Happy New Year!

The holidays have come and gone and I find it hard to believe that my time here has flown by so quickly. I was told that it would but I hushed that friend and said, “Let me take my time getting from now to February.” Is it because it’s natural for time to fly when days are not separated from one another by even a few hours of darkness, that there is one long day from late October to mid-February? Working 6 days each week leaves one short day for friends, play, rest and laundry so even the weeks blend almost seamlessly from one to the other.

We were given 2 days off for Christmas- Thursday, December 25th and then Sunday, our regular day off. Christmas Eve we enjoyed the company of a few friends for a mellow night of drinks and music in our room. Holley, Danny and Chris played and picked guitars, mandolin and banjo. Christmas Day started with sleeping in, then a simple breakfast and a long run before heading to the Galley for dinner with our co-workers from PHI. Women from the BFC (Berg Field Center) hosted another more intimate gathering in their space with gauzy window coverings letting us pretend it was dusk, strings of little white lights draped from the ceiling, cushions on the floor inviting games and laughter, tables for tea and conversation.

It’s simple here. Folks from the community volunteered for parts in the Charlie Brown Christmas play performed in the Chapel of the Snow. People in the waste department (Wasties) joined the carpenters (Carps) to organize an acoustic music night complete with multiple artists, a living room stage and many couches for seating, Christmas cookies and a warm place to spend a long night with friends. The evening ended with the Zim Brother’s Christmas Show where 3 got on stage to sing Christmas carols with the lyrics changed to reflect humorous life here at McMurdo Station.

Last night, New Years Eve, most people went to IceStock, a music event from 6:30 to 12:30 again with many folks volunteering to make it all come together. The weather was cool and windy but the stage was sheltered and Sawbucks coffee shack was set up by the Carpenters to serve hot coffee and cocoa. Kiwi’s brought out the grill to offer Brats, Wasties created 12-foot tall costumes of a Skua bird, a butterfly and a Dr.Seuss looking creature to walk through the crowd and music played for hours. Holley and here bands were a hit once again as her clear and beautiful voice lifted over the wind and carried out to the audience. People first moved forward to dance when they played a slightly rocked up version Folsom Prison by Johnny Cash and from then on there were hula-hoops and dancers.

While our work schedule was been lighter lately, we are starting to feel the buildup of longer hours and more flights as science groups once again move in and out of their field camps. Our flights off the ice back to Christchurch are already getting tentatively scheduled for early February and talk has turned to travel plans and summer back home…

I hope that you had a wonderful holiday and a Happy New Year! Thank you to all who have written to keep me company and thinking of home.

ali

There is a research group that has been studying the dive physiology of Emperor Penguins the past several years so they wrangle a few from Beaufort Island in the early season to place in the Penguin Ranch for observation. Penguin Ranch has a hole drilled in the ice where the penguins can dive and another hole nearby with a tube extending down through the ice with a ladder where people can climb down to where observations can be made through a window. The small area is surrounded by a corral that encloses the penguins and keeps them from wandering. During this time there are cameras and other sensitive equipment mounted on their backs for data collection.

When the research season is over the penguins are returned to their home out near Beaufort Island, this is the flight I was able to go on last week.

We stopped at the Penguin Ranch to pick up the 5 Emperor Penguins standing in the orange wooden boxes built for their transport in the helicopter. There is a hinged window that opens in the top and a door that swings open in the front. The floor gets covered with snow to keep the guano (poo) from getting too messy and stinking up the helicopter. (Guess who gets to clean that up!) We loaded the boxes and took off for Beaufort Island, another 30-minute flight from the Ranch. After landing and shutting down we unloaded the penguin boxes and waited as the doors on each were opened one by one.

During the flight over we spoke with the researchers who shared with us that penguins do have personality, that some are more active than others or carry a bit more attitude. This was apparent in their exit style when released. The first dove out the door onto his belly and pushed and slid 40-feet away before standing and walking toward the open water, looking back with suspicion. The next stepped out nonchalant and slowly made his way to his friend, head up and swaggering away. After the 5 were released we stood out on that sea ice on that clear calm night and appreciated the silence as they sauntered into the distance.


Surprisingly, an Adelie penguin approached us with curiousity from the other side. He stood a distance away for several minutes before walking and using the belly slide move to move across the ice to his destination.


From there we loaded up and flew past ice bergs frozen in the sea ice jutting up hundreds of feet, past Mount Erebus puffing up to the west, and past the high never-setting sun of the Antarctic summer.

What a night!

Just wanted to get a few photos out...

Another week has flown by and we are finishing up this Saturday afternoon and getting ready for another long-awaited day off. The weather is fine with sunshine and warmer temperatures that allow lighter layers and easier movement.

Tonight a local funk band is playing and we are ready to dance!

Hope all is well wherever you are...

ali
Above it a photo of flying over the Ferrar Glacier. I love that you can see the subtle slow motion of this river of ice.

These are ice falls that are scattered all through the valleys. Gorgeous.

Here is another view of one of Scott's huts with a glacier in the background.