Working Ensemble
It was soothing for me to be out there with a group of women trustees and friends who had been out before and notice everything, and who were unquestionably willing to add seemingly superfluous, but nonetheless encouraging, touches.
Nan and Leslie put a coat of paint on the watch gallery walls—they’d both already worked hard on the ceiling. The day had to be short because of the tide, but they had time to use up the last of the paint on the brick around the windows in the stairwell before we left. Meg and I had spent a good deal of it scraping and sweeping the stairwell walls, so to have that touch up, that glimpse of how it will look when it all painted, was blessed. I’m so glad I took pictures.
Nan inspired the stairwell work; I dreaded it. But the brick was pretty easy to clean, and Meg and I couldn’t reach all of the ceilings even with brooms, but with the help of someone who can build a scaffold in a rounded stairwell, we can get up there. It would be great not to have to do ceilings, but we do. I keep thinking “spray paint,” “power rollers,” “tall people.”
Steve came out for about a half-hour, while the launch waited, to check out the back wall in the kitchen. He hadn’t been there since 2010. A lighthouse surrounded by water is like a ship, and he has all that expertise. I’m sure if he had $1 million he’d send out a crew to knock out things like the stairwell and the cellar. But he doesn’t, and he respects and understands the scope of the Crew. I’m glad we keep the place tight and tidy in case “someone important” comes along.
We went out in a lovely fog that burned off, but the walls were still damp when we left. It will be good to seal the opening in the kitchen wall; Steve will help. The big rock was emerging from the beach, or we would have stayed longer. For some reason I tossed my lifejacket down to the deck of the Nicholas, and missed, and it landed in the drink. Not cool. Fortunately Rob retrieved it, or Teresa would have killed me.
Lighthouse Log Book is a series of stream of consciousness writings by Executive Director Erin Urban after each Crew date at Robbins Reef. It’s informal and meant to impart a sense of the energy of the volunteers and the work they accomplish in regular seven-hour workdays to Robbins Reef Lighthouse.