happy thanksgiving

hi... it is saturday the 24th for me and the station is celebrating thanksgiving today and we have today and tomorrow off from work. this is lovely. soon i will eat a big feast, even dress up a little (if you call wearing a dress over jeans dressing up). and then there will be merriment and hanging out with friends. i don't have much time right now, but wanted to post as many photos as i can to show what's been happening over the past few weeks. i have been well, all is well, i suppose not much more to say about that.


here is a video of a CONDITION ONE storm. these typically do not make it into town in the summer that often, and don't really last for that long, but it means that you cannot travel between buildings until it lets up. this was at about 11pm and i just woke up from a nap (really tired that day), so i was lucky i was in the main building where my dorm is. it was actually pretty warm, but the call was for extreme low visibility whereas it can be called for extreme low temps or extreme winds (more rare).

Here are is a shot out over mcmurdo sound of the transantarctic mountains. On clear days, the view is amazing and they seem right so close. I know the photo seems a bit washed out, but that is sometimes how it looks.



Here is a view of some of us going out for a very windy hike nearby

General random shot of the coffeehouse on a mellow night.

Last weekend I went and volunteered at the greenhouse to plant some lettuce. The greenhouse is warm, bright and smells good. Everything is grown hydroponically... only water and typically a growing medium called rockwool (highly heated and spun rock... it's soft like stretchy felt)... no dirt at all. We get fresh vegetables from NZ when we can, but we also eat the items grown in the greenhouse. The folks that stay for winter only get greenhouse freshies, so its got to be maintained well all year around. There are also a couple of hammocks in there, so anyone can go and hang out and get some comfortable humidity. I fell asleep in the hammock after all my hard work.

These are the lettuce starts I planted on the lower system (they grew from seeds in another tray).

This is some lettuce to be harvested in another few weeks... it takes about 4-5 weeks from seed to harvest for most of the lettuce. Below there is arugula, swiss chard, calallo, bok choy and above is butter lettuce. The black rubber is to inhibit the growth of algae in the watering trays due to the high levels of light and nutrients that it takes to grow the veggies.

Tomato, cucumber, pepper and zuchinni room

Herb room

Dill... I helped harvest it for the galley.

Ok, almost time for turkey dinner, so I better go. Have a wonderful holiday!

--- julie

Here I am again...

Sunday afternoon and sitting at the coffeehouse, laptop in lap… finally. The last week and a half I have been bouncing between feeling ok and having a sore throat. I stayed home 3 (and then 2 more) days to rest, which is encouraged to keep spreading illness. My cold is changing shape, but I feel better and I hope that the curative powers of Saturday night whiskey are real, even if a bit overdue today. All the sleeping and convalescing has knocked my schedule out of whack and I asked the doctor for a temporary sleeping aid. That has worked but last night I ran out, so after not sleeping well I went to the lounge to sit and drink water at 5am. I then spent 3 hours on a puzzle that was sitting there, half completed. Didn’t sleep much more, but am now dedicated to a no-nap day. Altogether, the constant daylight is not affecting my sleeping much as I am usually inside by 10-11pm and settling in for bed without a window nearby to distract me. If that is what it would take to affect me? So, I apologize for the long pause in my writing…
First off, don’t be mad if you are The Today Show type and you turn it on the next few days and you see they are broadcasting live from McMurdo and I didn’t tell you about it ahead of time. I knew they were coming, but they are suddenly here. Oh, they are at the extreme (ha!) ends of the earth to highlight, I’m guessing, some environmental programs. So tune in Monday and Tuesday morning and then maybe Tuesday on the NBC national news, (I think). But they are broadcasting live and that means I am not getting up at 2am here to stand outside with the slim chance that a camera pans my way. (Sorry Chels). Plus, we’ve been told that it’s not really going to be the Times Square experience with 2000 gloves and mittens a-waving. Although, I hope that if you do watch, it’s nice and you can get some kind of better visual grasp on this thing down here, nicer shots than I can provide with my camera.


In between the, uh, sick days, I made the effort to celebrate Halloween. I lasted about 1 ½ hours of low energy, sober, hanging out in the decorated big gym. I went as a tree. I wore a wig and clothes from the station costume closet and fake foliage of course, nothing grows down here (well, some things grow and I’ll show you later). The Halloween parties are a big deal and people bring down or ship down their costumes, or make them here, etc. etc. I heard by the end of the night things were dancy and drunky and robots were taking their pants off. On a related note, I keep finding out that lots of people are in their mid twenties.




Halloween Party

Me the tree, Jane the mummy, Kelly the trailer trash

Ok, not everyone is in their mid twenties, but lots of people think that I’m about 26. Man, that is funny. I must exude some jolly, carefree spirit or something… or at least, more than I am willing to admit to strangers. Perhaps I am being ridiculous about what 26 is. (Nevertheless, Saturn is hurling itself far away and no longer wants to hang over my head or sit on my Sun—recent astrological curiosities indulged.)

Here are some shots taken around 10pm I think, looking out over the sea ice toward Mt. Discovery on a peninsula of the continent, south of McMurdo. The buildings out there are sea ice runway support buildings (i.e. runway fire department, fueling, some air transportation support, etc.).

A few photos from a calm, but overcast day at Hut Point Ridge, just west and northwest of town.

Looking out over the sea ice...