seguinislandlighthouse #maine #LifeOnTheRock
