Thankful Thursday: Lucky enough

Ah, yes, I remember that wall hanging in the keepers’ kitchen.

"If you are Lucky enough to Live in a LiGHTHOUSE 

You are Lucky Enough"

And we got to live in THIS very one! 

I love to look at the photos of this place from all the different angles, but this one is cool because it shows our bedroom windows right under the chimney.

Those two weeks were such a fun adventure! I'm grateful that we had the privilege of doing that.

I love to look back over the little snippets I wrote about our time there not as "keepers of the light" but as welcomers and hosts to the history of the place.

On this Thankful Thursday, I tear up a bit to think of my good fortune. 

May I never take such blessings for granted.

One Magic Moment

Once upon a time we worked at a lighthouse with a team of six people.

One evening Bob and I found ourselves alone in the keepers’ quarters.

Alone in the whole place and the whole lonely shoreline.

I was just reminded of that evening and of how tired we were from the day’s work.

But I was also reminded that I paid attention to the potential of a magic moment and pushed myself just enough to get down the stairs and out the door to the beach - yes, in my PJs.  What a glorious memory.

How many times do I miss magical moments?

Maybe I’m too busy

Too tired

Maybe I don’t even notice the idea

Nor pause to consider the possibility

So now, today, I am reminding myself to watch for such magic.

To pause and consider the moment - and what could maybe happen.

To provide space to welcome magic moments.

Photo credit: Bob Sims

You can read more about that PJ sunset here. 

The little pharologist

We knew that one of the things I would love about working at the lighthouse would be the chance to meet people. Interesting people. People who are travelers. People who are thinkers. People who love nature and appreciate history.

Sure enough; that was true. I completely enjoyed that aspect of the job - the chance to meet people. Fascinating people. People from all over the world really. I had not realized how far some travelers come to visit Big Sable Point. But yes, we had guests from all over America as well as from Germany, Switzerland, Britain, Brazil, Austria, Canada, Mexico... and more.

Some people are fascinating because of their travels and others because of their interests. Some are learners and some are experts. Most are very open to sharing their knowledge with those who are interested. We learned much simply by listening and asking questions.

And then there are the pharologists. Quite a few of them actually. I even learned that I am a pharologist - someone who studies or is interested in lighthouses. Yep, that would be me. And that would include people who are interested enough that they would choose to walk nearly four miles to visit. People who come back to visit time after time through the years. People who have visited lots of lighthouses - lots more lighthouses than we have. People who have lived and worked at lighthouses.

There was the "real" pharologist, the lighthouse expert. The one who gets paid to travel around and speak to groups about lighthouse history because he has studied lighthouses so extensively.

There was also the "real" lighthouse keeper, Ken, who had lived and worked at Passage Island and Rock of Ages lights in Lake Superior. And I don't mean the way we "lived and worked" at a lighthouse. I mean that he ran the lighthouse when lives depended on the light burning and the fog horn sounding. Oh, my; what fun to listen to his stories - especially some of the close calls on dark and stormy nights!

But my favorite pharologist was only three years old. When his family arrived, he immediately began telling me about lighthouses. Turns out he knows lots about them and has an unusual fascination with them. He could identify pretty much any lighthouse by its picture and pick out the different ones in our display of models. What a neat kid!

Even though like me, his parents had probably never heard the term before, they were intentionally feeding his interest in pharology and had already taken him to several other lighthouses. One can only imagine what may come of this passion so they are treating it as something serious and worthwhile. Good for them!

I had so much fun watching him study the different model lighthouses and play with the magnets. By the way, he also likes boats, too. He had great fun with the magnets of the SS Badger - and he chose the model "with the boat in it" to hold for his picture.

Without a doubt Ben was the youngest pharologist I met and quite possibly one of the most knowledgeable. And certainly the cutest! You and your family made my day, Little Ben! Thanks for visiting Big Sable Point.

...

And a little note to Ben's mom: I hope you didn't give up on me and that you did stick around long enough to find this post. If so, please leave a comment below. And thanks again for a fun day!

Life at a lighthouse

Bob writes about our time at the lighthouse and some of our duties there - the light housekeeping as well as lighthouse keeping.

Daily Tidbits: first week at the lighthouse

Day One - Tuesday, 9-15-15

• We arrived last evening and met our team members. The place is so beautiful. It's hard to imagine we have this amazing opportunity. And so it begins.
• There is WiFi at the lighthouse!!! Wahoo!!! I am downright happy about that.
• After a brief demonstration from one of the other volunteers, I worked the video room most of the morning, re-stocked the cooler, gave tours of the keepers' quarters to some possible volunteer recruits, shadowed someone closing out cash register, learned to open safe. Bob worked in the tower and at various other jobs.
• I am on a steep learning curve! Lots we need to know to be lighthouse keepers. Glad we don't have to haul oil up the tower to light the lamp. Also thankful for a great team to work with and to learn from.
• Exhausted. Feet hurt...

Day Two - Wednesday, 9-16-15

• From our bedroom window, we saw the Badger leaving the harbor on its way back across Lake Michigan to Manitowac, Wisconsin.
• I learned a bit about running the cash register. 

 

Day Three - Thursday, 9-17-15

• Field trip!!! Craziness.
• Somehow Bob and I ended up having the place to ourselves for the evening. The whole freakin' lighthouse and the whole dang beach. How bizarre! Wonderfully peaceful and quiet after having those students here all day. Well, quiet except for the wild wind and pounding surf.

Day Four - Friday, 9-18-15

• Our day off - so we visited the new grand-daughter who is one week old today.
• Stopped at the famous House of Flavors for supper. Fish is excellent.

 

Day Five - Saturday, 9-19-15

• Busy day. I worked the video room all morning, the cash register in the afternoon, and then back to the video room.

Day Six - Sunday, 9-20-15

• What an awesome view. Nine miles to the south, the Badger is heading out of the harbor and across the lake passing a row of seven sparkling white sailboats as a speed boat zips by all of them. Several fishing boats are spread across the horizon as well.
• Lots of interesting and inquisitive visitors came inside and still more lounged outside. On a quick afternoon break upstairs, I glanced out windows to the scene below. Families were sitting and/or playing in clusters on the beach. People strolled along the boardwalks and hiked into the surrounding dunes. So lovely.
• One of my online writing friends came to visit today. It was our first chance to meet face-to-face after corresponding for three years. Fun times. Actually all of us on the team had friends or family visit this evening.

 

Day Seven - Monday, 9-21-15

• Another gorgeous morning - in a long string of beautiful weather. We sure picked the right time of year to be here!
• An interesting day. First visitors were from London, UK, and later some from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Then a keeper from Passage Island and Rock of Ages in Lake Superior. What fun to chat with him.
• It was 2 o'clock before I even knew it - and before I had chance for a break.
• I feel like I'm beginning to understand the process of closing out the cash register. We were one penny off.
• State park ranger, fire and rescue paramedics, and ambulance all showed up in our yard responding to a medical emergency call during the evening. Turns out all is well.
• Finished out our first week with a campfire out on the dunes.

Photo credit: Bob Sims at Where the Robert meets the road.

PJ sunset on the beach

Turns out everybody else on the team had plans for the evening - and we have the place to ourselves. How weird. And how fun!

And that after talking all day to the TWELVE groups of students about what it must have been like to live in a lighthouse. How isolated and remote.

So here we are...

Kinda' fun.

At first all I wanted to do was to sit and relax after a long and exhausting day of work. I didn't want to think about anything. I didn't want to have to figure anything out or solve any dilemmas. I was so tired I barely wanted to eat - and that doesn't happen often. I didn't want to get up and move. I just wanted to get off my feet and do nothing.

I sat gazing out the window. I began marveling at the lonely desolate beauty. At the wonder of it all. How stupendously amazing this is. That we get to live out here in this 15-room house "under the light" as they say in our historical video. And that we even get to have the big old place to ourselves for a few hours. Now 'tis true that we work hard for the privilege. But most of it is fun work - or at least quite interesting.

Here's the deal. I really, really like living where I can hear the waves crashing below our window. And what do you know? Here we are.

Of course, I also love living where I can walk on the beach every day. Unfortunately that part isn't working out so well - partly because the beach is not really walkable here and partly because I have been too busy and too exhausted.

But hey, even as worn out as I am, I can at least go out and sit on a bench for a bit - except that I already put my jammies on. Oh, well; I can go anyway. And so I did.

What a great idea. Wandering on the beach in PJs and enjoying the sunset - just because I can.
 

A big thank you to my photographer hubby
for documenting our time here and our life of adventure.

Lighthouse keepers in training

We are training to be lighthouse keepers this fall at Big Sable Point Lighthouse just north of Ludington, Michigan.

We met other volunteers and got our first tour of the keepers' quarters where we will be staying.

 This will be our room... with the double windows directly below the chimney in the following photo.