Happy Father's Day and Summer Solstice

Greetings from the Far North,

This is a happy day for me, it is Father's Day and it is the Summer Solstice.  I am happy it is Father's Day because I got a wonderful card from Allison, which made me a wee bit home sick.  I also got to call my Dad to wish him a happy Father's Day.  This really made my Sunday a happy occasion.  So for all you Dad's out there, I hope that y'all had as good a day as I have had.

The Summer Solstice is a big todo in the Arctic and Antarctic communities.  For the Arctic, it is the day when the sun is as high in the sky as it will get and summer is full swing.  In fact we had a high temperature today of 14 F.  It is fun to walk around without needing my heavy jacket.  The light winds also help a lot in making it feel so warm outside.  For the Antarctic the solstice means the sun is coming back and your winter is halfway done.  In fact it is called Mid-Winter's Day around the continent.  One of the nice traditions started a while back is for all of the different stations to send each other an E-Card wishing everybody a safe and happy day.  I have changed my blog's picture to the Summit Solstice greeting picture we sent out.  It is a fun day and a lot of fun to participate in.  Over on my Picasa site I have made a new folder just to contain all of the greetings we have received in the last couple of days.  Take a look, there are some good ones from Russia, Italy and Uruguay.

Last night, being a Saturday night and with nobody having to work the next morning, we celebrated the Solstice.  We had asked everybody to change into their best clothes for dinner so we could celebrate.  We pulled out our linen's and candles and rearranged the tables in the Big House so we could all sit together.  Our dinner consisted of steak and crab cakes, with roasted veggies and a lemon cake for dessert.  Somebody even pulled out a bottle of wine, so that we could all have a sip to celebrate.  It was a wonderful dinner.  Afterwards we rearranged the furniture again, this time into a theater type setting and we watched Interstellar.  Not a bad way to end the day.

Well, as the day is coming to a close, I want to wish everybody a happy Father's Day and for those of us in the far north, enjoy the summer while it lasts.

Summit Camp's Day Off

Here we are on a lazy Sunday morning.  Summit Station's one day off a week.  When you sign up to work at Summit, you sign an agreement that says you are willing to work 6 days a week and 10 hours a day.  It makes for a long week, but then there is nothing to do here after hours.

Sundays are the one day when the whole station slows down and takes a deep breath.  The kitchen is DIY, the laundry is usually going continuously and people are few and far between.  Here it is 12 noon and there are only 5 of us here in the Big House.  I managed to get into the shower this morning (first shower since I got here two weeks ago) and wash myself down.  I also threw all of my clothes and bed sheets into the washer/dryer.  What a great thing it is to feel clean.

One of my activities that I have been doing after dinner is to walk around the station.  If you can imagine a triangle, with each point being one of the buildings on station, that is my route.  Starting at the Big House, I walk 0.6 km to TAWO, then over to the MSF ~0.5 km and then back to the Big House.  I have been doing this loop 2-3 times a night, just to get some exercise in.  During the work day, depending on what I am working on, I can do the MSF to TAWO leg 3-4 times.

My work has been going slowly and I still have quite a bit to go.  I have two weeks left on station to get the everything finished.  So, not only is it a Sunday, it is my half way point as well.  Yippie.

May all of you have a wonderful Sunday as well.