Rotarian Ugur Ergun Takes Club on a Journey to Antarctica
Weather: sunny, very windy - gusts up to 60 mph. Great luncheon - as usual - consisting of baked fish and beef as main dishes, cooked vegetables, fresh salad, and dessert.
Attending were 18 Lexington Rotarians one visiting Rotarian, our buddy PP Paul from the Rotary Club of Burlington, and guest Jim Rooney from Woburn.
Raffle gifts were donated by Arlex Oil, Eagle Bank, and Rotary Club of Lexington.
The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Meagan M., First Verse of America by PP Spencer B., and the Invocation given by PP Don S.
Happy Dollars:
- PP Dan O. – for his vacation in Anguilla, and in honor of his granddaughter, Kendra, for her Hayden Syncro skating team’s amazing accomplishments, now going to the national competitions for maybe a championship.
- PP Dan B.– in honor of the Hayden skating teams for their distinguished history, and present competitiveness.
- PP Spencer B. for enjoyment of skating with his son and celebration of his mom's 80th birthday.
- PP John O. in honor of his mom, Cathleen (Kay) O'Donnell, who recently passed away (so sorry again, John - we are with you).
- PP Frank S. for his son Ben's receiving two writing awards for ‘Barry” on HBO.
- SAA Allan A. for a great vacation in Palm Springs, CA.
- Meagan M. for a nice time in Durham, NH with the Friends Forever Organization.
Announcements:
- Michael Stare - our guest speaker on health several weeks ago, thanking us,
- March 18 –meeting at Minuteman High School; their fundraiser is now and will end March 1,
- Patriots’ Day for Rotary Club of Lexington – face painters – please arrive at 10:30 AM; also for selling hats,
- April 18 – joint meeting with Rotary Club of Concord 12 PM – 1:30 PM, Colonial Inn, Concord,
- Comedy Night will be on May 10 - more to come on that,
- PP Spencer B. announced that March Madness Squares are being sent out, at $20 per chart.
Our Speaker Today:
Our speaker was our very own Ugur E. Ugur had a slide presentation and talk about his recent trip with his daughter, Aylin, and wife, Elcin, to Antarctica. It is now summer there. They flew to Santiago Chile, got to the southern tip of South America, and took a small ship that can break through ice, but it was not an actual heavy-duty ice breaker, to Antarctica – about 1.5 days each way. They went because Ugur’s daughter wanted to go to Antarctica. Ugur said the winter there is not colder than Boston in the daytime, about 30 – 35° F. the nights are colder, however. Lots of large glaciers, and they viewed them both in daytime and nighttime. On the slides he was showing, Ugur said the black markings on the glaciers are areas that are up to 10,000 years old. He said Antarctica is one of the purest places on earth. Lots of photos taken. Good food! Coffee and Kahlua make up some of the traditional drinks on this trip! Nightlife also consists of tours - lighting and colors are amazing, including sunsets and sunrises. Wildlife is varied and unique, consisting of penguins of all types, different species of seals and birds, and they observed, close up, orcas– killer whales, and humpback whales. The ship also made its way through Drake Passage, known to be the most dangerous place in the oceans, where the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans meet. A terrific talk with beautiful slides! So happy for you and your family, and thank you for your presentation, Ugur.
The 50-50 raffle was for $50 and was won by PP Lori M., after which the meeting was adjourned by President Michelle.
Respectfully submitted, PP Murry A.