Icy insomnia can open a night landscape of weird, glorious beauty

Evidence

When I woke, the moon was high shining through the silvery branches, whitening the bald Peak above, and glittering on the great abyss of snow behind, and pine logs were blazing like a bonfire in the cold still air. My feet were so icy cold that I could not sleep again, and getting some blankets to sit in, and making a roll of them for my back, I sat for two hours by the camp-fire. It was weird and gloriously beautiful. The students were asleep not far off in their blankets with their feet towards the fire. — Isabella L. Bird, A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, 121

Categorization

• SEED: The sleepless woman alone by a mountain campfire while others sleep is a vivid scene-seed for a piece about the private reward of public exhaustion.
• XREF: connects to: Deep tiredness enables a special kind of perception and calm — Byung-Chul Han, The Burnout Society, 82; Rarefied mountain air saps evening mental energy while sharpening observation — Isabella L. Bird, A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, 359

Broader Connections

• Deep tiredness enables a special kind of perception and calm #expands (0.82) — Byung-Chul Han, The Burnout Society, 82
• Rarefied mountain air saps evening mental energy while sharpening observation #expands (0.75) — Isabella L. Bird, A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, 359