080809 Crew Change

 

We arrived today on very lovely weather, three girls, one boy and a golden retriever Matti.

Change of the crew was fast and efficient, immediately in to the business with turists fom Åland.

After tourist tours we started to make lunch and work. Jari took care of the main door and us girls washed potatoes and made meatball sauce along with selling t-shirts to tourists.

Everybody made friends with the biotoilet and tried to adsorb all the information we have received in a short period of time.

In the afternoon we made a demo guiding tour to each other so now it should be easier to guide also turists. Some memory rules were also made, for example it is easy to remember the building year of the lighthouse when you remember a song from Eppu Normaali, Vuonna -85 so the lighthouse has been built on 1885.

Now it is time to drink the evening coffee or tee and have a good night sleep after a very exiting day.

Minna, Katja, Outi, Jari ja Matti the dog

 

090809 Sunny Sunday Again

 

Sunday started with 22 finnish tourists. Luckily we had been prepared allready for them yesterday! Everybody were eager to test their guiding skills so we devided the group in four and gave guiding tour for small groups of five people each. Jari remembered a lot of small information about Märket so we made jokes about his tour beeing more expencive than the others. Everything went well with tourists and they were extremely satisfied with the guidings and of course the weather.

After tourists Outi finished with paint what Jari started yesterday above the main door. Jari also worked hard with wooden standing racks so that it would be possible to scrape old painting of the sealing. He was so in to his job that it was hard to get him off the hammer and saw…

Märket shop got also a new look after thorough cleaning. Cupboards were quite dirty and now we also have a brand new mailbox for cards!

Cooking is fun at Mäket, today we also tested the grill which seems to be a grill for a patient cook, isn’t slow food a trend these days…?

 

100809 Busy Monday

 

Morning started with the shift change of radio amateurs and we also got a new member of the Märket team, Saana. It is exiting international atmosphere now, since three of the amateurs are from Japan.

Saana got a sort briefing of things and afterwards immediately to work as there were a lot to do today. Jari and Katja sawed and screwed so the sun terrace is probably ready at the end of this week if the weather stays as lovely as it has been so far. Minna and Saana worked with hard tools, old waste wood is now easier to burn without nails. Outi fighted against mold by treating boat sheds eaves with unmoulding liquid.

The most exiting happening of the day was by far the tv-group arrival. We had two members from YLE and they are making dokument from volunteer work here at Märket. Maybe you will see us on next week at A-Studio!

In the afternoon we got the first rain drops, sad but true. Jari slept outside last night despite of the noisy seals but sunset and -downs were extremely beautiful. We others thought to do the same thing today and see the lovely scene of the nature but since the weather is getting colder and windy we will wait for the better moment.

The day ended with pancakes, what a perfect way to make everybody happy!

 

110809 TV Tuesday

 

Yesterday evening Outi was selected as a mannequin for Märket volunteer to A-Studio. The TV-grop wanted to follow her the whole day but I think all the others are in the tv-material as well. A lot of work has been done today for instance sun terrace is getting ready in good speed. Old doors are also getting rid of their old paint and some new painting has been done too.

Japanese radio amateurs are very nice and lively men, today one of them gave us girls an exellent japanese hand massage. Unfortunately their generator broke and connections to the radio world were on pause quite some time. Luckily we have a small generator as well so the connections are now working again.

Radio amateurs and tv-people are leaving tomorrow morning so we wanted to have a group foto. Pete, the cameraman, took all our cameras and did the job with great professionalism, everybody got a fantastic group foto wit Märket on the backround.

For lunch we had Katja’s recipe from baltic herring salad. Saana and Minna got to play Jamie oliver in tv since the whole preparing process was filmed. Maybe we should think about having our own cooking show… Even though the salad looked like a cake of herring and potatoes, the taste was superb!

In the evening we have traditional card games but this time we also have tv-camera with us.

 

120809 Windy Wednesday

 

Today we got a taste of the Märket’s reality as a most stormy place in Finland. Wind was around 13-15 m/s and the waves were magnificient. North harbour is now impossible to reach and that is probably why we have not seen any tourists even though the sun is shining. Allthough wind is allready quite hard we would like to see a real storm at Märket but not on Saturday when we should be going home.

Tv-group left late at yesterday evening and radio amateurs left early this morning. So now it is just us lighthousekeepers here and we are having fun. Today is so windy that we have spend some time to admire the enormous power of nature. Also one seal was seen today, unfortunately he didn’t bring any friends with him. Maybe tomorrow we will see croud of seals!

Sun deck is getting ready all the time and it could be perfect place for serving coffee to tourists as well. Tomorrow we are actually expecting some tourists with Yvonne from Åland and because of that Saana cleaned the kitchen and staircase. Outi made an inventory to the Märket shop so now we have a precise number of t-shirts etc.

In the morning it seemed to be quite cold and moist inside of the lighthouse so Minna and Saana started a tricky warming operation. It began from upstairs heading to downstairs, biggest problem was the unbelievable good draft on the fire places so it was hard to get them burn in a slow warming fire.

Matti the golden retriever surprised us all by climbing up to the lighthouse in the afternoon. He has seen everybody going up and down and decided to try himself. The problem was to get him down…

 

130809 Tricky Thursday

 

This day started with work as usual. Sun terrace is allmost ready, some finnishing touch needed anymore. Good ending for this lighthouse keeper team. Beside the sun terrace we also scraped and scraped, old paint sticks very hard on doors!

We were expecting tourists and since the northwest wind was still quite hard it was mandatory to use south harbour. Because of that we decided to practise the rubber boat ride beforehand. Unfortunately the surf waves after south harbour were too hard to beat with the rubber boats small engine and the boat crew found themselves on the rocks far from south harbour! Luckily nobody got hurted and the boat survived also well. Took quite some time to plan how to get the boat back to its place but we managed to solve that problem as we have solved other problems too.

Tourists came in the evening and with help of Mats and Yvonne also the rubber boat ride went fine.

Saana’s experimental kitchen used magnificient salmon which we got from the nice radio amateurs yesterday. We have been eating better here than home.

 

140809 The Final Friday

 

Lilla Märket was in heavy use this morning when girs want to wash up after busy working week. Sad but true, tomorrow we have to leave from this beautiful island.

Jari made a finishing touch to the sun terrace and during the afternoon coffee we had a grand opening with some delicious “poor knights” covered with stawberry jam and whipped cream. Afterwards Jari worked with plaster in window openings inside the lighthouse so now it would be easier to fix window sills.

In the morning we planned a shopping list for Märket and for the next crew. It had different kinds of food but also some safety supplies that we should have here at the lighthouse. During the day we had still some tv action since Pekka called us with the tv cameras on. Discussions were about weather and shoppings.

Since this is our last night here and international lighthouse day is on Sunday, Saana cleaned up more thoroughly, washing floors etc. Unfortunately Sunday’s weather forecast is very windy so maybe only the new crew will enjoy the clean floors.

It has been very nice and also exiting week here at Märket. The group gets along surprisingly well and we have made new friends with the same interest of keeping these old lighthouses in shape. Sense of humour is also a thing that ties us together 🙂 There is an old Chinese saying: too good food makes bad conscience!

Thank you for everything: Minna the super reporter, Saana the master chef, Outi the reality tv-star, Jari the boy calendar model, Katja the senior skipper and Matti the dog.