Winter \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Cold Moon<\/p>\n
Cold at these intensities reaches up and slaps you, says pay attention! \u00a0This cold, this very chilled air now seeping into our house once sat over the Arctic circle, but slumped its ways\u00a0south, slouching like Yeats’ rough beast, its hour come round at last.<\/p>\n
(arctic sea ice)<\/p>\n
We’re in the way as it heads away from the pole or, rather, there’s nothing in the way as it descends toward us. \u00a0No mountains. \u00a0No great lakes. \u00a0No cities. \u00a0Only forest and tundra and smaller lakes. \u00a0We are, our meteorologist of some note, Paul Douglas, says, one of the coldest major metropolitan areas in the world. \u00a0And damn proud of it, too.<\/p>\n
This cold is life rejecting, bone and tissue freezing, the temperature equivalent of the fallow season. \u00a0Nothing can live in it. \u00a0For long. \u00a0Bears hibernate. \u00a0Oh, yes, there are the polar bears, the wolves, the wolverines and fishers and martens, yes, and they hunt the others who struggle. \u00a0Rabbit. \u00a0Deer. \u00a0Moose. \u00a0Mice.<\/p>\n
But mostly life slows down. \u00a0Goes inside the house or den or bar. \u00a0Throw a log on the fire, turn the thermostat up, draw the down-filled duvets up close.<\/p>\n
There is, too, another side to the cold. \u00a0It’s emotional cost. \u00a0Having to brace the cold all the time can be exhausting. \u00a0It contributes to the desire to run outside naked, screaming aloha, hunting for one of those umbrella drinks, even if you no longer drink.<\/p>\n
Like those who live in any extreme weather environments either you make your peace with it or you find a different place to live. \u00a0I appreciate the cold’s ascetic qualities, its purity and clarity. \u00a0It’s single-minded devotion to being one thing. \u00a0It’s not like those variable humid days in summer when the wind can blow cool, then warm. \u00a0No, when it’s cold, it either stays cold or get colder. \u00a0Then, when it leaves, like pain, it is as if it had never been.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Winter \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Cold Moon Cold at these intensities reaches up and slaps you, says pay attention! \u00a0This cold, … Continue reading Cold<\/span>