The End of the Stone Age

Whoooh - the sound of relief at last.

The rocks are back on the beach - the stone age is over and families are strolling around the Tower again at ease. Pete Spencer was the low bidder on the job of removing the stone and returning them to the ocean side beach and his crew did an amazing job. They also reset the big pieces of granite that guard the walk way. It is an impressive sight to see. Last Monday Dave Ball and I sat before the Conservation Commission and we given the permissions needed to do the work. With the weather as rainy as it has been until yesterday Pete must have been happy to work someplace that wasn't bogged down in mud. Stone was also pulled away from the runway revealing the foundation for the first time in anyone's memory. There is a small amount of rot revealed as well but nothing that can't be addressed. I am going to use the spot for a garden of some sort - I had hoped to put some flowers over there anyway and now have that much more room and reason to do so. I have this image of a bunch of sun flowers along side the Tower. Another job for April Vacation I guess.



Julie was in a conversation with some neighbors and they shared that their friend, and a regular long distance reader of this blog, has just published a book on hang gliding. Mrs. Doris Tilden was a long time Greenfield Road resident and has transplanted to Hawaii and one of the pleasure of sitting down to write here is that I have heard from her so often. I will be requesting this book on my Kindle and will post the link to it when I find it. And here it is.

I make mistakes here all the time and I have a big one to confess. The line for the flag on the Tower broke in January and I have recounted how I hooked it down and secured it. Yesterday, attempting to run a new rope up, I let go of the splice I had made and bit by bit the rope crept up the Tower. I ran. Taking stairs two at a time I attempted to get to the line from the Lantern room before it ran up to the top. I am sorry to report I did not make it up there in time. Julie reported that as she saw the flag coming down she thought, "Oh that poor man." The Fire Department will have to be called in with their ladder truck to rerope the Tower. I believe I have given this problem more thought than I ever should have. Its like a virus when I get hooked on one of these projects. Success is the only aspirin.

Gardens are beginning and the perennials are peeking through. Seedum, Hydrangea, Hosta, Sage, all are showing some color. I need to check on a gift of some Black Eyed Susans that I placed on the ocean side by the kitchen. I have seeds for Fox Glove and Lupine to put in over there as well. For Julie's vegetable garden I am promised a bunch of tomatoes my sister has started and I got seeds for beans, eggplant, squash, and cucumbers. I turned that spot over yesterday and it is looking very good. At a yard sale today I picked up a pitch fork to help meet the challenge. I do love to get out and watch stuff grow.

We have yet another media blitz to share - this week it is the family newspaper called Kidding Around that will feature our cheery mugs. We were visited by Karen Doyle who could not have been more gracious and I have seen the pictures by the great Jack Foley. You will want to go looking for this article just to see my happy kid.

In a final note before I add in one last picture, the blue and white Lighthouse sign has been restored to its place. It has been a brutal winter for it in the winds of Cedar Point and it carries a few scars as a result. The last storm knocked all four finials off it and carved a stripe in one long board from the chains used to hang it. With the help and guidance of the wonderful gentlemen who man Satuit Hardware I have placed two long bolts in the top with connecting nuts two inches down into the sign. Using turnbuckles I have connected those bolts with the eye hooks in the yard arm and so far so good. I can't fly the flag just now, but the sign is up.