Cold is certainly a relative thing to ponder

Seneca Lake house in winter
Originally uploaded by Brite light photos.

VALOIS, N.Y. - The photo with today's blog is actually several weeks old, sent to us from Brett and Denise, who are house sitting the Seneca Lake cottage for the winter.

With a new fireplace insert - and obviously a few cords of wood - they hope to avoid frostbite and report that despite how cold this photos looks, inside is quite cozy.

I thought about this photo today when I was outside hanging Christmas lights on the outside of our Land Park house in Sacramento, the wind brisk and the temperature, oh, probably around 50 degrees.

I was freezing. As in freeze-the-appendages off an Eskimo freezing.

Last night we actually had a frost and for just a minute I thought I might have to scrape the windshield of my truck before I drove it this morning. (I didn't, it was probably 45 by the time I got ready to leave.)

So in New York, when it's above 32, it's practically T-shirt weather, in California it has to hit about 60-plus for me to put the shorts back on. (That will be in early February, I hope.)

But in Florida, my friend Sanders reports that he actually had to resort to a long-sleeved shirt for awhile today.

Mon dieu! Mon dieu!

In the meantime, I'm going to my woodpile in the back room and grab one of those presto log things for the fireplace to make the living room look, well, cozy, now that's it's decorate.

And so, like the song says: Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

Not!