January 28, 2006 Tapas & Art
Today was Saturday and it was the last full Saturday for us at the Station. At 2 pm we did House Mouse, where everyone picks a clean-up chore from a hat. Today, I got the dreaded kitchen duty. This is usually the longest and most involved chore you can get. But it really wasn’t that bad for me. There were a bunch of us working and my main job was to clean and restock the cereal and coffee/tea shelves. I also helped with peeling garlic for the weekly supply.
After House Mouse we had the General Station Meeting at 3:30. Today, Joe Pettit took over as station manager, as Bob Farrell stepped down. Bob, who has been Station Manager since September, will be leaving on the next ship with us. Tracey Baldwin will be taking over as Laboratory Manager as Cara Sucher leaves with us as well. That is one thing about life on the Station – people come and go.
While we did House Mouse, Maria and Marge (the head cook at the Station) were busy preparing for a big Spanish Tapas dinner. This was Maria’s idea and she contributed a number of recipes. The variety of food they came up with was impressive and it was all fantastic. Maria’s specialty was a Spanish omelet which was mainly potatoes, eggs and onions. It was sweet and delicious. The potatoes they get from Chile are very sweet and it made this dish interesting. A good time was had by all. Such events really contribute to the family atmosphere here at Palmer Station. Its one of the nicest places I have ever worked.
The sun came out late this afternoon and it was gorgeous outside. It was comfortable to be out in just a shirt. If it weren’t for the fact that tonight was the big Palmer Station Art Exhibit, I suspect that everyone would have been out hiking or boating tonight. Instead we all gathered in the lounge for an Art Show. Everyone at the Station was invited to contribute some form of art to the show. It was amazing what people did. It ranged from hand-crafts like jewelry, woodwork, needlework, paintings, to poems and performances. The performances started out with Ray Najjar on guitar singing several songs. He got big applause from this and then he did a rendition of a Beatles song called “You Can’t Do That” in which he changed some of the words to fit life at Palmer Station. It was very creative and funny. Several people recited poetry from memory, including some rather long poems – that was amazing. Maria played the keyboard and Ray accompanied her on the base guitar. That was nice too. One fellow read a short story about life at McMurdo Station.
After the art show was over we all went out on the balcony of the GWR building and watched a gorgeous sunset. This was Nature’s art at its best – it was really special, as you can see in the photos. Looking back at the glacier was neat too, as the very tops of the big mountains were lit with an pink-orange light making them stand out against the blue white glacier. All in all it was another great day at Palmer Station. Tomorrow we plan to do an incubation experiment with water from both stations.
