Busy days on the ice

I've been at the pole for about a week now, and I not only settled in but extremely busy. My first task here is to perform some essential calibrations of the telescope, using an instrument that just arrived a couple of days ago on one of the flights. Each day I walk back and forth to the telescope several times, since the meals are all served back at the station. It's a 15 or 20 minute walk across the ice each way. Despite the fact that the landscape is utterly flat and featureless except for the station buildings, it is still so unique and so fascinating. Every day the features in the snow are different, and in the sunny weather we've had lately, the landscape is luminous and full of sparkle.