Cold.

Here's a picture heading south through town taken a few days back. The Bellingham Herald building is to the right.

Today I am still battling a cold, so I am a bit crabby and feeling a bit under the weather. And although the sun was out today, it was very chilly. This week, it is supposed to hit eighty degrees and everyone will be commenting on the heat. When the temp hit ninety this summer, it was front page news. Ninety-four is the all-time high for Bellingham.

But back to the cold - I am surprised how this area is touted as a retirement mecca, when it is always cold. It doesn't bother me much, as I ride my bike most days of the year and am still relatively young. But I don't see how transplants from places like sunny California can handle the chilly, moist weather here - especially those who are older and more sensitive to the cold. (I guess that's why many turn around and go back home after a few years - you hear stories about it all the time here.) Although it is still sunny and warm right now, the damp winter climate chills you to the bone. One definitely needs to mentally prepare for the winters (and autumn and spring) here in Bellingham.