Goodbye sun

The only fitting way to bid farewell to the sun is to throw one big party.

The weather didn't quite coorperate and we actually had snowfall for most of March 21 which turned out to be a cloudy flat day. Although we couldn't see the sun, we still had our traditional Sunset Dinner and once again got out the table cloths for a fabulous plated dinner with your choice of salmon:

...fresh portabello mushrooms that were still actually fresh:

...surf 'n turf or just plain turf:

...and of course dessert, a choice of a sinfully decadent layered ice cream dessert or the best homemade apple pie you've ever had.

Our cooks Deb, Michael and Chris put in a lot of time and hard work to pull off a memorable feast that marks the real start of winter. When you're eating that well, it's easy to forget that you're in a frozen wasteland for a polar winter.

With the sun no longer dominating the landscape, the old familiar sights of winter are starting to appear. Today was our first good look at our forgotten friend the moon, which comes up for 2 weeks at a time then disappears for 2 weeks. The full moon seemed as bright as a lightbulb in the twilight sky.

And the sun isn't quite done with us...this afternoon as we were walking back from the South Pole Telescope Open House, a blazing orange sky over the station reminded us that the sun was just below the horizon. We'll have a few more weeks yet before the dark of the night begins.