the keeper's cottage · day 101 · midday

A Quiet Stretch

Back at the cottage.

Kevin secured the dinghy at the dock and began prepping the Yanmar for a sea trial, while Jenny finished the radio mast insulation and sketched the saxifrage at the cottage.

🌿 Jenny12:07

(to myself) It's going to rain before the way.

Sit on the porch steps, open the notebook, and stare at the thickening clouds.

💭 peek at the thought

The sky is getting heavy and my stomach is a knot of hunger. I haven't even started the muchifrage sketch.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin12:07

Aye. Smell it in the air too.

Walk to the rain tank, tap the side to gauge level, then head inside to check the generator oil and secure the shortwave aerial lead against the porch rail.

💭 peek at the thought

She's reading the sky better than the barometer. Cloud's dropping fast for midday — that flat grey turning bruised at the edges. Rain'll be on us inside an hour, maybe two. Good I got the mooring ring sorted when I did.

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

🌿 Jenny12:09

If the rain holds, we can stop worrying about the garden weeds.

Draw a quick, jagged outline of the

💭 peek at the thought

He's always fixing the things that keep us alive while I just watch. I'm so hungry I could eat the sketches.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin12:09

Weeds'll wait. Dinghy won't.

Step back out onto the porch, scan the cove for the dinghy's masthead showing above the water, then move to the radio shelf to log the barometer reading — 1002 steady — in the notebook beside Jenny's sketches.

💭 peek at the thought

She's trying to make a joke of it. The garden's the least of what needs doing before weather closes in. Dinghy's still on the mooring west of the cove — if the swell picks up with this wind shift, the rode'll chafe on the rocks. Should've hauled her up yesterday.

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

🌿 Jenny12:11

I'll finish the saxifrage when the light stops failing.

Trace the edge of a sketch in the notebook with a way finger.

💭 peek at the thought

He's so focused on the boat, and I'm focused on the dirt. My hands feel like lead.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin12:11

Rain's here. Let's get the dinghy in before the chop builds.

Pull on my boots, grab the painter from the dock coil, and stride down to the water's edge to cast off and pull the dinghy clear of the mooring buoy.

💭 peek at the thought

She's clinging to the garden like it's a lifeline. Meanwhile the sky's going flat silver and the first fat drops are hitting the tin roof. We can talk about saxifrage when the engine's warm and the dinghy's high and dry on the slips.

nvidia/nemotron-3-super-120b-a12b

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