The cold earth sleeps below, above the cold sky shines

Panorama from top of Ob Hill around 8:30 PM (note sunglasses) Current Conditions:   Con3.   Temp 9ºF (windchill -7ºF).   Clear.   Population 737 (people left for the South Pole) The sun set for the last time two nights ago and, from now on, it will be one long day until the end of February. After 62 years of living with dawn, sunrise, sunset, twilight and night, you would think I would have anticipated being affected by the change.  But no, I didn't.  Every day,  I find going outside in the evening heartstopping. My office has no windows.   When I pack up to leave work at 6:00, I expect to feel evening—the breeze, the cooling of the air, and even the floral, evening aroma that is so lovely in California.   But as I get to the front door, I see the light streaming through the window in the dental room out of the corner of my eye.   Then, I open the second, airlock door to bright sunlight.   It looks and f...

The burgee of the Ross Island Yacht Club, Antarctica (RIYCA). It stars Shackleton's ship (which actually was nowhere near here), and a skua in the upper left corner. Current C onditions: Con3.  Temp -15°F (wind chill -46°F).  Overcast. Population: ≈ 800 Recreation at McMurdo is more limited than what we are used to in Northern California, particularly during this time of year when outdoor recreation is restricted due to the cold.  We planned to climb Observation Hill yesterday but the wind blew us back to the dorm, to the comforts of watching Fox News on AFN (gulp). But there are quite a number of activities.  About two weeks ago, we were invited to attend a meeting of the Ross Island Yacht Club, Antarctica. The club is supposed to be comprised of people who have some yachting interests and, indeed, it seems a good number people leave Antarctica and spend the next months on sailboats harbored in the Marshall Islands before returning to the ice. I'm not sur...

Adelie penguin (left), Skua on right.  Specimens from Crary Lab. Current Conditions: Con3.  Temp 10ºF (Windchill 4ºF).  Mostly sunny.  Population = 684 After graduating from college, a group of friends and I worked as singing waiters on Martha's Vineyard.  The owner of the restaurant--the Colonial Inn--was niggardly and didn't allow us even a nibble of restaurant food, even though we arrived at 4:00 PM and stayed til midnight.  So we practiced "seagulling"--the art of swooping in to snag the leftover lobster claws and bread loaves uneaten by patrons and scarfing them down in the prep room. Seagulls don't venture as far south as Antarctica.  Instead we have skua.  Skua are large, predatory, gull-like birds with hooked beaks and sharp talons.  Rumor has it that, once they arrive in McMurdo for the summer season, they will dive-bomb anyone they see carrying a cafeteria tray or uncovered food item.  We are admonished to hide all f...