So rare for me to spend a day almost entirely indoors - it happens, at most, once or twice a year. And I was happy to be in the massive, over-crowded conference center - it's stimulating to attend a writing conference, to encounter fresh people and ideas. But my body craves activity, my senses crave unfiltered air and natural light. I want to breathe in the cold and shiver enough to feel enlivened.

It was after dark when I exited the conference to the street noise and chaos of outdoor city life. Stepping out into the blunt force of freezing air, I'm relieved to be walking, but the tiny sidewalk trees are leafless, like tall sticks a child stuck in unclean patches of dirt. Nothing is natural, comfortable as a field.

Walking is stretching and waking my muscles and limbs but I want what is a little bit wild and very much comforting - a simple plant near a natural body of water. Then I look up. I notice a moon almost full, hanging high above the lamplight, and I suddenly feel I belong in this warmly lit neighborhood and I want to keep walking in the bright charm of this home away from home.

All photos and text copyright Kelly DuMar 2017