We’re not a close community, by the standards that I know Youth Conservation Corps, anyway, but there is a nice balance to the group thus far. We all seem to move our own way as we adjust to winter, social to a point, but primarily acting solo or in small groups. There is no “include everybody” focus to our activities, just an easy meander about our days. This summer season felt very similar.

So the question, then - is the community different, or am I? Likely bits of both, to ponder as I fall to sleep.

We all adjust in our own way, but (save that it feels much longer) this week has been anti-climactic. Few folk seem publicly troubled by way of what they’ve committed to, and our transition to winter has gone smooth in regard to the pragmatic aspects (i.e. we have all of the fuel we need, we have enough experienced winterovers that station close was not a giant reinvention of previous wheels, nothing broke or blew up, etc.). While summer was fun (and had some wild dancing), the goodbyes were not terribly difficult. The folks I care to see again, I will, and there is rare exception to those not here whom I wish were.

I hesitate (and fear) when I think what a winter would have been like two years ago upon first planning to commit to one. What unfolds in this winter remains to be seen, but I am more confident with every day that I made the right choice to be here now as opposed to then.

And it’s a two-day weekend, so I get to sleep in tomorrow. I have to treasure these - we only get one a month. Projects on tap include making a couple of bean bags with feather pillows (so I guess not bean bags), patching up pants that didn’t survive the dancing season, some pictures (to be posted of our winter home), some cooking (the galley is ours on our days off, the cooks join us in leisure), and some board games (World War II strategy). It should be very, very laid back.

As an added bonus, it was -20F today. That may sound cold, but its thirty degrees warmer than two weeks ago. Summer attempting to make a brief resurgence…