Happy Election Day !

The days are getting long here. This morning started beautifully at 3:30 when the sun shone in my windows. Resigned to being awake, and somewhat excited by the sunshine, I pulled on warm clothes and went for a walk.

Here's what I saw...

At 4:00, the sun lit up the mountains of the continent, to the south of station. Terns and albatross were fishing off the coast.

I turned toward the glacier and decided on a leisurely climb up it. The snow from last night formed a fine powdery layer that crunched under my feet and made the walking easy, even without crampons.

By 5:00 I reached the top and looked out. The local islands were hardly discernible from the glittering water. The sun was high in the sky now, almost where one would think of at noon. Today will be almost 17 hours long.

Standing still, I could hear the sounds of the glacier creaking and groaning as well as elephant seals, off somewhere in the distance.

I clamored down and around the crest to look down at cracked ice. With the warm sunny day ahead, these spires and meringues will be moving and slumping all day.















Standing there in the sun, I thought about the new day here and the new day in America. I submitted my vote by fax a week ago but today I wish I were back in the US. I'll miss the excitement and the hustle and bustle.

To everyone back there, Happy Election Day ! We'll be tuned in to CNN tonight.

(Also, I extend big apologies for the lack of posts in the last two weeks. I was fighting technical difficulties here and a general lack of time. But now everything is sorted out again and I'll be making up for lost time with a number of updates this week, so keep checking back).