This kind of cold takes over the air and the matter on the ground, it envelopes life, shapes it and dominates it, gets into the house, the bones, it turns the animals passive and anxious, it alters movement and becomes a consciousness all of it’s own, bitter cold has a clarity that nothing, not even extreme heat has. It is a part of winter life here, and in many other places, and I get used to cold, I do not get used to being this cold. There is a penetrating clarity about it, life is sharp and intense.