Tuesday
August 16, 2016
Our five overnight guests (the self-proclaimed Mustache Mama’s) were already outside on the porch this morning when I went out to put up the flag. The winds were calm, the sky was clear, and it was warm and humid (Maine humid anyway). The flies were still out in force and it seems to me the lack of wind is a contributing factor.
Although they said they weren’t going to leave until later, the “Mama’s” went down the hill with their things to go out Cobblestone Trail and then eventually leave on their boat. So, we said our goodbye’s and assured them honestly that they had been a part of our Favorite Moment(s) yesterday. They were all so nice and friendly, not to mention generous with their gifts of wine, fresh goat cheese, and a delicious baguette. I hope they enjoyed staying on Seguin this year as much as we enjoyed having them here.
Late morning, a family of six was our first group of visitors for the day. They’re staying near at Popham Beach near the former Coast Guard Station there and boated over to see Seguin. They were interested in seeing the Guest Quarters here when they heard it was possible to stay overnight on the island so Patty showed them the upstairs after they came down from the tower.
Ethan’s ferry arrived before noon as usual but the ferry group consisted of a single party of eight made up of one man and seven teenagers. The kids raced up the hill followed by their chaperone who followed at a more reasonable pace. They are all staying on Long Island just up from the mouth of the Kennebec River which the adult guy said he’d been visiting since childhood. I never did catch if they were a camp or what but they were all nice and fun even if they didn’t like the flies at all. At all! Picture 7 teens racing out of the North trail
swatting and yelping! After visiting the museum, gift-shop, and tower, they went back down to Ethan’s boat and he took them fishing off the west side of Seguin.
Two more couples came up shortly afterwards, though not together, they went up in the tower with me at the same time. One couple was at the end of a week-long sailing trip out of North Yarmouth and were returning home today, a day early, because of a small-craft advisory posted for tonight through mid-day tomorrow. The other couple sailed from Kittery today and said they keep their boat in Portsmouth, New Hampshire but live outside of Boston. They shared lots of sailing stories – have you been here or there, how are conditions, etc.?
Just after them came a threesome of ‘swim-ins’, which is our name for those who travel without a dinghy and jump in to get to shore. They were two gals and a guy from NJ, VA & MD, all with family summer places on Ocean Point. The guy reported the water temperature to a balmy 67 degrees. That might sound cold to you, but our first swim of the season was in 58-degree water, so I’ll take it. With a smile! The two young ladies were recent James Madison University graduates, the same school my bike-riding niece Samantha is set to graduate from in December and my nephew Tyler graduated from a couple of years ago. My cousin Morag’s daughter Jess also recently graduated from JMU. I ran all the names by them but none were familiar…
Next came Susan and Bill who were here 2 weeks ago. On that trip, Bill and two guy friends came up the hill while the women tended to the boat. Bill had to come back and bring Susan up to climb the tower (and to meet the totally awesome caretakers!) Thank you Bill for the very generous donation!!
Finally, after 2pm, we sat down to a lunch of mackerel salad sandwiches. After lunch, Patty started on cleaning the Guest Quarter’s while I worked on a blog post. During this time, even though there was no wind to speak of, we could see clouds & haze gathering. We had an afternoon plan of mowing the ‘lower island’ and fixing a problem with one of the oar locks in the dinghy, but it started to rain. The wind switched to come out of the east, which is very exciting…maybe those pesky flies will be gone soon.
Late in the afternoon, we texted with Ethan about Wednesday day off-island schedule. We usually confirm pick-up time (always 7am so far) late on Tuesday for Wednesday morning but we knew the forecast was not looking too promising. ‘We’ve had a great run…’ was the response. So, it looks like for the first time ALL SUMMER, we won’t make it to shore on Wednesday. I don’t know if that is a record, but it sure feels like it! We have been so lucky with the weather. Cyndy told us that last summer the weather on Wednesday only cooperated a couple of times all summer and the off-island day ended up being Thursday for T-Ann and Larry virtually every week. The clouds continued coming in and the forecast for overnight was for heavy rain and wind so we battened down the hatches and laid out the rags and towels everywhere we know the rain falls inside the house.
Patty made burgers with homemade guacamole for dinner. Then it was a quiet evening inside reading and listening to the rain on the windows and roof. It’s weird knowing we’ll be here tomorrow when we’d normally be off-island which just causes our minds more confusion since we were just off-island Saturday for Summerfest. For the past few days we’ve been mixed up on what day it was, thinking we got back on Wednesday when it was really Sunday. It’s been completely regular for almost three months until this week. Then again, maybe we just get mixed up easy?
Visitors – 33
Favorite Moment(s) – When it rained outside but not inside.
Sunrise – 5:35am
Sunset – 7:32pm
#Seguinisland #seguinislandlight #seguinislandlighthouse #maine #LifeOnTheRock
