Day 17, December 20, 7:03 a.m.

Well, the Cold Moon brought the goods. My first truly cold walk, 17F. Seemed like a fairly good reason to march straight up a hill—good thing this landscape is made up of nearly nothing but!

Prior to today, I have been seeing great flocks of robins congregating in muddy, mucky, swampy, wet areas. But today they were gone. I had been wondering if they were feeding on worms and other luscious things that live there. The cold hit so hard and fast that much is now frozen. I guess the robins have left for now.

I remember hearing once about how some scientists don’t really see the change of seasons as a thing that happens on a given day. Rather they look at them as continuums of change that are constantly advancing and retreating. Glaciers and ice sheets move this way, even though they look static. They are not. They’re in constant motion.

Perhaps winter is, too. Marching forward, then back, until it feels static, but maybe that’s actually the point where the scale tips and spring starts tripping into the frame, too. Perhaps other systems might make more sense if we viewed them on a spectrum of advance and retreat? Maybe people would make more sense if we allowed for similar variations over time? #MeetingMorning