Sandburg

Today a friend of poetry send me this link. It's been a long time since I've read Sandburg, but this one refreshed my memory and made me want some more.

This week I have a book swap at work, and it will be painful to cull the books off of my shelves, but it's time to clear the dust away and get rid of some that I either never read, or never found interesting enough to keep, or simply did not fall in love with.

Bad Poetry

Interesting article. I hope I get the point if someone starts throwing produce at me.

May 16, 2008

This title is the reason I have a hard time putting together poetry manuscripts!
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This weekend we're celebrating birthdays: Claire's 3rd (!) and Marc's . I have not been very good at planning this year, so it's small--a few friends and family for a barbeque. It's just hard for me to believe it was 3 years ago that I was in and out of the hospital with her.
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Devyn is a rock star!

poetry in the shower

poetry in the shower
Originally uploaded by squeedunk

This is the only way i get to write these days with the two kids. Once I broke out the bath crayons, it was easy. 3 poem drafts later, and i'm on a roll!

Coming out of the Drake

This morning, we're closer to Tierra del Fuego, and the ride is much calmer
than when we hit the open Drake down by the Peninsula. People are coming
out of their cabins, and eating, which is always a good thing. This
morning, I didn't get up in time for a nice sunrise, but I did see 20 or so
albatross flying around the back of the ship, riding thermals. They were
just beautiful, and to see so many at once was pretty amazing. It's got to
be a hard life, growing up a little bit and then leaving home to go to sea
for three years before coming back, making babies, and then doing it
again. It seems they never rest.

We'll be coming into PA early in the morning tomorrow, and then I'll be in
PA until mid-April... after a trip like this, it really does make me want
to go home right now, but we have to wait for the other research vessel to
arrive. My babies are growing like gangbusters at home without me, and
Marc is hanging in there, getting a little help this weekend. I'll take
full advantage of being in a hotel and getting lots of good night's sleep
so I can make it up to him when I get back.

Sunday at Palmer

Sundays are great days at Palmer; almost everyone has the day off, including the chefs, so everyone fixes their own meals, hangs out in the lounge or bar or galley, reads the paper, and comics.... the instrument tech is baking bread, and others are already out hiking for the day. I'm working, albeit at a slower and more social pace than other days, sitting on the couch in the galley. It was very windy last night, so the boat had to actually turn on its engines to stay at the pier.

We leave tomorrow at 10:00 Chilean time. We had daylight savings last night, so fell back (it's fall down here) and got an extra hour's sleep. I hope it's good weather tomorrow, as we'll go through the Newmayer, which can be just gorgeous. You can track our progress at this link which is pretty cool.

I hope to hike up the glacier today after lunch, and then finish up some work. With a little luck, I'll find a card game or two, too!

We've arrived at Palmer

We got in yesterday, actually, but we hit the ground running, despite the dock rock, which some of us are still suffering from. There's lots to do in the 5 days we're here, but I'm trying to get through a lot of it so that I can be ready for an opportunity to go boating. I'm reminded time and again why this is such a wonderful place--not just Antarctica, but Palmer Station. There are some of the best people who work here, in very close quarters, and are just amazing at what they do and their ability to be so accommodating after a long and hard season of work.

Bumpy Ride

We're almost out of the Drake Passage, and it's been a rather average
ride, with about 20 foot swells and 30 knot winds. This kept most people
awake trying to figure out how to either a) protect their heads and feet
from slamming into the head and foot of their bunks, or b) stay in their
bunk. My room has the bunks running bow to stern, so with the roll coming
from the port and rolling starboard, it was a challenge not to be thrown
out of my bunk. My roommate said she tucked her hand/arm under her
mattress (she's in the top bunk). Everyone's pretty sleepy this morning,
though. We'll get to Palmer Station tomorrow morning, but the ride should
get smoother later this afternoon. It's pretty gray out, so no real good
photos to post. I'll post a bunch when we get to Palmer.

Birders would love it here--We saw lots of birds a few days ago, but when
we're in the middle of the Drake, they're hard to come by. We saw
different albatross, petrels, and terns. I'll try to snag some photos
from friends with better cameras than me and post them for those of you
with an interest.