Zenith: Home a month now...

...and no, I'm not ready to head back on the road just yet!

I've been to Boston and New Jersey for a weekend each - good to see family and get out a bit, but on my way back to Vermont this past Sunday, I was exhausted and tired of driving...

Being home is wonderful. Spring looks like it might finally stick around for its customary week, before summer begins, and the daffodils are up and the lake level is going down!

I'm working three days a week at the Addison Independent, the local newspaper, wearing my usual multiple hats - writer, photographer, techie, web guy, and so on. It's good fun, and they are (as always) great folks to work with!

I'm also thinking a lot of my friends still on the Ice (or, in the case of Mo and Kirsten, back for a quick visit to Palmer) and hoping they're doing well as darkness sets in... Send a thought their way if you would - they're great folks, and they're undertaking an amazing personal challenge. As oblivious as the Ice mindset may be to the world, it always comforted me a little bit to know that the World did carry on...

I've been reading a whole heck of a lot, and I've really enjoyed several of the books, so here's a quick trip through three of them, if you're interested!

1. Sun Dancing, by Geoffrey Moorhouse (Harcourt, Brace: 1997). My sister and her boyfriend gave this to me for "Christmas in April," along with a great David Wilcox CD called East Asheville Hardware... It's about life in the monastery on Skellig Michael, a rock off the west coast of Ireland, in the early Middle Ages. The life those men led was amazing - puts the Ice into context of sorts - and was fascinatingly well-research and well-written. Lots to learn about Ireland, religion, and life in tough places...

2. Following the Brush, by John Elder (Beacon, 1993). John is a good friend of mine and was a professor of mine at Middlebury, where he still teaches. He and his family took off to live in Japan for a year, with his kids enrolled in Japanese schools, and everything. It's an incredible story of learning and cultural interchange, told in John's soft, insightful and deeply personal tone. His interaction with nature and the Japanese ideal of nature are particularly fascinating, as are his relations of daily life in a truly foreign place, which, no matter how friendly, is still far from home.

3. Consilience, by Edward O. Wilson (Abacus, 1998). One of those books I saw in about 10 bookstores before I finally just bought it. Jane will like this one in particular - it'll make her think about how science and humanity coexist and the interrelationships between all things, from subatomic particle to universe. A search for a "theory of everything," Consilience looks to unite history, philosophy (including political philosophy, Heather!), science, and other disciplines into a cohesive view of the world as it truly is. A scientist in search of a Buddhist ideal is rare, and it's interesting, It took a whole heck of a lot of brainpower to move through, though, so be ready to work when you pick it up!

That's all for now - be well, and write when you get a chance!

Love, Jeff

Antarctica (Oct 1999-Feb 2000)

I deployed to McMurdo Station, Ross Island, Antarctica from Christchurch, New Zealand, in mid-October 1999.

I did some exploring around McMurdo and got to take a trip to Cape Roberts, where there's a science project drilling deep into the sea floor looking for climate data.

I met some very cool folks, and saw some of the historical sites of the Ross Island area.

The paper I worked for is The Antarctic Sun.


Summary of New Zealand 1999

I drove all over New Zealand during 1999 in the company of hawks, which the Maori call Kahu. Here are a couple of images they have let me make of them; indeed I wouldn't have photographed them at all if I hadn't felt them ask me to.




This map is pretty much complete, but doesn't include my brief side trip to the bottom of the Coromandel peninsula:

Albert Town, near Wanaka, South Island, New Zealand

I showed 11 pictures to 6 residents of Albert Town to get their feedback, and to learn more about Albert Town than I might otherwise in in-depth interviews.

I chose the 11 images for various reasons. Each picture has a brief caption and some comments about it from Albert Town residents.

Moira Fleming on Albert Town's history:


Peter Cross, foreground, fixes a broken shed, with the help of Harry Dickey.

Comments by Moira Fleming








Looking toward the poplars on the Cardrona riverbank.

Comments by Rae Benfell








Templeton and Son, the garage, smithy, and engineering shop.

Comments by Moira Fleming









Alison Hebbard, Bruce Hebbard, and Rae Benfell on the day Bruce and Alison were clearing the section next to Rae's, on which their parents will build a home.









A view down Kingston Street in lower Albert Town, looking towards the old building at the bottom of the street.

Comments by Moira Fleming














Moira Fleming, right, answers a question posed by Henry Dickey, left.
Comments by Ida Darling

Comments by Moira Fleming








The monument and tree in the Albert Town cemetery.

Comments by Ida Darling















The sign and the riverfront.

Comments by Moira Fleming

Comments by Maxene Cranston








The road counter at Dale Street.

Comments by Moira Fleming










Community association members voting on having a Christmas party, during the midwinter potluck in June.

Comments by Moira Fleming

Comments by Ida Darling and Phyllis Spraule






Logan Hebbard watches his son, Bruce, clear the land where Logan and his wife will build a home.

Comments from Ida Darling

Jade carving

Carving jade, or greenstone, or pounamu (its Maori name) is a difficult process, even with modern tools. But what humans now do with bench grinders, motorized drills, and silica carbide (synthethic diamonds), the Maori carvers used to do with stone...


It all starts as a boulder of jade, formed by still-unexplained forces beneath the crust of the earth. Cut into blocks and then into thin slices, jade begins to take shape.

But before anything can really be made of the jade, a design must be devised. Join Stuart Stephenson of London, England as he designs and makes his piece of jade.

There are many options for a design. You can choose a traditional design, such as the common fish-hook or a spiral of various kinds. Or you can design your own, which involves drawing and re-drawing in search of just the right form.

Stuart went through several pages of paper before deciding on the piece he wanted to make. It's just third from the right on the top row, above, looking a bit like a flame.

Now it's a matter of grinding a larger piece of jade down to the size and shape Stuart needs. He starts with a piece of jade just about the right size, and steps over to the bench grinder.

It starts with a very rough grind, as shown below, by the hard sharp edge of the piece.

Gordon Wells, the jade carver who supervises and instructs along the way, demonstrates each step before letting Stuart take over.

The grinding isn't very fast work, because jade is very hard (8 on the Mohs scale). Even synthetic diamonds (not quite 10 on the Mohs scale) have a tough time. After a while, though, the piece begins to take shape.



When the design is finally roughed out with the grinder, it's time to put in the details.

For the finer, closer work, a drill is the best tool. It has a silicon carbide tip as well, and, like the grinder, has a stream of water directed on it to cool the drill and the jade, as well as to carry away the fine jade dust. Gordon demonstrates how to use it.



The first form is made by drilling a hole straight through the jade and then widening it in the intended direction. This is a technique developed by the original Maori jade carvers, who realized that rubbing away pieces of jade was harder than going through it (which was hard enough, but removed more jade for the same effort).


Stuart continues to drill the design into the jade, working carefully to avoid error. Error is possible, but because of the hardness of jade, very unlikely and minimal if the carver is paying any attention at all. It takes a significant amount of effort and time to do anything with jade, intended or not.

Moving the piece and the drill around to get the best angle, Stuart begins to be able to see his design take shape.

Gordon watches carefully to be sure Stuart is using the tools properly.

When the form is finished, Stuart then has to round over the edges.

Gordon helps out, checking Stuart's progress and doing some of the truly challenging parts himself.

Then he puts Stuart back to work on the rest of the piece.

After the piece is finished drilling, it's time to polish the jade.

Sanding puts the final polish on the jade. It takes a long time, longer usually than the grinding and drilling. It's done by hand and acquaints the carver intimately with the piece.

There are five levels of sanding paper, increasing in fineness from 150 to 1200. The process involves sanding, rinsing in water, and sanding again. The jade must be sanded wet until the very final step, when it is buffed dry before polishing.


Stuart sands and sands. Each time he must check with Gordon before progressing to the next fineness of sanding paper.

At long last, after several hours, the piece is finished!