While sitting at the pizza bar on Friday night, one of the locals was telling me that he’s lived here in the Phoenix area for twelve years, and this is the coldest winter he’s experienced thus far. He may be right – it’s definitely the coldest one since I’ve been here. Not only did we get two nights two weekends ago that, for around here, were downright frigid – 26 degrees on the 6th followed by 28 on the 7th, but yesterday the snow came awfully close to us – perhaps no more than 20 miles or so. And, go figger, they got snow in Tucson, which is both south and east of here. That weekend freeze sure did a number on our backyard cactus – they’re looking mighty sad right now, I’ll tell ya; fortunately, however, the tiki bar has managed just fine. (Got to set your priorities there.)

You can tell it’s cold here when even the snowbirds don’t want to golf. Usually, the courses seem to have pretty steady business when you drive by them during the day, but not so much this year. Oh, you can play, no problem – it’s just that people come to these parts during the winter for high 60s and 70s, not 50s to low 60s, which is pretty much the way it’s been since the New Year. Doesn’t bother me much – I’ll take the break, knowing that winter around here typically ends in a few short weeks. Heck, I remember a couple of years ago when my parents visited in March and it was already hitting 90.

So these are days to enjoy having the cool air and winter around – you can really enjoy a nice glass of scotch, take warm soaks in a bathtub, and light some candles around the house for nice effect. And for those locals walking around in their winter parkas, like those I saw at the market today – don’t worry, the heat’ll be here soon enough.