To Strive, To Seek, To Find, And Not To Yield

…so reads the inscription on the Scott Cross at the summit of Observation Hill in memory of Robert Falcon Scott R.N. and the members of his party that perished on the return from the pole in March 1912. I have been walking up to the top of Ob Hill a lot this past week, not so much for the exercise, but rather for the break from the lab work and the spectacular views at the summit (although I suppose I could use the exercise as well!). I’ve noticed that these words have really persisted in my recent thoughts so I thought it an appropriate beginning to this week’s entry.

This past week has been the busiest I’ve yet experienced. As you can see from the photographs above, Pony Lake has finally begun to thaw. The upshot is that the helo rides are awesome, offering totally spectacular vistas of the sea ice and the TransAntarctic mountains. On the other hand, we sampled around 120L of Pony Lake water (smells worse than the bottom of a HutsonHut) so we have a tremendous amount of lab work to do this week. We’ve been pulling 12-14 hour days, and although it has been rewarding, the long days in the lab certainly take their toll. Nonetheless, the field work has been nothing less than thrilling... and the walks up Ob Hill have driven away the tedium of filtering and processing 120 L of diluted penguin poo...where I've also been inspired by the inscription on the Scott Cross.

As christmas draws near, I find myself missing my friends and loved-ones even more, so I want to wish all my friends and family a wonderful holiday season. As the saying goes - Absence certainly does make the heart grow fonder.