130609 Departures and Arrivals

 

Yesterday evening our new friend Emanuel left us. It was almost heartbreaking to see him disappearing in the fog. If you see this message, we would be really happy if you could inform us that you got home safely!

New crew came today: Kari, Jari, Axel, Sanna and Heini, and Lotta’s still staying for few more days. Some Russian journalists came suddenly here and we thought it was because of the old sunk submarine found nearby.

Biggest effort for today was to build a new platform. It came out a whole lot better than the one we already had.

Now we’re expecting a storm to rise. Exciting.

Good night

 

140609 A Windy Day

 

Yesterday evening we got another international guest, Michael, a traveller from Ireland who likes to visit extraordinary and unique places all over the world. Märket definitely is one! We hope that visiting Märket was worth travelling despite pre-stormy weather we had last night. The visit was quite short, because the storm was rising. The last two members of our group of lighthouse keepers also arrived with the same boat; luckily, because we knew it would have been impossible to reach Märket today.

We decided to wake up a little bit later because it was Sunday and we were extremely tired after travelling long. And Lotta – who was the only one who stayed for another week – deserved a good sleep indeed.

The men have been working hard for the whole day. They have been building support beams for the boat shed so that the roof would be able to carry more weight. The others have been staying mainly inside doing some domestic work because the stormy weather outside doesn’t allow us to continue working with the granite basement of the lighthouse.

In the picture you can see our new water warming “pot” (can’t find the correct word from our old pocket dictionary). The previous one mystically disappeared. Perhaps the seals got bored with the cold sea water and stole it, who knows, it remains a mystery.

This is Märket, the stormiest place in Finland.

 

150609 Monday and how we spent it

 

Yesterday evening was not actually that refreshing as we hoped. The weather forecast said it would be misty day outside, but in the end, the visibility was not good in a lighthouse kitchen either.

We were happily enjoying our evening tea when we decided to light a fire in the fireplace once more, because one of us lighthouse keepers is sleeping in a kitchen. Well, the fireplace was on a bad mood and blew all the smoke to our faces. Soon the kitchen was full of smoke. Even though we tried everything to make it work, the fireplace didn’t want to co-operate with us. In the end, we had to take the firewood out.

When we had solved the fireplace problem, we noticed the fridge was not cold anymore; the gas had run out. Of course our fridge is not that simple as fridges usually are. And why would it be? Isn’t it more fun to use your creativity to make things work? Living in an isolated lighthouse isn’t even supposed to be easy.

We thought it would rain today so we didn’t start to work with the granite basement wall at all. Jari and Kari have been reparing the door of the boat shed. They made a new shining hinge. Lotta and Axel continued their work defining the colours used in walls and doors. You can believe that many colours have been used during past 124 years!

The vegetarian member of the kitchen crew found herself in a bit strange situation; grilling beefs for the others to eat. Actually, only half of us six are beefeaters, but because the problems with the fridge yesterday, we needed to prepare the meet we had.

Welcome to the lighthouse!

 

160609 Another sad love story

 

Yesterday I told you about the Loxia curvirostra (did you check the bird book?), or actually a pair of birds who recently visited Märket. I have some bad news. The both, Mr. and Mrs. Loxia was found dead today morning. Mr. Loxia was found in the tower, or should I say all that was left of him. There has been a murder in Märket! We suspect the murderer is Mr. Hawk who is seen near the crime scene. Of course we have no witnesses; the other birds living in Märket claim they didn’t see anything. I wonder who they protect. Mrs. Loxia was so terrified about her husbands destiny that she suffered to death.

It has been such a beautiful weather today! The sun has been shining all day and we hope we’ll see one of those famous sunsets of Märket tonight. We have spent the whole day outside. We have also been eating outside today, even if Sanna cleaned the kitchen in the morning and it is now nice and cosy.

Because of the good weather we were at last able to start working with the granite basement wall of the lighthouse. Axel takes the old mortar out, Kari puts the new mortar in and Lotta is finishing all with a brush.

We did a little boat trip to the rock nearby where the seals are hanging. We invited them to visit Märket; there has been only a few seals seen here lately.

From the webmaster: For the benefit of those not in the immediate vicinity of a bird encyclopedia, Loxia curvirostra is a familiar bird called Common Crossbill, or pikkukäpylintu.

 

170609 Waiting for Sauna

 

Well, the seals did indeed answer our call last night and today we have seen some seals sunbathing here, of course they keep a good distance from us.

Altogether the weather has been very pleasant today as well, though in the morning the wind was a bit cold. Still no visitors today (besides the seals, of course). I wonder if the next weekend is going to be more busy with the guiding, at least I hope so after learning a great amount of numbers and names of Märket’s history.

The length of the day is almost as long as it gets here in this hemisphere, but we are still wondering how the days are passing by so fast. The other half of our group of lighthouse keepers will leave tomorrow, just as everyone have found their own places around the kitchen table. Tomorrow we need to be awake early, because we are waiting for a ship filled with building material.

The Midsummer is closing up and the Midsummer without a sauna is not a Midsummer at all. So we decided to build a tent sauna. We found a good place for it and soon the stove is ready. I bet it is going to be the best sauna I have ever been in!

 

180609 What a Day

 

It has been a somewhat busy day in Märket. We woke up a bit earlier than usually ‘cause we were waiting for Pekka and our new lighthouse keeper Kaarina as well as the cargo ferry full of building material to arrive around nine o’clock. First Mats brought Pekka and Kaarina together with Ville and Bror who were supposed to help us with the building material. Also Diddi arrived with her charming dogs to check our cash-books. For a while we thought the ferry was unable to land. The departuring lighthouse keepers already carried their baggage to the rubber boat, when we heard the ferry would come ashore after all.

A great fuss begun after the ferry landed. The crew of the ferry, Subsea, started to unload the building material with our help, Well, not much help was needed because the men on Subsea knew what they were doing and the cargo was so heavy we needed a truck to get it on Märket. Now we have material and equipment needed when painting the outside walls starts. We also have a plenty of wood kindly sponsored by a Finnish-Swedish wood company Stora Enso. I can only guess how much all that building material weights! A lot according to Pekka, Jari and Kari, who have been carrying the wood and sacks to the sheds since Subsea left.

We said goodbye to Lotta, Axel and Sanna. Hope they get home easily. There was some uncertainty in the air; due to the Midsummer the boats were crowded and – when Märket is concerned – you can not exactly decide the timetables on your own. It is the sea that defines them for you.

The wind is rising and now it started to rain – it means the Midsummer is coming, doesn’t it? Kaarina did some cleaning inside. The floor really needed washing.

I recon the Sandman is going to visit us pretty soon… Good night!

 

190609 Bonfires – At Least in Our Stove

 

Yes indeed. Pekka told they were celebrating the Midsummer here on Märket two years ago with a great bonfire. They we wondering why there was no bonfires seen in the horizon. Afterwards they were told the bonfires are not a Midsummer tradition here in Åland. The bonfires are only burned in Finland; Ålanders celebrate the Midsummer in Swedish style dancing around the May poles instead of bonfires.

Last year Märket was unmanned during the Midsummer because no one volunteered to come, so this is only the second Midsummer celebrated on Märket during this century.

We were hoping to get some Midsummer guests today, but no one has come. Ok, perhaps it is a good thing because after the furious day we had yesterday it has been a kind of mess here.

We continued to carry the timber into the sheds. Pekka made some calculations about the value of the timber we got and once more we have to thank StoraEnso for a great gift it gave us. Now the renovating projects can continue!

Wow, the sun just came out! It seems that we are going to have a beautiful weather tonight.

Happy Midsummer from all of us on Märket!

 

200609 Sunshine and shade

 

It has been a sunny day once again. No need for a rain coats or winter jackets here!

We needed some medical help today. Kaarina felt unwell in a morning and she was taken to the hospital. Don’t worry, it was nothing that serious and we still wish to get her back here. Of course now the most important thing is that she gets well again.

We started to build scaffoldings round the lighthouse. There is two kind of scaffoldings here and of course no directions how to build those. Luckily Jari -the man who knows everything about everything – was familiar with the anatomy of scaffolding. We made great progress, though we were not able to build more than two storeys because we have no safety harnesses.

Pekka finished painting the frontier border between Finland and Sweden. To paint a border line! That’s something every man is not able to do!

Tomorrow the new crew will arrive. Now there are only three men and a lady (that would be me) on Märket. Jari leaves tomorrow but I decided to stay at least till Tuesday: otherwise there is no one in a kitchen next week. Feel a bit sorry for those who are forced to eat my cooking the following week!

Life on Märket goes on. Make sure you stay in tune!