Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Today is our normal day at the shore, but I went yesterday.  Does everyone know this?  It couldn’t be a nicer day and so far the morning has passed with no visitors.  Ken and Jaanna are supposed to come this afternoon but they don’t count.  Ken is the chairman of the education committee and knows a lot about the history of the island and its passed structures and he is giving instruction to this summer’s intern.  We’re learning a lot from him too.

France and I are focused on the arrival this Friday of the Coast Guard for inspection and the overnight family we are to accommodate on Thursday in the guest quarters consisting of a couple, two kids and a dog.  Now that the beds are made up with clean linens I did yesterday at the Laundromat, and fresh towels put out in the bathroom, I’m back to preparations.  I’ll be up early baking blueberry muffins for the guests so I know I won’t miss the helicopter when it arrives, both cameras in shorts pockets ready to tape and snap as they arrive.  Hopefully I can add it to the short film I’m cutting for our presentation in Bath at the Maritime Museum on August 7.

France has spent the morning armed with vinegar and sponges and polishing cloths up in the lens in the tower cleaning all 284 pieces of lead crystal.  These heavy glass prisms are cut and placed in such a way as to focus the light from a single 1000 watt bulb into a beam that can be seen for thirty miles at a focal plane 180 feet above median sea level.  Once France is through with that glass, you can add ten miles to that, easy.  I’ve already swept and steel brushed chipped paint off the walls but I think the inside brick needs to be cleaned too.  A broom kicks too much dust so I want to get in there with the vacuum.  After that we mop.  Spit spot and make it shine.

Oops, here’s a couple from Seattle with a little boy in tow.  Later.