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him a beer an change, but he insisted. He is from Calif. but lives now in S.W. Harbor, Maine. Opened my new address book &, guess what, not a tel. no. for Eliz. I was insane not to bring my old one. What did I hope to accomplish?

[[underline]] December 24 [[/underline]]: Thursday

We made it: first helo flight of the morning. Left McM ~ 9:30 - Ar. Allan Hills~11:00  12°f - clear, brilliant sun, absolutely windless. A stunning scene. My problem--don't I always have one?--is that I packed my brown ditty bag w all most personal items: wallet, t.checks. passport-also Balaclava, small mirror piece, bottle of wine, my face mask, and light important things. Packed 2 orange bags & brown bag, left them in hall
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downstairs, Bob transferred all 3 to outside & helped load truck. Then he & I walked over hill to helo. No bag at Allan Hills- I feel helpless.

Radioed message to look for it; also, I sent a note to Grace of the Berg Center when a second helo came in: We started out loaded to capacity inside w. a loadmaster in training. 4 people in back. Plus Bob's snowmobile hanging below by a cable. At Mauble Pt. they dropped the snowmobile. Radioed another helo in region to pick it up.

If I hear no more about my bag I will have

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to get word to Tom about credit cards & tcks. Meanwhile I feel messy (all face cream gone-toothbrush & paste, dental floss---) and ill equipped.

In this glorious place we pitched our tent & Ghislaine began to tell me all the procedures learned from John Schott. We had a communal lunch of rice & beef stew left over from yesterday. Then after putting things in order, ^[[~ 3:00 pm]] John asked if we would like to hunt for fossils (!) Great! Back to Man Haul Bay; the cool, petrif. wood, and [[underline]] this time [[/underline]] glossopteris seeds and leaves. I found them in shale above coal. They were what John & I were both looking for. We had a glorious time collecting & looking. [[underline]] glossopteris  [[/underline]] ! We had a real workout on skidoos - up icy sloped--w v. little traction. Couldn't make one of them & learned how my skidoo will swivel back-end down no matter what I want. Home to a Christmas Eve dinner of steaks, potatoes, broccoli and blueberry cheesecake. John Produced little xmas thermometer for each of us & xmas goodies from his aunt & uncle. caramel peanuts, petit fours. chocolate in small red & white boxes. Bob pulled out a harmonica and played carols etc. The evening continued windless & stunning. at 11:30 I am tired - probably affected by altitude (6000' - effectively 9000'). & ready for sleep.