LADY OF THE LIGHT-PART 10

The next morning Jane got up with the sun and began planning her day. The gate at the entrance to the path needed painting and the roses that grew nearby were in need of a trim. She selected the brushes she would need and then went to the box she had brought back from the hardware store and got the cans of Teal & Sea green paints.

Pete was already sitting at the door waiting for his release from the cottage. Jane pulled on a light jacket and headed out the door, with pete following right behind her. The underbrush was full of dew this early in the morning, and the air still had a chill from the cool evening. The sun was rising and the birds all sang songs and flew their errands. The path from the lighthouse to the parking lot was closed off with a massive wooden gate. The thing would have been unsightly had not the builder taken the time to add some delicate scrolled trim around the edges and used lathe turned dowels in the center section. As it was the previous cartakers had mearly whitewashed it,, and the beauty of the craftsmenship was lost.

Over the next 2 hours Jane carefully painted the whole gate a nice shade of sea green. During this time Pete would make an appearence for a few minuets, before heading off again into the pine woods to chase squirels, an activity he found endlessly entertaining despite the fact he was far too old to catch one.

The warm morning sun dried the paint quickly and Jane set to painting the scroll work with the Teal paint. Her efforts paid off handsomely a hour later when she stood back and studied the gate. One would never recognized it as the same old white gate. The colors gave it a homey, welcoming appearence, and highlighted the dark green leaves of the roses that grew alongside.

The day sped by as she weeded, trimed the roses, raked the path and before she knew it the sun was slipping into the lake behind the stone tower of the light. Dinner was a simple sandwich and fresh melon. She curled up with a book on the daybed, with Mozart's 25th symphony in the background. Within minuets, the book lay on the floor and she was fast asleep.

The next morning Jane woke stiff and surprised at how soundly she had slept on the tiny, lumpy daybed. Pete joyously greeted her and tugged on her sleeve as a sign he needed to go outside.

After she prepared a hearty breakfast, she gathered up the bucket, windex bottles and paper towels. The next item on her list was to clean the windows up in the tower. She had read how the glass and lenses of lighthouses had to be cleaned every day back in the era when they were lit with oil lamps. She was glad that those days had long passed. A little elbow grease and the huge panels of glass would shine. The lens of course would not be dirty in this age of electric lamps.

The day was already warm and clear as she walked down to the light tower. The footing on the path out to the point was tricky in some spots but manageable. Once out on the sandy point the massive tower of Eagles Point Lighthouse dwarfed everything else around it. The conical shaped tower was constructed of light grey feildstone set in morter. A large, weathered, wooden door gave access to the interior of the tower. Selecting the proper key to fit the padlock on the door, Jane carefully opened the lock and set it on the hasp, so not to loose it. The door swung to the outside because of the limited space within the tower. With great anticipation Jane entered the tower. It was the first lighthouse she had ever been in...........