O Christmas Tree!

I put up my Christmas Tree this past weekend. It's just a little one and all the ornaments are home-made but it was just what I needed to put me in the holiday spirit. On station, we're slowly ramping up for Christmas- we decorated cookies on Monday and the tree is going up on Thursday night.
I hope everyone out there is having a wonderful holiday season that's full of joy and peace.

New Antarctic Species?

The initial photographic evidence is blurry, but it appears that a new Antarctic species has been discovered. On December 4th, during dinner at Palmer Station, carpenter Alden Strong lifted his forkful of salad and found that it held more than the spinach salad he was expecting. A small slug was clinging to the spinach. Suspected to be of Chilean origin, scientists are currently studying the specimen, named Stevie by station members, to determine what adaptations it has made to be able to survive in the harsh Antarctic climes. Already, detractors are claiming that it's not a new species at all, simply a hitch-hiker on a delivery of Chilean spinach. We will report new details as they arise.

Cruise Ship Runs Aground

Yesterday, the Ushuaia ran aground about 5o miles from Palmer Station. The proximity to Palmer and the fact that the ship had just visited station on Tuesday makes this pretty exciting for us. We understand that everyone on the ship is fine and that rescue operations are under way. Here is a link to the story on CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2008/TRAVEL/12/04/stranded.ship.antarctica/index.html