310508 A new women’s shift

 

Our brave lighthouse keeper Heidi was slightly disappointed when leaving on Saturday after a week in the most stormy place in Finland without a storm experience.

Five visitors came to the island together with the new members of the lighthouse crew. We, the new crew, Asta and Diddi have been looking forward to coming back to the island again. Asta is amazed at how much has happened since last summer and Diddi is, like Heidi, hoping for stormy weather.

One of the guests brought pictures from his last visit in 1976. He remembered that the guest book he signed on his very first visit before 1976 dated back from 1855 (it was started around 1888, and the lighthouse was finished in 1885, says the webmaster…). We showed our guests around and before we knew it they were off and we were on our own.

After going through the place, deciding where to sleep and unpacking, we cleaned the grill and enjoyed a nice dinner. We decided to call it a day and to get an early start in the morning.

The northerly wind is slightly decreasing which makes the small mosquitoes gather in even larger numbers. Their sound is our constant companion. The seals are enjoying themselves some where else, hopefully they’ll join us tomorrow. Diddi is going for a last walk with Tossan and Ty (Norwegian Lundehunds).

Hoping for a good week. Märket over and out.

Seija, Asta and Diddi with Tossan and Ty

 

010608 Strong men needed…

 

Todays work has been cleaning the insulation from the basement and Seija volontered to do the dirty job. Asta and Diddi started stripping the ceiling of paint. We soon learned that it was much heavier than anticipated. Women don’t have enough muscle for this kind of job! So we sent a message ordering for some really strong men next time Ville comes around. Wonder where he will find them…

Every day tasks takes time with primitive facilities. All the food that needs storing in a cool place are stored in the basement which means we run up and down the stairs all the time. A new refrigerator running on gas in first on our wish list.

The sun is shining, the wind is south west and it is the perfect weather for small boats to land on Märket. With northerly winds it’s difficult if not impossible, but today it would be easy.

Tossan and Ty are having a great time. Todays program has been running around the island looking for the best place to hide their chewing bones, and then guarding it from the other one and constantly looking for a better hiding place.

After her awfully dusty work Seija went swimming in the rock pool. Diddi wet her feet, it is still too cold for her and Asta, with her for layers of clothes didn’t even try.

No visitors today except for the one seal in its usual place on the rocks on the south east end of the island. The south west wind has increased and by after noon it has become warm and smells of summer.

We have been taking a lot of pictures and they will be sent and published as soon as we get our new phone.

Märket over and out.

 

020608 Sad news from the continent

 

Two things taste really good at Märket, that is food and sleep. The strong SW wind has moved back to North during the night. Landing on the island today would be a really risky operation, if not impossible.

Todays task is attacking the ceiling again, and also scraping the old paint, in really thick layers, from the doorframes. We are all taking turns with the difficult heavy ceiling, but are frustrated at our lack of power, and how slow our progress is. Doing our best though.

Sending the daily report would be impossible without help, so thank you Gina for helping us. In the afternoon we had the sad message, that the vice president of the Finnish Lighthouse Society, Erkki Viljakainen, has passed away suddenly. It was specially sad as we all new how much he was looking forward to visiting Märket this summer. Later in the evening we transfered pictures to the computer, getting ready to send them later to the webmaster.

That´s all from the Märket trio (Asta, Diddi and Seija)

 

030608 Waiting for new cellular phone

 

The wind today is NE steady and very cold. The sun keeps us warm but protected from the wind there is the nuisance of small mosquitos.

Seija took her last malariapill today. We forgot to bring any! Well, the explanation is that Seija just came back from Africa. Today was almost a similar day as yesterday.

Seija continued with the the difficult and hard work with the ceiling. After finishing that she took a refreshing dip in the ”pool”. Asta and Diddi took a hot shower in our bathroom with an really good aircondition. Pictures was taken and will come eventually.

The small concrete shed protects us from todays cold wind and from the survey camera that keeps a constant eye on the traffic. Almost every ship going South or North passes between Understen and Märket lighthouses. We have a constant view of passing ships but with this strong wind we can´t hear them.

We also found a dead seal cub today. It was white and quite small. Diddi carried it back to the sea. We are waiting for the wind and sea to calm down so Ville can come out and bring us the new phone! The forecast for tomorrow is variable 2-4, and that´s perfect. While writing this report the dogs found the foodstore in the basement and chose our sausages for dinner. We will probably eat seasoup from a can tomorrow.

This is all for today. The three mermaids of Märket (Asta, Diddi and Seija)

 

040608 The isolation is coming to an end

 

All week we have had a clear blue sky, strong wind and no visitors. Today the wind has slowly decreased and the sea has almost calmed down. Now we can hear the passing ships and also the seals singing somewhere in the distance.

Today we also almost had some visitors. A Swedish sailingboat came straight towards the island, passed really close by, but didn´t stop. We tried calling them on the VHF but in vain.

After they left we remembered the big sign with our telephone number +358-40-8499333 and carried it out. We tried to remember where it was kept last year.

In the evening Ville called, telling us to be ready for a delivery boat next morning. Some building material will be shipped out. Ville also promised to bring our new phone so that sending the daily rapport will be much easier and we can finally add some pictures too. Märket over and out.

Asta, Diddi and Seija

 

050608 The big ship arrived

 

Today was the day when we got a delivery of building material for the boathouse roof. Ville came with the help, and boat, of the Finnish Maritime Administration and they had a lot of stuff with them. Before we knew what happened we were carrying everything up to the lighthouse. Ville stayed with us for a while and we showed him what we had done.

Then we got outdoor jobs for a change. First we had to assemble the shelves Ville had built and brought with him. We did so, and now the tools are better organised. When the boat came back for Ville they suggested that they could help us to put out a buoy. We had the buoy and they had the weight and the strong rope. Ville assisted them and now Märket has a buoy where small boats can be safe while the owners explore Märket. This is a real important improvement for visiting leasureboats this summer.

Tomorrow we will be busy cleaning the place and doing some odd jobs Ville have us. Expecting a lot of guests on Saturday, among them some peaple from the Swedish Lighthouse Society. We will be ready for a crowd.

Saturday is also the day we will leave Märket. Hopefully we will be too busy to think about it until the boat has taken off and Märket will become smaller and smaller. You can hear that we already miss Märket.

Nearly the final call from

Asta, Diddi and Seija

 

060608 A day of rush and tourists

 

(Notice! The photos should finally appear again on these pages starting tomorrow. Also photos from earlier days will be added on the right pages).

First boat to arrive today was former lighthouse keeper Mr. Carlberg with his assistant Mr. Eckerman. They started to work on the improvement of Carlbergs little shed above the old magazine.

Next to arrive was a bigger boat from Grisslehamn with 10 people onboard and before we knew it another boat from Eckerö arrived with 7 people from the Community office came to see and to learn about Märket in place. Everybody was really impressed and wanted to see everything.

Later another boat from Grisslehamn with 7 persons came. Also another boat from Eckerö with people from Finland came. The day passed real quickly. We have cleaned the place making everything ready for the invasion tomorrow and for our last day on Märket this time.

All of us want to come back. All of us, including Asta took a dip in the pool, but maybe she had two swimsuites! You never know. To celebrate the last evening Diddi promised to make thin pancakes. We all want to see the sunset tonight. Märket over and out!

 

Asta, Diddi and Seija