190708 Windy Arrival Day
Seven new excited lighthouse keepers arrived on Märket before noon and met five happy and energetic women and two cute dogs. To Päivi, Jake, Satu, Angela and Esa Märket was a familiar place, but Raija and Aura were just staring at the magnificent Märket eyes wide open and listening Marika’s wonderful last guided tour together with some tourists.
Together with the new keepers came Untamo Eerola with his professional looking cameras and equipments. His intentions were to shoot the active lighthouse enthusiastics doing renovation work, for example with the beautiful old windows. Untamo also shooted Satu telling Aura and Raija interesting stories about Märket’s history. Hopefully we’ll see the ready film soon!
While Aura and Raija were familiarizing themselves with the everyday life on Märket, the others were already working hard with the windows and especially with the new tin roof of the boat house – we had some very hard professionals working on the roof. Even now, at half past nine in the evening, we can still hear some banging from outside.
Märket has probably put a spell on the professionals as well and they do not dare to leave…
Best wishes from the new brave seven!
Satu, Raija, Angela, Aura, Päivi, Jake and Esa
200708 Sunny Sunday
The whole day was absolutely gorgeous, the sun was shining and light south-eastern winds were blowing. After the morning swim (with Aura’s eyes still closed) we saw the shiny red boat shed tin roof, which was now ready. The brave men finished it during the late hours of Saturday evening. Wow what a roof!
After breakfast we were very eager to start working and soon the window project was going on. Some amazing painting devices were invented – Satu seems to have some real engineering spirit in her! Untamo was shooting us again while we were working and also during Raija’s delicious cabbage soup lunch – how lucky we are having so many great cooks here!
After the lunch we were working hard until Grandberg’s boat arrived with several visitors, also two adorable girls who were very happy visiting Märket’s every corner. The other one even said she found a new room from the third floor…it must be the place where the Märket ghost lives…
But now it is time for a night swim, hopefully water is as warm as it was in the morning.
Best wishes from the brave seven lighthouse keepers
210708 Paddlers and Windows
The paddlers who arrived late last night continued their journey this morning. Two of them visited Märket also last summer at the same time in July. They overnighted in the Swedish side of the reef and were going to carry on to Åland archipelago. The day also brought two other paddlers who came from Signilskär and continued to Eckerö.
Märket was also visited by quite a few sailing boats today! First we had Swedish visitors who stopped by on their way to Turku archipelago and then a Finnish couple on their way to Maarianhamina.
Some of the window frames have been repaired: the dilapitated parts have been changed and the first frames got the original red paint. The work continues tomorrow and the day after and the day after and the day after…
A beautiful old Viking sailing boat passed by the reef in the morning. Unfortunately they didn’t came ashore, but we welcome them to visit next time!
Good night from Märket, till tomorrow!
220708 A Windy Day with A Small Visitor
We are sitting on the rocks having evening tea and enjoying the beautiful sunshine and the powerful wind. The day started with the wind and it was unlikely that we would have any visitors. One boat was reaching us but came into second thoughts because of the strong wind.
The window project carried on with Sikaflex insulation and some more glass fittings. Aura acted as the Sikaflex test person and found out that the material really is suitable for keeping the dampness out. The old tin roof parts were removed from the south-west side and are now waiting to be transported to Åland.
Finally we did have a visitor! A beautiful red Loxia (pikkukäpylintu) arrived to the reef. She was probably lost since her kind of birds are common in pine forests. There’s hardly any here!
This is all from Märket tonight.
With windy greetings
Angela, Aura, Esa, Jake, Päivi, Raija & Satu
230708 A Lonely Rider
We have had the most pleasent day with light winds and sunshine. We took advantage of the weather and swam in our private pool after lunch – swimming three times per day keeps the mind fresh and clear!
Strangely we had only one boat visiting us today. Time Out, a big sailing boat from Pietarsaari, stayed first in the reef, but as the wind was so light it was safer to change the reef to the anchor.
Between eating and guiding the window project proceeded smoothly. Jake showed great courage when scraping the window frames of the room in the third floor. And Angela was already painting the outer frames in one of the second floor rooms! The base paint is white but the final colour will be red-brown.
Today’s nature moment was when a lonely seal came to say hello, first to Satu and Angela and then to everybody after our dinner outside in the evening sun. The seal was absolutely adorable, big, curious and perhaps a bit clumsy – it had some challenges trying to get out from the sea on the rock…
But now it is time for some yoga, at least Satu and Aura will do some moves in the sunset!
Best wishes from Märket
The Brave Seven
240708 Visitors with Two And Four Legs
Haloo from Märket! Today has been busy with many ways; there has been a lot of traffic on the sea, in the air and on the reef.
On the reef the same old window project continued with many different work stages. The wooden window frames have been repaired, the glasses have been cut and fitted and we have applied putty, base paint and the metal fittings. Some of the outer windows have already been painted once with red paint and are now in place and waiting for the final paint which will be applied next summer. The window repairs take quite a long time but the work is rewarding!
Today Märket got a rush of visitors! From Åland, Finland and Sweden. All of them were impressed by the lighthouse, the repair work and the fine weather. Our four-legged visitor was a Swedish-speaking dog. The two-legged visitor was a tiny wagtail, sitting at the lighthouse window sil. Finally it flew away to find some food. Märket has so many birds that the air is full of activity.
Last night we also met another four-legged friend: the reef frog. It said goodnight to us at midnight and jumped away under the boat.
It has been a great, busy and hot day. Surprisingly there was time to have lunch before the visitors arrived! When they left, we had a refreshing afternoon swim and then carried on working. In the evening a real archipelago supper was waiting for us with new potatoes, herring, Åland’s black bread and salad, with self made fresh doughnuts for dessert.
Warm greetings from Märket
AAEJPRS
250708 Open Doors and Windows
Last night we decided to overnight outdoors on the rock. Finally only Aura and Raija were brave enough to do that. Nevertheless, also the rest of us set our alarmclocks for 3 am and got up to see the most beautiful sunrise.
Today was the last day of work at the reef for our carpenter. His opinion is that the windows really were in bad condition and it was the last moment to repair them. Hopefully the new ones will last at least another 50 years. It means that they need regular maintenance. Our carpenter’s last comment was that this week has definitely been totally different when compared to an ordinary week on land.
The sunny and warm weather brought masses of visitors. We had visitors from Åland, Sweden and Finland. One group had a lovely tiny dog called Princess Märtha Louise.
Quite a few visitors seem to have an earlier connection to Märket. Yesterday one of the ladies told us that her father had been working at the lighthouse and today two visitors -father and son – told that they are related to the same lady and therefore also related to the same lighthouse keeper! (You should hear the conversation we’ve been having about the family connections between these people…). The father of the lady had been painting the lighthouse in the 1980’s, too.
The hot weather brought also the algae. Most of the western and northern sides of the reef but the southern and eastern sides are still clear. We were lucky to still have our afternoon swim!
Goodnight from the reef!