Christmas Dinner

" What is Christmas? It is tenderness for the past,
courage for the present, hope for the future.
It is a fervent wish that every cup may overflow with blessings rich and eternal, and that every path may lead to peace." Agnes M. Pharo

Another wonderful Shuttles dinner gathering.

Auntie Nancy and I at Christmas Dinner- no we did not mean to coordinate our outfits. :)

Auntie Nanc and me for our Christmas photo. :)

My Adorable Niece!!!

Okay, so I know this photo is on Britta's blog (that's where I stole it from) but it just makes me smile every time I look at it!!! That's my niece Katie swinging in her swing in the snow in a moment of pure joy! She was almost walking when I left, not quite, but now she's walking on her own. Soon I'll get to talk to her on the phone I hope!!! Britta and John are preparing Katie for her adventures with Aunt Kris in the snow and ice to come later in her life!! :) I miss you and love you guys!!! Send me a picture of her in her hat I made this summer please!

1st Annual McMurdo Softball Tournament

What a beautiful day!! This softball match hadn't happened before here and it was a perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon! Shuttles was matched up against the VMF- which is notorious for taking sports events very seriously here. We only lost by 1 point, score was 13-14, and that was a huge accomplishment for us!!! Rock on Shuttles!!!



Our Shuttle Team manning the bases. Brandon's random outfits here crack me up.

So plan B if our team ended up doing terribly was for me to run around the field in this wig and my bright green jacket in hopes of distracting people or blinding them. As it turns out our team played an awesome game and so I got to sit in the stands and hold down the cheering section instead.

I can't believe the lousy call that the umpire made- it lost us the game!!! Brandon had totally tagged out Jackie before he reached home plate, but Jackie's roommate was the umpire and called him safe. We were ROBBED!

Jackie arranged the whole softball match, he's from Boston and clearly is a Red Sox fan. Brandon on our team did get him to strike our quite a few times though!

Our Shuttles Team!! I'm so proud!!

I didn't play, probably a good thing since there were so many injuries in this game, none were in shuttles, though had I played, we might have had the one injury in the game that would have been self-inflicted where I somehow would have hit myself with the bat, or the ball- take your pick. That's me in my wig, and my roomie in her pink hat.

Shuttle Jojo hitting the ball!!

Pinky, Taryn, Brandon taking a look at the batting roster line-up.

Our team watching the game from our "dugout."

Our Team switching out from the outfield.

Kelly running makes me giggle, she sort of frolics from base to base- it's great because it confuses the other team as to whether she's running from base to base or not and what's going on. :)

My New Year Wishes for You

Find Joy in each moment,

Smile several times a day,

Laugh til your stomach hurts,

Learn something new,

Enjoy the company of good friends,

Hug your loved ones,

Impact someone's life,

Accept loss and pain- they make the great moments that much sweeter,

Recycle,

Travel someplace new,

Take up a new hobby,

Eat healthier- as my friend says "Eat better meat, less often",

Keep in touch with friends and family near and far,

Sleep soundly and dream peacefully,

take a Risk often enough to keep you on your toes,

Love,

Find Peace within yourself.

Lone Flag

"I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination."- Jimmy Dean




A picture I took while out at the Ice Caves a few weeks ago. The red flags are used to mark paths here for both walking and driving on. This one is marking the edge of the foot path to the Ice Cave, and keeps wanderers from going in to the pools at the bottom of the pressure ridges here. It was a windy day so the flag is blowing in this picture, it's one of my favorite pictures from this season and I wanted to share.

Airdrop Photos to AGAP

These pictures were taken by one of the flight crew that flew in this C-17 mission to AGAP. AGAP is a deep field camp on the continent that was established last season, and the research has begun there this year. They are studying the Gamburtsev mountain range they believe is buried beneath the snow and ice on the East Antarctic Ice Shelf. There are several research projects going on trying to determine if the mountain range is the oldest or youngest range on the continent, thereby determining if it is the origin of the glaciers forming this continent and how it has affected the formation of the continent.

A few websites to check out for more information... lots of scientific explanations...

http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/res/pi/gambit/ProjectOverview.htm

http://epsc.wustl.edu/seismology/research.html

Thanksgiving with the Shuttles Family

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow. ~Melody Beattie

A wonderful day spent with wonderful people eating wonderful food! Not much more one can ask for. My Thanksgiving here is what it's supposed to be about, enjoying dinner with good friends and family, and relaxing. I hope yours was as nice as mine- Much Love and Peace to you all!

Thanksgiving comes to us out of the prehistoric dimness, universal to all ages and all faiths. At whatever straws we must grasp, there is always a time for gratitude and new beginnings. ~J. Robert Moskin

Forces of Change

One last photo of the Ice Cave, a moment of solitude in the cave by myself, a moment frozen in time, one that will truly never be the same again.


Icebergs frozen in the sea ice on the route to Cape Evans.The icebreaker ship is on its way here and come January, the sea ice encasing these bergs will break up and blow out to sea, changing the landscape once again

"One cannot divine nor forecast the conditions that will make happiness, one only stumbles upon them by chance, in a lucky hour, at the world's end somewhere, and holds fast to the days."- Willa Cather

Icebergs remind me that there are sometimes forces in your life that you cannot control. Moments that you will find yourself wondering how you got to where you are. You're a part of something that is more than just yourself, and suddenly you feel severed, wandering among a vast sea trying to find your way. You end up feeling stuck, surrounded by something you can't quite control or change, and you spend a lot of time trying to figure out a way around it rather than through it.

The important thing to remember is that like an iceberg, 90 percent of you is below the surface in these times, being contained by forces that you haven't learned to change. That means at some point, when you again come to realize your full potential, you can own the place you have come to be in, change your surroundings, and surge out on your own. While this is really up to you to do, you'll find that there will be people in your life that will help push you through these times. The bonds that will tie you to them become stronger, and you will soon hear only the whispers of the strings breaking that tied you to the place you have left. You will be able to move forward on your own, and become a part of something that is bigger than yourself, and you will be the better for it.

Every once in a while one has to look around and remind themselves how they came to be in the place that they are, and I'm glad that I can feel so fortunate when I reflect on that. To each of you who has helped pull me or push me from the places I was stuck, to those who helped change the landscape of my life, thank you.

Me and My Penguin Buddy

On the last trip I led out to Cape Evans and the Ice Caves I was lucky enough to run in to this little guy. He was wandering along the road that goes from Cape Evans back to McMurdo near the icebergs that are frozen in the sea ice. The sad part is that typically when you find a lone penguin, it is because they are sick and do not tend to last very long out on there own. Never the less, it's a rare and special glimpse of some of the wildlife that we hope to be able to encounter whilst here in the land of frozen ice.