170710 Changing of the crew -day on Märket

 

We arrived at Märket in the morning, welcomed by a beautiful sunshine, and the old crew, who, shortly after we arrived, entertained us with some original self-made tunes. They also made us a cup of coffee and some fresh-baked buns, which was nice after the long and mainly sleepless trip from the mainland.

So, there is now eight members guarding the lighthouse, including Marcus, who is the only one to stay from last week. On top of that we have a very sympathetic animal member, Pertsu (real name PR) the dog. She sniffs around the island wearing an orange lifevest and looking cute.

After a short while of wandering around and exploring the island, we went straight to work. There was of course some food needed, so Jari made us some tasty (after adding a few spices) vegan food. We also got a lesson about guiding the tourists and all the basic routines. This was good because it didn´t take long after we had our first guests!

Even though the wind had got a bit harder during the afternoon, we saw a motor boat coming closer, and then they decided to land. Three Swedish men, Jakob, Gustav and Kalle had came from Grissleham just to drop by.

A moment later other guests from Pyhäranta, a dad ang his three daughters, arrived from Mariehamn with a sailing boat. For a while the landing looked a bit dangerous because of the rocky waves, but two of the visitors had been here before and they knew what they were doing.

This was indeed a day full of memories for our visitors, because when we arrived in the morning, we also had two of Märket´s old guards with us, Iiris and Merja from Rauma. The visited the lighthouse quickly and returned shortly after with the same connection boat.

So, even though the plan was NOT to work today already, this has been quite a busy day, and as I´m writing, there is a strong sound of working noises coming from outside. And it´s not a tape recorder. Tonight´s plan is to maybe grill, to chill, and hopefully, hear some singing of the seals to guide us to sleep.

By the way, for your information, it is now possible to send greetings and questions etc. to our email-adress: market.lighthouse a majakkaseura.fi.

Feel free to drop us a few lines!

Jake L-O

 

180710 A big group of paddlers visiting

 

We all woke up feeling satisfied – it had been our first night here and everybody slept like a baby. That´s what the fresh sea air does to a city person.

Once we had enjoyed our morning porridge and coffee and headed downstears, we found Jari there, handing out tools. There was so much work to be done, and so little time! For example somebody got the task to drill concrete to pieces, some others seamed the storage building’s foundation. Personally I got to make some seaming tools out of tin plate, which was actually quite interesting.

To a person who usually works all day with computers, it feels nice to make something with your own hands for a change, and see the result in front of you (even if it sometimes takes a bit of cursing to get done =).

We nowadays have a saying here in Finland: “Ei mennyt niinkuin Strömsössä”. It basically means that when somebody tries to do things by hand, everything doesn´t work out quite according to plans. Today I can say, however, it did!

So we got a lot of work done, but otherwise the day was quite quiet. Though we did have one big group of paddlers from Tampere, staying a while and taking the Märket sightseeing tour.

Because we are surrounded by the sea, and we are Finnish, it usually means that something has to be said about the weather. So I won´t dissapoint you. Weather here is now sunny and calm, the wind meter barely moves, and a popular evening task would seem to be swimming in the lagoon. Followed by another good night´s sleep, I hope.

Let me remind you of our email-adress: market.lighthouse a majakkaseura.fi. All kinds of questions and greetings are welcome!

Laura and the rest of the new gang

 

190710 Every foundation needs a little seaming from time to tome

 

As we woke up, the sun was shining brightly again, so some outdoor work had to be done. And because we had a big pile of wood in your backyard, first task was to make some fire wood. Jari took the motor saw and cut some big tree trunks to pieces. After that Laura and Kirsi helped to carry them to the front yard, and finally Jake swinged the ax like a real viking.

Next it was time for some foundation seaming again. Around the lighthouse there´s a long stone wall that needs repairing. The bricks are in good condition, but the seams have to be protected better from the humid winds and waves, that especially in winter can sweep over the island. And freezing water can make damage between the stones.

First, Kristiina no:1 (we have two Kristina´s here this week) got the task to mix the seaming plaster. Because of the heat, it was very demanding work to handle the heavy mixer, and it took a little time to find the right amount of indegredients. In the end, the mixture was however perfect.

Then, we needed some more spreading tools, so yours truly took the task and used a bit of hammering skills (?) again. All tools were needed. At best, there were six of us at the same time, trying to stick the seaming paste between the stones in the wall. At times, the heat was exhausting, but a quick dip to the lagoon cooled nicely. Our dog member, Pertsu, agreed with this.

All the time we were hoping to have some guests, but only some lonely cargo ships passed by in the horizon. At lunch-time we tried to allure some boaters with delicious-smelling Finnish food, and that finally did the trick! A family from Helsinki landed the island and they were pleasantly surprised to find out that they can visit the lighthouse. Jake was the man for the tour guide´s job this time.

Now we have even more guests. Eight paddlers have landed our shore and they´re gonna spend the night in a tent on the cliffs. Sounds like a good plan to me.

The rest of us are planning an outdoor sauna for the evening. We haven´t ever tried one before, so it´s gonna be interesting..

Krisse (Kristiina no:2)

 

200710 Lonely lighthouse is waiting for guests

 

Yesterday evening was memorable. Jake heated up the outdoor sauna, which basically is just a spreaded tent fabric between the rocks, supported by some wood pilars. First, it was the girls´ turn. There were four of us who crammed in at the same time, and yes, it was a bit crowded. However, we didn´t break the old Märket record, which is five people. Of course we dipped ourselves into the sea also. After us girls Jake was able to enjoy the sauna in solitude, and finally our guest paddlers, who were tenting on the beach, had the final turn.

The paddlers left to the sea early this morning, hopefully well rested, leaving us alone again. It was time to get to work. We had still a lot of unfinished wall space left from yesterday, so the task was familiar: making the seaming plaster and spreading it to the seams on the foundation wall. Furthermore, Jake and Jari had some welding to do, and Marcus was cleaning and painting the roof terrace.

It was hot. The sun burned our bare skin, and we were almost hoping that the rain clouds that were lurking in the horizon would have come closer, and that we´d get a proper summer storm! Actually this thought has been on our minds for days. It would be exciting to see the waves crashing powerfully on the rocks and hear the wind howl in the corners, just like it does in the very best crime novels. Some of us had an idea that we could dance a storm dance in the evening. We´ll see…

The clouds are still in the horizon however, and it seems that the evening is gonna be just as calm and sunny as the day. Perfect sailing weather indeed. That´s why it makes you wonder, how come we hadn´t had ANY guests today! No sailing boats, no motor boats, no paddlers.. no Flying Dutchman, no Kon Tiki, no Jack Sparrow even.

Actually, to tell you the truth, it`s getting pretty lonely out here. OK, there´s eight of us, but it´s a big island. =) If we had a volley ball, we´d propably talk to it, like Tom Hanks did in that movie about deserted island. What we DO have, however, is a lighthouse gnome. He suddenly put his head through the window downstairs and greeted us with a happy smile on his face (you can see him in the photo, I hope). Usually he lives deep in the basement because he´s quite shy, after all, he was alone in the island for many many years, before the first lighthouse keepers and builders came here.

So the gnome kept us a little company, but anyhow, for all the boaters out there we say: Big Welcome! And actually one thing more: If anyone is willing and able to donate a map (navigational chart) about the Märket area (preferably newer than from the year 1974), we would be more than happy to get one!!

And while you´ve read it, we would need some other things as well: potatos from Åland, fresh fish for dinner and some cream to be whipped.

A BIT LATER: YAY! We finally did have guests today! One motor boat anchored nearby and a couple visited the island. But that´s tomorrow´s story. So thank you for reading, see you tomorrow!

 

210710 Guests and more guests

 

Like we hoped yesterday, there´s now been a lot of traffic at the lighthouse. Yesterday we saw a boat coming closer. Finally! Some company! Along that boat came two people from Pori and they anchored at the buoy, which gave us a good opportunity to practice the use of the small motor boat that we have on the shore. Some of us got so excited about boating that we decided to take the other boat that we have, the rowing boat, and go for a little spin. That was good fun.

In the evening we found yet another way to amuse ourselwes, card games (I won). Today we knew in advance that we were gonna have two loads of guests. The first load came with Bengt in the morning, a finnish family and a group of people from Åland. Jake and Marcus took them for the lighthouse tour, Jake in Finnish and Marcus in Swedish. Afterwards the guests had coffee and some bisquits and they got a chance to wander along the island by themselves.

The weather was again great, sunny and warm. (On yesterday´s blog we did ask for some stormy weather, but all we got was a little bit of rain during the night. We are still waiting. Now it actually looks promising outside, because the waves have become a lot bigger than an hour ago and the wind gets stronger every minute.)

Even though there were guests, we still kept on working on the foundation wall. It´s starting to look great, as the other side is now almost ready. Some of us have to work on scaffoldings, because the ground is uneven on the backside of the wall.

Because of that, acrobatic skills are sometimes needed to find a good working posture.

We are still waiting for Bengt to bring our other guest load of the day. We know that at least some reporters are arriving from Ålandstidningen, so we better go get ready for a close-up. =)

Until tomorrow!

 

220710 Living on weather’s rules

 

Every day is like a whole life, they say. That´s exactly how it is here on our island. During the day you can have all the weather conditions that are possible, and at the same time, you might go through all the emotions that are possible as well.

Yesterday´s weather was just like that. In the morning there was sunshine, but in the evening when our other load of guests was supposed to arrive, the wind got suddenly so hard that no boats could land the island. So, the reporters from Ålandstidningen and all the others were stuck in the mainland. That also meant that we could´t get any of the supplies that we´d ask for, for example some butter and jam. What a shame! However, because of the hard wind, the waves looked magnificent, and during the evening you could see people wandering along the shores alone, taking pictures and enjoying the scenery. Who knows what each on them were thinking.

The windy night was also perfect for a movie, so we put up a little theatre in the kitchen, and watched a film about the first summer at Märket 2007. It was interesting to see all the familiar places as they were then, before things started happening.

During the night it rained, and in the morning little ponds were covering the island. Still no proper storm that we´ve hoped for, by the way! I mean a REAL storm, where waves cover the island, not ponds.

Well, we got to work as usual, even though the weather still looked a bit unpredictable. And yes, seaming the foundation was again in the program. The job has come along well, but the rest of the wall is little tricky, because the holes between the bricks are a lot bigger there. Therefore we have to fill bigger holes with stones.

In the wall there is one brick that has writing on it: “Asessor F. Granholm, 1887”. It has to be a very important brick, we thought, so there was kind of a competition about who gets fo fill the seams around it. In the end, I think we all did.

Today there was also a new interesting task with the flooring of one the rooms in the first floor. Kristina made a balancing equipment, a goog old fashioned one, using a plastic tube with water inside it. I hope you can see it in the picture.

These tasks were not interrupted by guests, because there weren´t any, even though the wind would now allow it. We saw a lonely sailing boat though, it was circling near us, but passed us in the end (they propably had binoculars and saw that the jam was out).

Propably beacause we didn´t have any guests to cheer us up, in the evening a hovering tiredness surrounded everybody. Even the Majakkaseura-flag seemed exhausted. Maybe there is thunder in the air, that would explain it. Despite of the tired feeling, some of us are still working, and the rest will propably get some energy later, because we decided to do some yoga on the rocks, and heat up the tent sauna afterwards. That´s our way to celebrate Märket, 125 years old this month. Hurray!

We only have this evening and tomorrow here. Then it´s time to pass the torch to the next crew, if the weather allows it. Eagerly we are waiting how it will turn out! =)

 

230710 Wind howls and the lighthouse awaits

 

We have to start by saying that we have reached a new era at Märket. This blog is coming straight from the lighthouse to the web, no middlemen! But of course we have our own official supervisor, Pertsu the dog. =)

This is our last day at Märket. Probably so, because it has been very windy, almost stormy (even 14 m/s in the gusts). We don´t know yet if the boat is able to pick us up tomorrow or not. But anyways, there´s now some packing and cleaning going on, and our food has been mainly leftovers today. But some delicious leftovers, I might add.

The waves have been even more magnificent than yesterday, and you could believe that there´s someone as famous as Madonna visiting the island, because cameras are flashing. We can also finally believe that these truly are the stormiest areas in Finland.

And because this is, probably, our last day, we have been especially hardworking. We couldn´t work on the wall on the ocean´s side because of the crashing waves, so we moved to the inner side. It was unbelievable, but where there was shelter from the wind, it was actually warm enough to work with just a t-shirt on.

Jari has also been as hardworking as he usually is. He made a fine gate to the lighthouse´s doorway, to make the lighthouse an even safer place. For the same reason, Marcus made a safety string to the second floor´s banister.

A little bit of damage also happened. The tent sauna´s fabric is now gone, because we put it in a “safe place” to hide it from the storm. Then it got hit by some welding sparks and burned to pieces. But no harm done, let´s just decide that it was a gift to the weather gods, so that we can get home on time, and so that the eager new crew can arrive here tomorrow.

By the way, one correction has to be made. On our blog we mentioned earlier that the Märket record is five people in the tent sauna, at the same time. We now have some new information: The paddlers from Tampere, who were here a couple of days ago, had six people in the sauna at the same time! Congratulations! You made some history! =)

We have now given our all to this island.

We say goodbye to you with a few words by Tove Jansson.

“Så gick det lilla knyttet ner till stranden han lade vackra stenar i sin hatt och tänkte, o så skönt att jag kom hit”

-Märket crew