Annie Woodford - Ice Queen

Annie's work has struck a chord with me and her obsession with frozen environments and the nature of ice brings another dimension to the forthcoming trip.

Her book, Tracing the Line of Existence was one of my most treasured Christmas presents, reminding me of the ability ice has to encapsulate time. Sledding across lakes and landscapes which hold untold stories had a deep impact on me in February but only retrospectively as my body and mind were too engaged in concentrating on the task in hand; staying warm and upright. Next year I hope to be able to open my mind to the landscape, whilst staying upright.

A quote in Annie's book, from Stephen J. Pyne's The Ice is wonderfully profound, he refers to ice as "..a white warp in space and time". Her website is really worth a visit:

http://anniewoodford.co.uk/

and she will be exhibiting as part of Collect at the Saatchi Gallery in May 2011

Collect 2011

Thanks!

To Victoria and Nicholas for their kind donation!

Christmas day swim

Snow was melting but it was still verycold

Mulled wine being served

Our Christmas card

is here:

http://ea-ac.com/

Oh what a night...

late December and all that, but this year it's particularly magical as we experience the lowest temperatures in the UK for many Christmases and today, the winter solstice, also brought a Lunar Eclipse: The BBC has some great shots here .



I celebrated by getting my Father's old telescope out of storage and finally getting it working.








The cloud cover was too dense at the actual moment of the eclipse but the sky was pretty spectacular over the sea as a result.

Rob celebrated by sleeping out in the snow in preparation for Arctic nights to come.

Sponsorship link

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/eastanglianarcticchallenge

Toasty warm

I shall now be verywarmclaire whist feeding the dogs on our trip as I had a birthday yesterday and my Mother-in-law gave me the best gloves ever! They are windproof, waterproof and have huge cuffs, which tie up over your out layers. I now need the weather to get cold here again so that I can wear them in as they are rather stiff.


Mertz gave me some sheepskin boots too, so my extremities are well catered for.

The weather really has warmed up though and this morning I was able to swim in the sea again, although I didn't stay in long as the tide was so far out that it was hard to get under. A great way to start a new year though.

Pasta Power

The Lovely people at Pasta Foods have offered to provide us with the right kind of nutrition to keep us going in the Arctic in the form of a case of pasta! We are looking forward to Rob and Andy's pasta power recipes...coming soon?