It’s been forever and a day since I last drank wassail. It’s now on my to-do list for this season. And I love love love grey skies, more than I can say. Autumn is my favorite season by far. It’s perfect book weather.

I hear you about the cold! Hot cocoa (with marshmallows, of course) and wassail have now taken their places on our shelves. Bring on the grey skies and scarves (oh yes!).

Barney: There does have to be heaven on earth somewhere. My guess is that it’s perhaps 300-900 miles from the equator, preferably somewhere that doesn’t flood. :) This is why I should’ve majored in geography… (Nice work on the website, by the way. I just e-mailed you about it.)

Bart: LOL :) Actually, I’m reading Connie Willis’s Doomsday Book right now (about the Black Plague) and I do feel feverish. But it’s just my imagination. :)

Marisa: Joni’s right, it’s a Bing Crosby reference that happened to pop into my mind when I was grubbing around for a title. Not much connection to anything except Christmas being in December and therefore in winter. I don’t know that I’d call my change of heart winter-love, though — too strong. Tolerance, maybe, but not much more than that. :P

Joni: LOL :) I grew up listening to that Bing Crosby Christmas album. Ah, the memories. And I fully believe you about the midwest/Canada (also known as Dante’s ninth circle ;)). That’s why I’m never going to live in either place. I’d prefer not to have to get prosthetics after the gangrene, thank you very much.

Mali: But Thanksgiving doesn’t have any music! How many Thanksgiving songs can you think of? Exactly. :)

I’m actually of the mind that every holiday should get it’s fair share of the limelight and being a fierce advocate for Thanksgiving, I feel it gets the short end of the stick far too often. That being said, I hold off on Christmas music until the day after Thanksgiving.

As for cold…brrr…60 and below is too cold for me. I’d much rather burn.

Oh and Ben, until you’ve spent a full winter in the midwest/Canada, you don’t know cold. Utah winters are for babies. And I’d rather die than go to a place that had no season change! I LOVE winter!

If someone else has the answer, let me know…I’d love to raise my kids there eventually. :) Heck, I’d like to finish raising myself there, too.

Also, Ben, you can now look at the www.togetherwecam.org site. I fixed a couple things, and the pictures stuff will be coming shortly. Until then, I’ll keep reading your blog, and you can try out my newest e-mail at: barney at barneylund dot com.

20 below–i revel in it. 75 above? i’m crawling out of my skin in agony.