letter from antarctica,
page...6
I haven't
been tent camping in the winter for so long I have forgotten some of
the tricks
of having a good time. I went on a SAR practice mission here in early
May just
before we got into total darkness. We camped on the snow above Hutton
Cliffs
near Cape Evans across the bay from the Greenpeace station. I chatted
with
ZL5BA from my sleeping bag inside the Scott Tent and had a breakfast of
Mountain House freeze dried stew. One thing I didn't forget was my
pottybottle.
Very handy on a winter camp. Our
campout was only for about thirty hours so we didn't have much time for
anything
beyond get-there-set-up-overnight-take-down-and-back-again. But I did
get to
drive a sno-mobile flat out across the Ross Ice Shelf weaving in and
out along
the marker flags like they were a giant slalom. I also got to
experience first
hand how dismally poor VHF communications around here are compared to
what we
are use to doing with repeaters in New England. I wrote a paper on that
subject
making all sorts of recommendations to improve the reliability of the
network. Now we are
at the end of May: Just now,
last night, It's the twenty-ninth of May,
We had the half-way party; Half-way home or here to stay? Who can say? It is no longer May. It’s June! And by the Light of next full moon: AIIIRR-DRRROP! I am trying not to get excited; Just delighted! Of course
I wrote it and if you tell me you like it I'll send you a longer one
about
3beansalad or one or two other shorter ones. The words are flowing
thick and
fast. I need to find a benefactor who likes poetry.... Memorial
Day was a holiday here. We, the civilian contractor, had it off but for
the
Navy it was a regular work day. Jill made a Thanksgiving Day Turkey
Dinner and
invited all her "family"; about twenty-five people were there. The
turkey had sauerkraut stuffing; it was a Polish turkey. I made the
gravy and
helped carry in the wine. One of the discussions at dinner was about
“Blue
Moons”. A Blue Moon is the second full moon in any month. It doesn't
happen all
that often to begin with and this time it happened in a very special
way. On
any calendar brought from the states May was shown to have two full
moons: The
first on the first and the second on the thirty-first. On any calendar
from New
Zealand June was shown to have two full moons: On the first and on the
twenty-ninth. This difference must have something to do with the fact
that it
is almost always tomorrow in New Zealand because time there is
something like
seventeen hours ahead of the east coast of North America. So if the
moon were
to be full during that time it could show up, as it was, in both
months. But!
the question is: For how long is the moon really FULL? What is the
standard,
accepted definition of the term "full moon"? And what are the
romantic implications and the practical limitations? Out there someplace
there is a romantic song that speaks of "Blue Moon, I saw you standing
alone...." and there is a saying among people: "It only happens once
in a Blue Moon." My calendar, from the states, indicates that there is
only one Blue Moon in 1988, the one in May. Perhaps one of you avid
readers
might write to Abe Weatherwise at the OFA and ask him just how often a
Blue
Moon can happen and what was the origin of the phrase "once in a..."
I have found a copy of the song at KICE and I am going to take it apart
and
learn what I can there. I'm certainly interested in what the OFA has to
say. After
dinner, as I was walking on the way to my room, full moon was up over
Ob Hill
and I shot off a signal flare to salute him. Standing there, watching
the flare
arc up and over I realised: The moon
is upsidedown down here
On south side of equator, The sun is too But no shape has she, That I can see, And so she does not matter. The man on the moon stands on his head When I go to bed, And I stand on mine to see him. Orion's kilt falls away from his legs, And to me at least the question begs: Should he not be called MacOrion? ...and
hurried back to my notebook to write it down. That set me to thinking
of some
other things about this continent and what we are doing here: Don't you
think that that's a lot of ice?
Coal and mountains But no fountains, Nine thousand feet straight up From sea to air; It's just not fair To be so bare Of flowers trees and hare. The dust and rock, It's not a crock, There's naught that makes home here. Except a lichen Or a krill Or a penguin, Seal or whale. But People! People struggle to survive, People build to stay alive, People try and buy and cry and fly To get back home where they may die; But they don't Live Out on the Ice. It's not so nice. There are no trees To please and ease, There are no girls and boys to tease, No cats and rats nor oliphaunts; Noah's Ark would be so empty If he had started here. To what use is all of this but For a place to sell more beer? The days
go by and the work gets done and I am having my ups and downs. This
must be
what its like to be in jail, you get so pale, never seeing any sun. The
dark is
fun, in a way, the stars are bright, outside of town, right here the
light
washes the sky to such a degree that you can hardly see anything. I am
missing
Summer in the hills and the people I would walk and swim with: A
penguinjection would be nice
To keep my blood becoming ice; But then when I go home someday, Unhappy I would be, if I had to wear an air-conditioned Coat on a sunny summer day. Down here I think I'd rather wear a hat! And long underwear and sweater, Overboots and overbritches, Scarf and gloves, two pairs of Mittens and on my feet: The more blue sox the better! Then... When I get home one day I’ll Just put on my skysuit; and In the woods I will go walking And in the river I will play. Well, so
much for May; I guess I'll end this letter, it cannot get any better.
Only
worse, if I persist in adding verse.
My love to
you all... Al
—30—
This
letter is COPYRIGHT by Alfred J. Oxton, 1988-2009, McMurdo Station,
Ross
Island, Antarctica.
No portion
may be reproduced by any means without my express written permission.
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A.J.Oxton, OA, OO, OAE, k1oIq
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Copyright © 2009, A.J.Oxton, The Cat Drag'd Inn ,
03813-0144.