Talkooviikko 21: Ari, Eljas ja Mirja - Suomen Majakkaseura ry

Saturday 18.5. – Friday 24.5.2013 Ari, Eljas and Mirja

Saturday 18.5.2013

Weather: in the evening +8,3 degrees celcius, wind N 5 m/s. The misty morning broke after few hours into a sunny afternoon.

A devilish looking Red Vessel approaches Märket on Saturday dusk, jaws wide open and obviously boasting of her white teeth. If you listen carefully you can hear her singing Misty when bringing a group of tourists and new crew member to the islet.

Last weeks crew Aarni, Mirja and Ari. Aarni was to leave Märket, while Mirja and Ari chose to stay for another week.

This bald eagle is Eljas. He joined Mirja and Ari as a new crew member and was given his first assingnment to scrape the emergency stairs.

Stair repairing baldy was not the only new bird on the islet. Among 64 bird species seen last week, was a Mergus serrator (tukkakoskelo), the a diver with distinctive hair piece.

The young Swedish couple accompanied with a gentleman enjoy coffee and pan cakes in the lighthouse dining room. Older gentleman is her grandfather and lives in Eckerö.

Sunday 19.5.2013

On the 4.5.2013 Märket crew had found a plastic Coke bottle that was shored on the southern cliffs of Märket. Soon they saw that it contained a piece of paper, a hand written message from two Swedish teens. Content of the message translated form Swedish as follows:

” Hi! We are two 14-year-old girls. SMS numbers: xxx xxx. Hugs from Isabella and Felicia. This bottle is sent from Vaddö –island. Letter ends with a Swenglish phrase ” Peace Out!!”

None of week 21 Märket crew had information if those who found bottle on the shore ever contacted message-launching teens. Therefore we gave a call to one of the numbers on the note on 18.05.

-Hello, is this Felicia or Isabella?

– Jåå, (yeah)

-I am calling due to bottle message you obviously have sent. It has shored on the Märket islet on the very border of Sweden and Finla…..

KLICK as girl on the other end of the line shut her phone.

Young girl was frightened to receive a call from a dark voiced Finnish man speaking Swedish, just like anyone should. Evidently girl had an American style upbringing – never speak to a stranger! One has to be more careful when communicating with modern teens sending old school messages in bottles, especially if they Hugs & Pease Out!

Another try. We decided to send an sms to the same number:

”Your message in a soda flask has shored 4.5.2013 on the Märket Islet on the border of Sweden/Finland.”

Soon after we received a happy answer from the same girl:

– Oh how nice! It comes from Väddö outside Stockholm.

Today, we shall add our names and telephone numbers with the original message from Vaddö, and put both in the same Coke bottle to explore new corners of the world. Maybe the story continues from MÄRKET and anyone finding the bottle contacts us later this summer or next.

Report all included numbers and KEEP SENDING THIS BOTTLE FURTHER. DO NOT FORGET YOUR STORY AND ADD YOUR CONTACT INFO!

——-

Thick mist covers Märket lighthouse today afternoon. One could say that the mist really moves scenery closer to you. At least you do not have to look so far! No problem as working man may use his reading glasses when painting the hoist crane on the 2nd floor passage. Perhaps you should also wear eye classes, especially if you can not see the men at work.

New groomed garden furniture move hastily back where they belong, to Märket Terrace, which also has been given new oil treatment. How nice it is to spend an evening sitting there and watching a brilliantly colourful sunset. Red wine and groovy jazz in background. Yeah, very nice, for sure! Better even if you would not need to wear winter gear to protect yourself from the cold northerly winds.

This week development on Märket reminds us of Thailand tsunami. Back in 2006 we all saw in TV (I hope) how the sea suddenly withdrew leaving those early bird tourists on the beach far away from escaping shoreline. Some of them run after the escaping water, soon to return as huge wave and disastrous consequences to all.

Is the same happening in Märket too? Maybe not, but here also the shoreline is continuously moving further as sea level has been dropping every day. The boat bay and our ”well” is less than 50 cm deep. New well is under construction as the plastic bucket used for lifting the water is being moved to a deeper spot. It would be nice to have sea level back to normal, but not with the same costs as in Thailand.

Monday 20.5.2013

In Märket morning does not begin with M. It begins with MIST, which stays all day.

Damp weather means that work moves inside the lighthouse. Fixing window frames on both floors. Scraping on the first and attaching new panels on the second fill part of our day.

Food cellar is hardly affected by the thick and wet mist outside. Its microclimate is misty & damp all year. Anyway it is psychologically easier to go down there to clean the shelves when weather outside and inside are the same.

Scarce green things in Märket islet are mostly bunch of weed. All of them weep in the morning mist just like this one.

Tuesday 21.5.2013

A flock of small grey (harmaasieppo, Muscicapa striata) birds landed on Märket in today. They indeed have plenty of space on the cliffs, as most of the other small birds utilized last night’s calm and good visibility and took off towards mainland.

Spider occupied a hole on the newly painted staircase. This spider species represents the largest in Finland. It does bite too. His cousins, Warehouse spider, (Kellarihämähäkki) live in lighthouse basement in large numbers. If you need to go down there, go ahead, but be careful!

Living and Dead – Lutikat (Hemiptera sp.)

Army of shield bugs invaded Märket north shore due to mist, that forced them to land on the sea. Only few of these smelly creatures survived to Märket cliffs alive. Wonder if any birds would ever eat them?

Rain & storm water pools form a habitat for most of the vegetation a visitor can find on Märket. Pool bottoms are covered with green algae that in this picture do what they are best at, producing oxygen in visible bubbles.

16 of calidris minutas seen on Märket were hungry and fearless as they kept feeding on bugs in the cracks of wet rocks. Birds did not mind photographers presence at all.

Wednesday 22.5.2013

Rising sun casts colourful rays on lighthouse walls. White parts of the wall turn yellowish and which makes the building to look like a big Spanish flag. Or did we paint it on our spare time?

White flower becomes the grey concrete it grows on.

Paint storage shelves got a lift up and now the buckets and cans stay in good order without danger of dropping.

Today we got some rain that froze on the film. This is a real freeze-frame!

A map of Finnish lighthouses is now hanging on the dining room wall for the summer guests to study.

This is what the weather has been all week 21 here. Without warm sun neither bathing nor swimming for an average Joe or Jane.

Thursday 22.5.2013

This week daily humidity plot-chart is flat and even like a dead man’s heart rate.

Spiders collect diamonds & pearls in the morning rain.

Märket islet wears same brown clothes 8 months a year. She certainly does not have nor like any green to protect herself from the weather.

Water skipping bug (gerridae) is designed for surface without fear of drowning. The same does not apply to shield bugs.

A large flock of barnacle geese landed on Märket east end at 7 o’clock in the morning. 64 birds stayed with us 3 hours waiting for the mist to disappear.

Friday 24.5.2013

63 barnacle geese left as many piles of land improvement material. One chose to leave a feather to clean the rocks with.

Marine of some nation sails fast at sea on the Swedish territory. One vessel chasing the other. This one was on lead. Both of the vessels were really high speeding. According to our questimate this Sea-to-Air missiles carrying ship had at least 30 knots. The one chasing her was more modern, and designed not show on radar. Their after waves hit Märket 30 minutes after they passed us. Ships did not have AIS on.

One hour after the war ships had disappeared behind horizon, a thick wall of fog approached from Sweden soon to cover Märket from brilliant sunshine of the morning.

Finally we found some green things on the islet

In the end of the week 21, this rocky place pushes yellow dandelions out of its guts. We thinks that it wants to say: Thank you and welcome again!

Eljas, Ari and Mirja

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