Yesterday afternoon’s wind became more fierce toward sunset.  I shut everything up tighter than a drum after I’d finished in the tower.  The sea was too rough for visitors unless they were taking shelter in the cove.  I’m glad I got all the windows because there was heavy rain beating against the one in the bedroom all night.  So this morning it promises to be in the 70s and sunny but for the moment the foghorn is back on and I’m bundled up in sweats on the front porch plugged into the internet.  I sent this e-mail to the president of FOSI:

Hi Dee,

I think it’s a nice idea to put together a cookbook and I’ll do what I can to participate.  So far, I have photos of the blueberry pie, banana bread, France’s onion tart and tomato tart.  It will be easy to take more of muffins and cookies.  France thinks she should include failed recipes like the little coconut balls covered in chocolate that sat for days before she’d let me try one.  Crumbled up, they were great over ice cream.  She would also include the croissant she trashed because they stayed in the over too long while she took some visitors up to the top of the light.  Even the new batch she made later were hard as a rock and I had to plead to taste one.  I should have settled for the wonderful way they smelled and looked.  She baked a nice white bread on Tuesday but in the process of bringing it down from inside the lens where she’d put it to rise, it deflated, so it never rose in the oven to the loaf she’d hoped for.

We’ve been getting things ready for inspection on Friday by the Coast Guard.  I know it will just be a routine check for them; they probably have six lighthouses to see in one day.  Still, we’re treating it as though we were one of the families that lived here and want to be proud of how things look and impress the hell out of who ever shows up.

The lens sparkles!  France has been using vinegar (okayed by Cyndy) to take off the spots and dust.  In my zeal to clean the inside of the tower, which I first started to do with a broom, but there was too much dust put into the air, I got the shop vac up from the basement.  I’m not talking about the floors either.  I’m talking about the interior brick wall.  This worked fine for a while but then it began to blow dust back into the room so I put it away and got out the house vacuum cleaner.

So there’s good news and bad news.  It’s now clean and dust free and the floor is mopped.  But in the process of using the wand with a round brush attachment and going over every brick, there were a lot of paint chips that came off, including on the pretty trim of blue gray painted above the doors and oil storage indentations, not to mention the stairs.  In my opinion, the entire inside of the tower needs to be scraped with more than just a vacuum and repainted, especially now.  If I’ve expedited this process, I’m not sorry.  So it looks a little shabbier but there won’t be paint chips falling on the floor around you while you climb the stairs.  And maybe it will inspire someone to throw an extra five dollars into the donation box.  Should we start a repaint-the-tower-inside-and-out fund?

Lastly, we thought it might be a nice idea to have a separate guest box apart from the one people sign in the gift shop when they visit.  This would be in a waterproof box with a sign on it under plastic that we’d leave in the vestibule of the porch when we are gone on Wednesdays next to the sign that says we’re sorry we missed you.  A new sign would encourage these visitors, who can’t get into the museum or tower, to sign the guest book so we’d have an idea of how many people we’re missing.  I wouldn’t put the book we use outside because if it rains, we’d lose it.  Maybe the word’s out and people know not to visit on Wednesday; yesterday was beautiful although windy and there was only a young couple from Seattle vacationing in Popham with a little boy who came in the morning.  Ken and Jaanna were expected but we didn’t hear from them and they didn’t come.  Perhaps the wind in the afternoon forced them to change their plans.  I know he’s coming on Friday with people who bid on the outing last year.  And we have overnight guests coming today:  a couple, two kids and a dog for one night.  We haven’t heard from them though and have no idea when to expect them.

Hope to see you soon,

Michael