Mom's birthday

It is my mother's birthday today. In honor of my mother's birthday, I put one of her favorite flowers on my blog. She likes Queen Anne's lace, I think because her name is Ann. It is Feb 6 here already because we are on the other side of the date line. One way to think about it is that we are the "first" time zone and we start the day off here before everyone else does. In McMurdo we operate on New Zealand time because that is where the planes fly from. So far the day feels Antarctic, or kind of like an early February day in New Hampshire, where my mother lives. Here it is 20F, windy and overcast. I called my mother earlier to wish her happy birthday and she said that it was very cold and windy and that she knew it would be too cold to walk outside, so she and my godmother, Peggy, walked on the treadmill at the gym. Good for you Mom!
I want to write more soon about all of the ship activities here, which I will do in my next blog. There is alot of open water near station because the ice breakers have been opening a channel for the tanker and resupply ships. Because of all this open water, there are whales here, minke whales, swimming in the ship channel. Every time I look out to the turning basin for a few minutes, I see their spouts and their dorsal fins and backs. Minke whales are baleen whales and they eat little things like krill. We also have orcas here, which are toothed whales, but I have not seen any recenly. For now I am thinking about my mom and how much she loves flowers. Happy birthday Mom!