winter is cold. where i am in melissa, the seasons are very pronounced as the milean sea gyre strengthens in winter, bringing cold northern water to the coast of melissa, and sea ice to fuun.

winter’s momentum permeates all aspects of life. winter is a time for spiraling into aloneness or productivity or vitamin D deficiency or anything else. this is something that chrysanthemum embraces beautifully.

winter is beautiful, but primarily in how painful it is, and in the relief that it imparts onto the other seasons in conrtast. winter is my least favorite season since i became cold. i used to never get sick, and i wore the same thin coat every day through the colder half of the year, but now that i’m cold i get sick four times a winter. but still, i recognize that winter is the most important season, the one that defines all the other ones.

the first of my friends to emerge after the peak of winter are forsythia and plum, who bloom before they grow leaves, which i’m thankful for.

clementine gave me a book called The Gardener’s Year which talks about winter as a time of worry and preparation. but every season is a time of worry for the gardener.