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Out and About
posted by David on October 27, 2002 at 10:22 PM

I had a weekend in New York a week ago. I led two and a half workshops, and gave a luncheon keynote address for the Presbytery of New York City. Though a busy day, all went well. My classroom was on the twentieth floor of the bell tower of Riverside Church. At one point in the morning it sounded as though a cell phone was ringing. No one answered, so I assumed they were kind enough to wait. However, I later learned the sound was from a pair of perigrine falcons who nest in the tower. Had I known that, I would have stopped the class to have a look! My room was in a small apartment hotel between Times Square and Rockerfeller Center. It has been several years since I prowled that area, and I enjoyed being there again. Saturday I called a friend in Yonkers Ruth and I have known for about 20 years, and she took me to the Village for dinner. Along the way we saw two of the 9/11 walls of posters. It was sobering.

When I returned to Lvl, I began planning for the big expedition this winter—a trip to Antarctica. I have thought of doing this for several years, since I talked to a friend who had taken the trip. Last Christmas, Kim, Heather, Sarah, Ruth and I saw the movie about Shakelton, and I got juiced up again for the trip. Ruth had planned to go along, then began to think about how the cold would affect her arthritis, about the Drake Passage being one of the more turbulent seas, and a small ship with European cooks will not likely have non-gluten food. We called David, who was excited about leaving Alaska to go to Antarctica.(!) Because we need to fit his school schedule, we will leave December 16 and return about December 30. We will spend Christmas among the penguins (they are so sensitive to my needs).

We are scheduling through REI Adventures. We will sail on a small Finnish-built ship that is equipped for research in Arctic and Antarctic ice fields. It is now fitted for passengers, and carries 49 plus a crew of 23 (Russians). We will sail from the tip of Argentina, cross the Drake Passage to the Shetland Islands, then spend the rest of the time along the western coast of the Antarctic Pennisula. Since it is summer at that time, temperatures will not be bitterly cold. We will go to land almost every day. We will have three scientists with us, and the passenger list will likely include folks from around the world. It will be an expensive trip; however, David and I handle adventure travel well together, and I expect this to be a lifetime sort of experience.

Now that we have this fancy web site, David and I will be able to post all sorts of stories and pictures to keep folks entertained during the rest of the winter.

The one “casualty” of this trip is that Ruth and I will miss the Winter Event in Marco Island, FL during the first week of December. I have attended over 15 in a row, and for a term chaired the board of the sponsoring group. However, the alternative (Antarctica) seemed the better choice.

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Comments

Wow - guess that means you'll probably be having
a White Christmas. Have fun! :o)

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