It's great fun to listen to the local townspeople reminisce about the people who lived in this house long ago. Since the Aquarium has owned the field house, we have turned a living room into our main office, a back kitchen into an equipment room and closets into bedrooms.
The house has kept it's charm with its original heating registers from the 1900s, antique wallpaper, and hardwood floors. We have made minor improvements such as bringing in internet service, remodeling the kitchen and replacing the 57 windows to protect the house during the harsh Lubec winters. As with any old house, there are a multitude of home improvement projects that we work on as time allows.
The real fun is the dynamic of 9 full-time researchers and many visiting researchers living in the house together. During stretches of long weather, we buckle down in the house and set to work, doing photo analysis and matching the whales we've seen in the field. On these days in we tend to mill around the kitchen alot. Our volunteer cook, Betty, has to chase us out of the kitchen so she can get dinner ready! While living and working together can be challenging at times, it also comes with the benefit of having a built-in family dynamic. We lean on each other in tough times, celebrate each others achievements and take off in troupes for hikes, bike rides and soccer.
At the end of the day, we all congregate in the kitchen for dinner. Dinners can vary from an "intimate" dinner between the 9 full-time researchers to a large, boisterous gathering of over 20 people. No matter how many are in attendance, dinner is always a lively event with great food, stories from the field (present events and past) and lots of laughter!
-Cyndi
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