Monday, November 20
We are finished with the seismic data collection!!! We finished around 4 pm on Sunday (or about 10 pm on Saturday for you), which was a cold and windy day, with little sun as the clouds tormented us with weak rays from the sun all day long. Most of us are too tired and too dirty to celebrate, as many just want to get home. However, for me, I clearly have mixed feelings about finishing. Although I am tired from the work and from the constant cold, a remarkable episode is quickly ending and I am feeling a deep sadness that this adventure is almost over. For this place has “tamed me” as the fox was in “The Little Prince”, it has become my friend, and when I hear the wind blows it is not always the angry sound of “what are you doing here? You have no right to be in my realm”, but more of an acceptance of this small fragile living entity that has protected itself against the elements, meandering about on the sea ice, and trying to become one with this majestic place. I think that when I feel the cold wind in the future, it will not bring me discomfort, but remind me of the memories of looking at the 3800 meter peaks of the Royal Society Mountains on one side or Mt Erebus on the other, puffing and billowing smoke. And these memories will be able to warm my heart against any wind chills.
This place has touched me like almost no other. I have gotten to know this place and I feel that this land has gotten to know me. For me, it takes time to sit, listen, and see around, it also takes a lot of patience and letting the place envelop me. It also takes being away from distractions. As I reflect on how I have let this cold frozen land enchant me, becoming mesmerized by it’s awesome beauty; I realize that so much of this place has become part of my inner being forever. I feel such a love for this place as it has been etched into my soul so deeply, I cannot help but wonder whether a little bit of me will be remembered by this land. While I am here, I feel connected to it and it has come to accept me reluctantly. But also in a more concrete way, my presence also affects the landscape as the snow reflects the colors that I am wearing, and the ice and snow turns a pale orange color when the bright orange trailer slides by as the white snow picks up all of the colors that come its way. The mountains also pick up the colors and when they are in shadows, they become this deep blue color. As this place has reluctantly accepted me here, I wonder if some of my colors will linger on this remote and desolate landscape. After I am gone, will the ice long for some of my colors and wish to change hues as my shadow passes over it as well?
I have often tried to try to quiet my physical, mental, and emotional states so I can sense what is important here. This has been hard to do sometimes as we are always working hard to get the job accomplished. However, I have on occasion taken jobs that got me away from everyone and everything, allowing me to just sit and see, listen, and feel. The best job is when it is windy. The wind makes the geophones move or blows snow on them, so it is the job of the “line person” to take a radio with them and go on a skidoo and ride up and down the geophone line and push into the geophones into the snow. The Geophysists radio me to tell me which geophones are "noisy". Since the line is 1.5 kilometers long, often I end up sitting out somewhere on the line with my skidoo turned off (the noise of the engine will interfere with the seismic when they are shooting) for 10 to 15 minutes at a time. There I lay on my skidoo and gazing out to the Royal Society Mountains, the dominant volcano, Mt Discovery, or the active volcano called Mt Erebus and letting the images of these peaks to get burned into my mind and heart. I listen as the wind swirls around me and my little skidoo and can sometimes even watch it as it picks up the fine snow and blows it across this now frozen sea.
