Saturday 28.5.2016

Saturday morning looked nice and calm in Eckerö but in the boat Mats told us that the wind was too strong at sea and that´s why we would have to land with rubber boat. And that was really the case when we arrived at Märket. Aarni came to fetch us one by one from the boat.

We landed at the danger zone – near the place were dozens of terns are nesting. They defended their nests angrily and all of us got attacked. Minna managed to get a selfie with one tern.

After last weeks crew had left us, we winched the runner boat up and covered it. We decided that we would train how to use the rubber boat within the next week.

All three of us are extremely happy to be at Märket once again. We settled down in the lighthouse and enjoyed sunny weather. We took a walking tour around the islet and reminded us all the things that we know about Märket’s history, so we can tell those stories to tourists.

Especially Irma and Minna are eager knitters, they knitted all the way from Finland to Åland and continued to do needlework also in Märket. Irma found nice sunny and sheltered place to do her handwork.

Sunday 29.5.2016

Sun has played hide and seek with us whole Sunday and we haven´t found it at all. The weather has been moistand chilly, but fortunately no rain.

Even though the day was not very sunny and warm, one of us was brave enough and took a morning swim.

The lighthouse is still quite damp and we have been warming fireplaces. For some reason there have been lots of smoke inside – now we know that smoke detectors are working flawlessly.

Tourist season is going to start, we are preparing Märket for this. Safety is extremely important here, and as a part of good security we have updated material safety data sheets.

We have done various chores through the day, many of those are repeated every day, like washing dishes. It is important for us to schedule next days, because we have jobs ahead those we have not done before – we haven´t even known that such ones exist. We have watched YouTube-videos and studies how Willa grey water filter works – that is what we have to deal tomorrow.

Today Riikka washed also our old fridge that will be returned to mainland, because we have now new modern fridge here.

Birds are very close us because terns are nesting right now here. Today we have spotted other birds. None of us is very good at recognizing birds, so we have been using quite a lot internet and bird books today. There were two strange-looking big birds at the edge of the islet, and after a few hours pondering we decided that they were great black-backed gulls.

Good food, better spirit. Our chef Minna has made her magic in the kitchen. She has so many food ideas, that we can never be sure what we are going to eat, when we sit down round the table. Everything has been very tasty.

Good night from Märket!

Monday 30.5.2016

Early in the morning sun was already high up in the sky – it must have taken notice that yesterdays hiding wasn´t so nice. Bird were flying high above us.

After lunch we emptied all food from the kitchen and moved it to the second floor. After that we covered carefully all kitchen surfaces plus oven and fridge. We had to make creative solutions in order to get all tarpaulins to stay put. Then we scratched rust of the roof beams.

This job proceeded very slowly because the working position was very tricky and uncomfortble.

Today was important day because we warmed sauna for the first time. But first Irma washed it, so we could enjoy nice clean ”löylyt”. And we really needed that after all that rust we scratched from the kitchen ceiling. Today Irma has taken care of our cleanliness, because she has been doing also our dishes. Washing dishes is the job that causes most ”dispute” here because we all like to do that. It is so calming and relaxing thing to do when a magnificent scenery opens up in front of you. It is only you and the dishes.

Time flies here. Every day routines take suprisingly much time because you have to inhale surrounding nature with your every cell and also enjoy every moment here.

Here we charge our batteries:

Tuesday 31.3.2016

We have heard that there is a heat wave back in the mainland. Well, we may not have heat wave here, but nevertheless the day has been sunny and warm.

Insects have arrived to Märket, they came in big clouds as if they would have some kind of get-together here. Birds must be happy to have so much food in the air. Even we got our daily dose of insect food when those small dots flied straight to our mouths.

Insects are not the only visitors we had today; three fisherman came ashore. First Minna held a guided tour for them. They were very interested about Märket and its history. After the tour guests had some coffee with us. One of them even took a swim.

Today we have worked with a little bit unpleasant things; first we emptied another of our toilets and after that we cleaned our grey water filters grid which was quite dirty.

We also continued working with kitchen roof.

Wednesday 1.6.2016

What a surprise! Irma woke up this morning first and when she went outside, she bumped into a canoeist who had landed Märket straight after sunrise. She had paddled from Signiskär. Ingrid was on her way from Turku, Finland to Stockholm, Sweden. She was very interested about our voluntary work here and was even ready to help us with our painting. After few hours Ingrid decided to continue her trip, because weather was favorable for canoeing. Her next destination was Swedish light house Understen.

We have here yet another smelly problem; our compost doesn´t work properly. We have fed and poked it but it wont warmup enough. We´ll continue working with our green companion and are determined that we will solve this eco-riddle.

The kitchen roof is getting white; we have painted it today. This project has demanded us time, good balance and accuracy.

We have also had time to enjoy sun and warm weather. Sunbathing was also on our to-do-list today. And of course one of our ongoing themes every day is to take as much photos as we possibly can – we all take hundreds of photos during our stay here. Photos capture just small amount of experiences and atmosphere but they help us remember these magnificent moments that we spend here.

Thursday 2.6.2016

That amazing feeling you have, when you can fall asleep watching sunset and wake up to see sunrise – from the one and same spot. That is what we experienced last night, sleeping on the rocks of Märket. Because there are none landscape obstacles, you don´t have to move to see night changing to morning.

Night passed peacefully, but both Minna and Riikka got bitten during the night, Riikka has got a big bump on her forehead and Minna has sore bump on top of her head. Minna might have been waiting to see an ghost of a sailor, which would have transformed into a prince of her daydreams but nothing like that happened.

In the morning we started to clean up the kitchen, after having finished the painting of the roof previous day. We were very proud of what we had achieved during this week with the kitchen roof.

As we told yesterday. we have had problems with our composter. Today our work was rewarded and the temperature finally rose quite a bit. Now we keep on cherishing composter, so we can pass it over to next week’s volunteers in a good and warm condition.

In the afternoon we had both exciting and scary experience when we took our rubber boat for a ride. Neither Irma nor Riikka had ever ride it, but Minna had some experience of it. We meant to train to launch the boat and to start the outboard motor. We had few problems, but fortunately we had one patient Märket-colleague who answered all our questions and finally everything worked alright. We drove the boat around Märket and felt like winners after this rehearsal. Now we are ready, in case we have to pick up next week’s volunteers with rubber boat.

Friday 3.6.2016

Today we have put things in order and placed for example all painting gear and tarpaulins into the storage to wait for the next user. Little by little our week here will be packed off.

We suspect that a couple of black guillemots has made their nest on the foundation of our sauna. They have probably brought some food to us also; Minna found this little fish from our yard today.

We have followed closely weather forecasts, because it seems that wind will rise on Saturday morning. And in the afternoon we were informed that we won’t be able to leave Märket tomorrow; let´s see how wind blows on Sunday. Today we have been enjoying sunny and quite calm day.

Even though we originally decided to warm sauna on our last evening here, we didn´t postpone it to tomorrow; sauna is now warming up and we all are going to take a swim, too – some of us for the first time ever in Märket.

Saturday 4.6.2016

Saturday at Märket: Irma did some laundry today. Wet towels dried quickly in a windy and sunny weather.

We have been gazing off to the horizon wondering, when we are going to leave Märket. Even though it is great to be here, our minds are already partly on the mainland.

At the evenings knitting needles have been clinking here like blazes. We all have knitted night after night; as a result of this eager needlework several new woollen socks and other garments have seen the daylight.

Greetings from Märket and Irma, Minna and Riikka