ART and ANTARCTICA
August 7, 2011
My current Six-Word Memoir...
That done, on to some quick art blog challenge responses:
SUNDAY POSTCARD ART requested art with pirates as the theme. When my grandson was younger, he loved anything with pirates...this is for Hunter... THEME THURSDAY was dreaming about Paris. I'm ALWAYS dreaming about Paris... when I'm not dreaming of Africa :o) COLLAGE OBSESSION is continuing to ask for art based on the 7 Deadly Sins...this one's GREED... Finally, THE THREE MUSES wanted some angelic art... I worked with a beautiful cemetery angel that I found in Umbria, Italy. On to the travel part of the posting...
Penguins are the superstars, but ice defines Antarctica!
I hope you're enjoying your summer (or current season, depending where you are in the universe!) It's been an exceptionally hot summer in Central New York, but it's been nicely mixed with rain, so a lush green blanket covers the land. The extreme heat and humidity have brought back memories of our trip to Antarctica several years ago. Our expedition to the White Continent, Antarctica (South Pole) started with a trip through Chile where we boarded our small ship with ice cutters for use as we approached the continent. Wandering Albatross followed our progress
as we journeyed through the treacherous Drake Passage...one of the most severe bodies of water in the Southern Ocean, if not the world!
We met our first penguins and seals in the South Shetland Islands. The penguins were a raucous, pungent collection of CHINSTRAP and GENTOO penguins and their chicks....the seals were silent observers.
It was magical to walk and sit among these penguins who were as tall as my knees... to quietly observe their comical, curious ways and personalities.
Our weather, throughout the expedition was generally cloudy or rainy and felt like winter in Central New York (although it was summer in Antarctica.) But, our spirits weren't dampened as we observed a variety of species of penguins, seals and whales on a daily basis. As we navigated further south, towards the White Continent, more and more ice appeared...much of it populated by our penguin characters. The natural ice sculptures were breathtaking...their azure-color almost dreamlike.
Packed ice and giant ice floes, icebergs and ice fields (defined by size) often made navigation difficult...
but we did well, even landing on some of the islands as well as on the continent of Antarctica. We loved kayaking with an audience of penguins observing!
Our trip was a once in a lifetime sojourn...but I'd return there in a heartbeat! The rivers of Antarctica will continue to flow and ice will continue to form as it has done forever, connecting the sea and sky. We have captured the colors of her depths, breathed her wild perfumes (some more pleasing than others,) we have walked across her spectacular contours and been shaped by her weather... Antarctica will be part of us evermore!
Thanks for stopping by...see you next time?
xox,
abbyj
Actually, Chief Louis Farmer was my friend. He was a sitting chief for the Onondaga Nation, one of the 6 nations of the Iroquois Nations or Confederacy. The Onondaga Reservation is quite close to our home and I have several dear friends there... friends for almost 25 years. They've been a real gift in my life as I hope I have been in theirs... Louie's gone now, but I remember his stories and keep him in my heart... 
