A word of warning: this is my last blog entry for the summer, and it is a long one. The plan was for Amy to spend this week ashore prepping for the wedding, while groups of my friends filled in for her on the island. These plans changed to a certain extent on Wednesday, when I found out not only was a predicted low pressure system on its way for Thursday, but Hurricane Irene had decided to come marching straight up the coast with a high probably of landing in New England as a Cat 1 or Cat 2 storm as early as Sunday. This changed a leisurely week with buddies into a slightly frenetic (albeit fun) few days where I pressed them to work with me closing up the island.
Ben, Ashley, Jason, and I rose on Thursday to a sunny day, with 10-15kts of SE’ly breeze, and the seas stacking up into the 4’-6’ range, as predicted. We began the mission of emptying the refrigerator & freezer of food before moving to the Whistle House to clean & begin stowing the staging & lawn furniture in advance of Irene’s approach. This chore was finished in short order, so we headed down to the Cove to perform the same tasks, except this time in the Boathouse. While down in the Cove a beautiful wooden sloop named Fiery Jubilee sailed in and picked up a mooring. Her captain, Nick, had pulled in with the intention of taking a nap, but decided to stay the night after he & I had conferred about the weather.
The low moved in after lunch, bringing gusty winds up to 25kts, fog, and a line of rain squalls. We retreated inside for an afternoon of music, cards, and eating. Jason is an accomplished banjo player, and my mandolin skills have become adequate enough to play along, so we used the stereo very little, enjoying our own tunes instead. Not wanting Nick to be cold, wet, and alone, down on his boat, I had invited him up to dinner, which he accepted. Fueled by some adult beverages, we had a lively discussion about climate change over dinner, as well as general chat about work & life. We very much enjoyed his company, and when he headed down to his boat, we cleaned up and carried on with the tunes until late.
Friday was a beautiful day from the start- light breezes and very sunny to dry the island out. With Irene still tracking up the coast, there was a huge amount of boating activity as people shuffled to hurricane harbors, or to haul their boats out, ahead of Irene. With the Seguin Ferry blocked on Thursday, we were expecting visitors, so did short projects to fill the time before the tours started. We cleaned the museum and dwelling, than Jason & Ashley tore up the garden, while Ben & I boarded up the Donkey Engine House & Oil Shed. We accomplished all of this just as the visitors came flocking to the top of the island, dropped off on the belated Seguin Ferry. I took care of the tours while Jason & crew prepped lunch.
After lunch was finished we spent the afternoon working. Ben & I mowed the lawn one last time; Ashley did some more cleaning & stowing small things, while Jason painted the last window that needed attention. Work completed we took advantage of the low tide to harvest mussels for dinner- aside from the one dinner we shared with Nick, we didn’t really cook any meals, we just laid out a smorgasbord of vegetables, cheese, bread, dips, and other leftovers. Along with additions like fresh mussels, the food couldn’t fail. Having emptied the fridge at dinner, we moved along to finishing the fermented barley liquids, while playing a rousing game of Liar’s Dice, for the rest of the evening.
Saturday morning was intense, to say the least. Up early, Ashley made us delicious egg sandwiches for breakfast, while Ben, Jason, & I, packed up the rest of the gear and began loading it on the tram, while the foghorn droned on in the background. The visibility was down around 50 yards, which surprisingly did not stop a wedding from happening, with about thirty people in attendance. Ethan brought them out on Leeward, and I helped transfer the group ashore. While the wedding was happening I ran the tram down the hill, boarded up the last couple of windows, and trooped up the hill to begin shutting down power.
By 1015, the wedding party was gone into the mist, Jason, Ashley, & Ben, were headed out on Larry Gustav’s boat (THANK YOU Larry!), and Darcy Dog & myself were left to finish securing the island. It was not long before Ethan had returned to pick me up, bailing off the island early, so I wouldn’t miss Amy & my wedding date, if Irene proved to be a big storm.
I knew the summer had to end at some point, but I did not expect it to end in quite this fashion. It was an inglorious end to what I felt was quite a season on the island. Ready to let it go or not, my fantastic time on Seguin is over, I could not have pulled off the summer as a whole with Amy, Darcy Dog, my parents, a huge number of friends, and the help of the On-Island Committee. It was a great three months, the best I’ve ever had, and Irene or no, I couldn’t ask for a better one.
NATE POWER
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