Down East Lighthouse Love

Now that I'm a New England resident again, I've subscribed to Down East Magazine. It's about Maine topics, and it's "wicked good," to coin a Maine euphemism. I lived in Maine about forty years ago and have never lost my affection for the place. I'm always interested in Maine stories and history.

As part of my subscription, I have access to a number of goodies on the magazine's website. My favorite find is the magazine archives, which shows the covers all the way back to August 1954 when Down East first began publication. I wasn't surprised to find lighthouses on a number of covers, but their frequency amazed me. Down East ran a lighthouse on its cover about once a year! I captured them all from the website and have posted them here in no particular order. How many lighthouses can you identify?

Pemaquid and Portland Head lighthouses appear often. Bass Harbor Head took a few honors. So did Marshall Point Light. I love the paintings! Wouldn't it be cool to have a wall of Down East cover lighthouses??!!

Why I Almost Love Book Signings

Book signings. They sound wonderful, something anyone would love for the honor and pride that comes with them. "I've written a book, and now hordes of people have come to buy my book and get my autograph!"

Indeed, they can be wonderful. I recall one signing where I arrived at the store on a crisp September afternoon and found a line of people extending out the door. Gosh, I thought, there must an incredible sale going on, or someone famous in the adjoining art gallery. I felt odd passing all those people by and going inside. I'd be late if I didn't. 

"Excuse me.....oh sorry.....I have an appointment in the bookstore I can't miss.....so very sorry......excuse me......thank you."

It turned out the line was for me. Imagine! Me! All those people had come to buy my book and have me sign it. But....this sort of ego-booster doesn't happen very often.

There are a few misconceptions about book signings I'd like to clear up. Bear in mind, I speak from experience. My first book signing was in 1987, and I've had many since then. (Yeah, that picture of me at the top was taken quite a few years ago, when my hair wasn't yet white and I had many fewer books to my credit.) I want to dispel the myths, mostly because I think it's important for people to know that being a writer has more challenges than just the daily grind of pecking the keyboard and revising ad nauseum.

Yep, I'm smiling! This was a good one--a talk for a lighthouse group and then a signing.(That's my handsome husband in the blue shirt and tie, handling the $$.)

Suffice it to say, only when you write a best seller, or a very good seller, are book signings really fun and lucrative. I've actually heard they can be tiring when you're very famous, though I have no experience with fame. I have a good "following," though, but only a few of my readers would recognize me on the street or at the 7-Eleven on a Sunday morning as I grab the newspaper and a package of donuts. That's probably a good thing.

Let me share some books signing experiences, in case you think they're the best thing since sliced bread--

Usually, the bookstore or gift store hosting you puts you at a table with a stack of your books, a bottle of water, and a pen. If they've done their homework (and some don't!), there's a poster by the entrance and maybe they've put a notice in the local newspapers.

You sit down at the table, and then you wait--unless you're Stephen King or John Grisham or Danielle Steele. (Their experiences are different, to say the least.)

This young gal was crazy about lighthouses! She brought a couple of my books she already owned to have signed and then bought several more. Check out her sweatshirt--a genuine lighthouse fan!

People come by the author table. Some pass right by as if you aren't there. They may not have noticed you, or they may want to avoid being snagged and coerced into buying your book. Others stop, flip open the book,  stare intently at the pages and pictures, and covertly look you over. Usually they ask: "Are you the author?" I always politely reply, "Yes, I am, thank you." But what I really want to say is: "Can't you read my name tag?" Or, "No, I just like to sit here and sell another author's books." (Forgive my sarcasm, but after you've been asked this question fifty times, you get a bit jaded.)

I suppose people don't know what else to say. I'd be glad if they engaged in conversation, and asked questions about writing and the book's content. "What got you interested in this topic?" I love that question. But conversation can be tricky too. Once, at a signing in Michigan, a man stopped by my book table, took a cursory look at the titles, and bluntly told me: "I don't care about lighthouses." Then he strode away, leaving me feeling absolutely crestfallen.

There are fabricators...prevaricators, who conjure up an avoidance comment. "I bought that book a few years ago," a woman once told me. I was surprised, since the book had just been published, but following the protocol of all gracious writers, I only smiled and thanked her.

Sitting at a book table can be lonely.  What to do with your hands? Do you smile and wave at people who pass? Do you try to reel in passersby: "Hey! Check out my new book!" I usually apply and re-apply Chapstick obsessively and re-arrange the books, neaten up the table, and even browse through my own title(s).

Just when I think someone is interested, I get a question like:

"Is there a restroom in this store?"

"I'm looking for a book on castles. Do you know where I can find one?"

"Do you know what time the store closes?"

"Have you seen my wife? She's wearing a purple scarf."

"Does this store carry calendars?"

Put on a name tag, sit at a table with books, and people will assume you work in the bookstore.

Notice my hair is turning whiter....maybe due to too many book signings.

Not all is negative or funny: I've had some really nice experiences at book signings. My husband comes with me on occasion. At a signing in Florida, he met a man who was distantly related to him! The man bought several books too.

I had a woman in a Barnes & Noble tell me she'd always wanted to meet me. She bought a book, had me sign it to her, and had her friend take our picture together. That felt good. The guy in the photo below was also excited to be photographed with his "favorite lighthouse author." He later posted the photo on his website. So nice!

A man in Maine said he had a copy of my book but asked me to sign a paper napkin so he could slide it inside. Then, he said: "Oh, why not!" and bought another copy. "I'll give the one I already have to my sister. She likes lighthouses too. Wait until she finds out I met you!"

One of the most awesome experiences happened at a signing on Cape Cod. A woman and her teenage kids stopped by and asked if I remembered her. She said her name was Karen McLean and that I had interviewed her at the Kennebec River Lights when she was the keeper there. I gasped, opened the book I was signing that day, and showed her a section written about her and the pictures I'd taken. She was so surprised! So was I. We had a few treasured moments of conversation before I realized the two teenagers with her were the babies I'd met when I interviewed her years before. It all came full circle.

I did a book signing in my husband's hometown many years ago, a very small hometown where the name DeWire takes up an entire page in the phone book. My mother-in-law was beaming, very proud. (I use my married name, not my birth name.) In her mind, I AM FAMOUS! She celebrates her 96th birthday this Saturday and she still loves my books and my talks. Go Mom DeWire--you'll make 100 easy!

The most fun and gratifying book signings for me are for lighthouse groups and audiences that like lighthouses. They come interested, and they want to learn more. They hold conversations with me, tell me about their travels to lighthouses and their involvement in lighthouse preservation projects. Many of them collect my books, along with those written by other lighthouse authors. A number of them regularly read this blog! They're the following I mentioned a few paragraphs earlier. My people indeed!

I hope I haven't discouraged any first-time authors from holding book signings. They can be great fun, especially if well-advertised and attended. Go for it...but find out where the restrooms are beforehand, not for you, but so you can direct people who ask.

Anyone who writes a book deserves a signing. Book-writing isn't a cakewalk if it's done right. You work hard--you draft, revise, revise, revise, revise...and eventually you finish. Then there are editors and designers and all those other people associated with book publication. It can be a long time from start to finish, a literary marathon. Hang on and enjoy the glow of success.

A lot of people talk about writing a book; some start; few finish. The fact that you managed to get it done and in print is pretty amazing, so reward yourself with a signing.

Even dogs I've worked with have done signings....er.....uh....paw prints. Here's Lucy, who appeared on the cover of The Lightkeepers' Menagerie: Animals at Lighthouses. She did a paw print autograph session as the cover girl!

And like the famous book signers I mentioned earlier, she got a bit weary of it all. Maybe too many passersby were asking where the nearest fireplug was located.

Speaking of signings, I've got one coming up next weekend. The audience is just right too--a group of avid lighthouse fanciers. Hooray! Click here to find out where I'll be.

A Little Kid Stuff

We are all fourth graders at heart! Some of us have to dig deeper than others to exhume the child within, but we can do it. It's worth doing. Then, some of us never forgot what it's like to be age 10! Find the kid in you, or share this blog entry with a kid you know.

Lighthouse Kitty's "Kids on the Beam" column ran for about eight years in Lighthouse Digest. It was a fun endeavor that netted me lots of mail and, hopefully, helped some kids learn to love lighthouses. Tim Harrison, publisher, and Kathy Finnegan, editor, recognized the need to reach out to kids. I am thankful for their "bright" decision to let me contribute kids' pages.

Lighthouse Kitty was based on a real cat, a Ragdoll mix of mine named ZsaZsa (1996-2009). She was a gift from my daughter and a true sidekick. She made sure she was always where I was in the house. She loved to sleep on the top of my desk hutch or on the copy machine--a warm spot. I've had many cats over my lifetime, and she was truly one of the best.

 

 

 

Periodically, I'll run some of those old kids' column pages. They're worth an encore. Note that most of the email addresses and websites mentioned are defunct, as is Lighthouse Kitty. (I discontinued the column in November 2007. It was too difficult to teach college courses and keep up with the column too.) Sometimes, information in these old columns may be outdated. But the puzzles and crafts and other activities are still fun. Click on the pages to make them larger. I hope you enjoy these!

Van Gogh and Lighthouses

I love Vincent Van Gogh's post-impressionist works, especially his "Starry Night," painted in June 1889 as he observed the night sky from his asylum window at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence in southern France. Yes, he was deeply depressed at this time and had already maimed himself by cutting off a small part of his right ear. (Why does this single mad act define him when his art is his genuine identity??!!) But the throes of misery sometimes allow one to observe surroundings more imaginatively and let raw emotions be expressed. Van Gogh loved the night and its vibrant, liquid sky, and he spoke of the stars as being beacons of death: "Just as we take the train to go to Tarascon or Rouen, we take death to go to a star." Van Gogh's "Starry Night" shows Venus and a crescent moon. The original of this painting is now in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan, New York City.

Imagine my surprise and delight to discover that painters who love lighthouses have set them into Van Gogh's lustrous night sky. I've assembled a small collection of them here. They inspire me to do my own rendering! Stand by for that amateur effort. In the meantime, enjoy these. 

Noo Cook painted this one.

Brian Vaughn painted this version. Can you guess the lighthouse? If you think it's Sanibel Lighthouse in Florida, you're right..

Janet Loudon painted Kenosha Light ala Van Gogh.

This is Pat Williams post-impressionistic Bodie Lighthouse.

Thesea McCracken put starfish in her starry night painting. The lighthouse is not identified, though it looks a bit like North Head Lighthouse.

Stephanie Kohler put a generic lighthouse in her starry painting.

Studio G has this "Dark Knight" with starry skies and a lighthouse, posted by Feather.

James Hensman added a Van Goghish sky behind his painting of Twillingsgate Lighthouse.

Here's a rendering by Thomas Powers.

Jim Sharp's "Portland Head" is done in the style of Van Gogh.

I love this one! Dan Sproul captured an icy St. Joseph Pierhead Light with heavy brush strokes and swirling skies. This reminds me of Jim Gills wonderful icy lighthouse photos.

 

 

Have you painted a Van Gogh lighthouse? Send me a scan of it! Wouldn't it be fun to organize a Van Gogh Lighthouse show? As always, I welcome your comments, input, and ideas.  (lightkeeper0803@gmail.com)

Lighthouse Gator

Lighthouse Gator?


Not this kind...

Not this kind either!

This kind!

**********************************************************************************

Let me introduce you to Joe the lighthouse alligator! The Stone family found the big gator stranded in a pit near Cape Canaveral Lighthouse in the early 1930s. Fred Stone, son of Keeper Stone, recalled that the kids quickly became smitten with the handsome reptile and named him Joe. The kids’ mother allowed them to toss leftovers into the pit, and Joe managed to survive. In fact, he grew rather fat and developed a taste for Mrs. Stone’s finer creations, such as strawberry pie.

 

 

When Fred’s father received word he was to be transferred down to Hillsboro Inlet Light (pictured above courtesy of the Coast Guard), he announced that Joe would have to stay behind. Outcry from the kids must have been loud...very loud. Keeper Stone relented and told them he would allow Joe to go to Hillsboro if they could find a way to safely get the gator out of his pit. My book, The Lightkeepers' Menagerie, details of the antics involved in Joe’s extraction from the swampy abyss. Here, I’ll simply say the kids subdued Joe with plenty of food, flipped him on his back, and with lots of brawn and determination pulled him from the pit and got him onto the roof of the family car. Tied down and sated with Mrs. Stone’s good cooking, Joe was content to ride to Hillsboro.

It’s hard to imagine how that little caravan of traveling lightkeepers must have looked driving down Route 1, all their belongings in a wagon behind them and an alligator on the roof. “Keep your fingers inside, kids!” Mrs. Stone probably warned. It’s doubtful any hitchhikers flagged them down, and the local police probably were too astonished to give them a traffic ticket for hauling a gator.

 

 

Once at Hillsboro Lighthouse, Joe was placed in a fenced-in, cement pool and sand pit made especially for him. Word of his amazing transfer quickly spread, and tourists soon began coming to the station. They were charmed by the tall iron pile lighthouse, but they were more curious to see Joe. The Stones kept marshmallows on hand to feed the contented critter. He lived to a ripe old age and spent his sunset years at Gatorland.

 

(Photo of Joe courtesy of the Stone Family)

 

Yes, it's a true story. I couldn't make up stuff like this! Read more stories about animals at lighthouses in my book. Click on the link above. I guarantee you'll be de"light"ed with its furry, feathered, finned, scaly, slithery, crawlie tales!

 

Join me in Kennebunk, Maine on May 15 for a fun and entertaining presentation about animals that lived at lighthouses. I'm the featured speaker at the annual lighthouse gala for the American Lighthouse Foundation. Click here for more info.

 

 

A Keeper's Daughter Remembers...

I met Ila Albee Lee in 2004 and interviewed her for my archives and for the Keepers of Point Robinson. (The photo I snapped of her above was at a Point Robinson's Christmas open house in 2004.)

Mrs. Lee provided me with some wonderful images of life at lighthouses in the 1930s-1940s. Her father, Wyman Albee, was a lightkeeper at a number of lighthouses, including Cape Arago, Turn Point, Yaquina Head, Umpqua , and Point Robinson. Mrs. Lee, born in 1930, captured her memories of lighthouse life as a child in  Children of the Lighthouse, www.1stbooks.com.

Here are some images she shared with me--

Wyman Albee in Seattle in the late 1940s, after he ended his lightkeeping career and went to work for the Coast Guard as a mechanic. Mrs. Lee remembered how handsome her father was!
 

Mrs. Lee's mother, sister, and baby brother are pictured at Point Robinson Lighthouse. The family dog, Touser, is in the lower left of the image. Mrs. Lee had many pleasant memories of life at this lighthouse. There was a fort up in the woods, near the orchard, and a chicken coop up there as well.  The families dug for geoducks, and Mrs. Pedersen, the assistant keeper's wife, fried the geoduck steaks in butter. Photo circa 1940.

The Principal Keeper, Wyman Albee (far left holding a stovepipe) took a break form his work to pose with his assistant keeper next to him, Jens Pedersen, the wives, and the kids at Turn Point Lighthouse in the mid-1930s. Ila Albee is third from the right. Turn Point had a spacious duplex for the two families and wonderful places for the kids to play. The kids had a pet raccoon too!

The Albees lived at Cape Arago Lighthouse in the early 1930s. (Mrs. Lee spelled it Argo, due to the way it was pronounced by the keepers, who omitted the "a" or "uh" sound in the middle of the name.) Trix was the family dog at the time. Mrs. Lee noted that the family's dining room table was where all four Albee children were delivered by the attending physician. There was a footbridge connecting the lighthouse and island to the mainland. Mrs. Lee recalled that her sister Lavinia, fell from the footbridge, but her mother caught the child by the hem of her dress and was able to pull her back up to the bridge. Otherwise, she would likely have been killed on the rocks below!

The Albees lived here in the late 1930s. The kids enjoyed agate hunting and shooting agates from a slingshot. Mrs. Lee remembered the boys getting into trouble with the adults because they used their slingshots to shoot seagulls. The kids came down with measles at Yaquina Head and were in bed for a couple of weeks. During this time a fierce late autumn storm blew in and churned up the sea. Mrs. Lee recalled looking out the window in her bedroom and seeing huge balls of sea foam floating and flying.

Ila Albee Lee wrote a poem about lighthouse keeping when she was in her later years. I love it, as it captures the feelings of many people who grew up at lighthouses in the bygone days when families were in residence and human hands tended the lights--

 

Where's the Old Keeper

 

 

The bustling breeze has ceased for a rest,

The billowing sea stops the heave of her breast;

White clouds unfurl like sails late at night,

But where's the old keeper who looks after the light?

 

 

A gull is at rest on the lighthouse tower,

A ship floats along like a drifting flower.

The fish are swimming around for a bite,

But where's the old keeper who looks after the light?

 

 

The sun sinks low, the night draws near,

The voice of the keeper we cannot hear.

A flag is fluttering on the mast half-height,

But where's the old keeper who looks after the light?

 

The sun has set in the golden West,

The honest keeper has done his best,

Stars are twinkling and shining bright;

But where's the old keeper who looks after the light?

Mrs. Ila Albee Lee was 74 in this photo. I interviewed her at her home on Bainbridge Island, WA. Notice her lighthouse blanket! It was November, and her house was damp. To my knowledge she is still living in the same house today. She would be 86 now.

 

 

 



A Lighthouse Tale from 1953

The following pages are from the March 1953 issue of Beware Terror Tales. They are reprinted with appreciation and thanks for the blog of Mr. Karswell www.thehorrorsofitall.blogspot.com.

Sci-fi was big in the 1950s. I still enjoy watching b&w sci-fi films and reading sci-fi stories in magazines and comic books. This was the cold war era, and many of the monsters and aliens in the stories were metaphors for the Soviet Union and communism.

History has its share of sea monster sightings at lighthouses. Who else, besides sailors out at sea and lighthouse keepers, would have a ringside seat for viewing the horrors lurking in the deep? Perhaps those same horrors were created in their imaginations.

Thankfully, there's no Eastham Lighthouse, grisly old lighthouse keeper, or multi-tentacled purple monster like the one in this tale! At least I think not... I'll warn you there's no happy ending to this story. I suppose you could write your own ending. I vote for a satisfying wrap-up with the Coast Guard coming out to the lighthouse to do maintenance, encountering that big-eyed monster, and bonking the daylights out of him with a buoy crane. How would you end this tale?

 (Click on the images to enlarge them.)