There is no heat wave on island

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Since June 1^st, I have lovingly trying to get a vegetable garden thriving in the not so hospitable environment of late spring on the island.  When we were landlubbers in Connecticut the rule of thumb was don’t plant anything outside until after Mother’s Day, but if I wanted anything to harvest before we leave after Labor Day, something needed to be done.  On one of our off-island days, I bought the seeds and a few seedlings to give it a go out on the rock!  The garden is one of the first things visitors see when they look down from the tower, it most likely was an old cistern for the cottage.  I wanted it to be something interesting to look at, functional and tie to the surroundings of the island.  I staked it out first with twine into wedges, it looked good, but I wasn’t satisfied.  Final decision was small rounded rocks from Cobblestone Beach to use as dividers, our backpack now became the norm while I walked the paths to check on the seagull nests. It took about 8 trips to make the outlines and to get the rocks I have been using as name markers as well. With yesterday’s warm temperatures and many trips with a watering can, the seeds have sprouted and it looks like there may be fresh veggies on the island this summer.  The 2 hints I can pass on to future keepers:  the wind chill during some of the early June nights is at the freezing levels, make sure all seedlings are protected (lost a watermelon plant), and I don’t think Impatients are a plant to do well here but the Petunias are thriving.

I took a walk around the Cove to Cobblestone to check on the seagull nests today.  I bring the pruners with me to make it seem like I am working cutting back the trails when all I really want to see is any new seagull babies have hatched.  I was rewarded with an hours old hatchling today, its nestmates still have not hatched but it will be any day now.  Brian laughs at me because I call all the nests and hatchlings mine but I have become protective of the island’s birds and am in awe of their lives out here.

After lunch, Brian went back to working on the push lawn mowers, they are in desperate need of tune-ups and I was determined to finish sprucing up the birdhouse.  There was a lot of scraping down of paint, sanding, and once I decided to match the roof to the cottage’s roof, I needed to get rid of a lot of lichens/moss from the roof shingles.  When finally done, it looks great now how are we ever going to raise this monster back up!

Tonight, was one of the first nights we could sit outside comfortably to watch the sunset, the wind was light and there was still a warm air mass from the mainland.  It was gorgeous as always and gives each of us a chance to reflect on our day and how we changed our world just a little.  I wanted to share Brian’s thoughts of the sunset:

Not everyone would like to be stuck on a small island for six days a week for an entire summer. There are disadvantages for sure.

Want to go to the movies? Not happening. That great summer street festival you always attend? Not this year. Let’s go sailing? No but can watch a lot of sailboats sailing around the island. Want to hang out with family and friends this summer? Hope they are adventurous and want to travel some.

But there are some great advantages to living a summer on a small island.

You will never have to worry about forgetting your car keys or wallet while on the island. Your not going to be driving anywhere and there is nowhere to spend money for the six days your on island. “Island Time” becomes the normal schedule. There is a lot of work to upkeep this island but we do the work at our own pace making sure we spend time with visitors and taking in in the beauty we have surrounding us.

We have no reason to rush. Things happen or not depending on the day, weather and tides. As on our sailboat what we love best is that we always make time to enjoy the surroundings that we have around us. The land, water and all the creatures that are part of it. Most of all we take time for the sunset. It is the gift we could never disrespect because it has more value in our life than most our possessions. It represents a day that we have been given to see all the beauty in it.

 

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