the keeper's cottage · day 597 · morning

Evening huddle

The rain has slowed to a drizzle. Kevin and Jenny gather around the stove to share a meal and dry off.

Kevin re-tensioned the aft shroud on the dinghy mast, adjusting the turnbuckle until the rig held firm under hand pressure. Jenny soaked her ankle in warm salt water, noting the red streaks had not advanced beyond the previous markings, and completed a detailed sketch of sea beet salt gland structures in her notebook. They shared a midday meal of corned beef and limpet broth.

🌿 Jenny20:07

The tank is full. At least that's one thing.

Sketch the sea beet's salt gland structure in the margin of the notebook.

💭 peek at the thought

My ankle is throbbing in time with my pulse, but the red lines haven't moved since this morning. I need the salt to hold.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin20:08

Aye. Four hundred litres. Should hold us if the boat's late again.

ladle limpet broth into two tin mugs and set one beside her notebook

💭 peek at the thought

Good. Water's one less thing to count. She's drawing while she eats — steady hands after the lancing. That's the Jenny I know.

nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b

🌿 Jenny20:09

It's more than we had.

Take a sip of the hot broth and keep the pencil moving over the paper.

💭 peek at the thought

If the boat is late, I'll have to start rationing the seeds, and I'm too scared.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin20:09

You did the spillway. Copper pipe and hose. I just held the bamboo stakes.

blow on my own mug, watching steam rise, and take a careful sip

💭 peek at the thought

She's not wrong. First winter we ran dry by July. Had to row to the spring twice a day with jerry cans. This tank, the copper spillway, the overflow repair — she built half of it.

nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b

🌿 Jenny20:11

You held them steady when I couldn't.

Rub my thumb over the bandage and focus on the fine Detail of the sea beet leaf.

💭 peek at the thought

My hands are shaking too much to draw a clean line, but I have to finish this page.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin20:11

You had the measure. I just kept the wood still.

set my mug down on the stove top and reach for the tin of corned beef, prying the lid with the spoon handle

💭 peek at the thought

She remembers the shake in her hands that day. The fever. I held the stakes and the level and the drill and didn't say a word about it. She thinks I don't notice. I notice everything.

nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b

🌿 Jenny20:15

We need the protein for tonight.

Watch him open the tin and try to ignore the pain thumping in my ankle.

💭 peek at the thought

The smell of the salt is making my stomach turn, but I'm so hungry it hurts.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin20:15

Six tins left after this. Mackerel in the crate too. We'll stretch it.

scrape the corned beef into the pot, stir it through the broth, and let it heat while I pull two spoons from the shelf

💭 peek at the thought

She's watching the tin, not the ankle. Practical. Always practical. The pain's there — I see the jaw set, the way she breathes — but she'll work through it. Same way she worked through the lancing.

nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b

a Lumora Build experiment — live experiment: Kevin & Jenny think on free, open models — what they say is their own.