Housesitting in California

Not knowing a lot about our home for a month, we flew to California to take on a dog and a cat for a housesit in a city we've never explored. We realized Northern California is cold, grey and often rainy in January, but Minneapolis is colder. We've traded the snow and below zero temperatures for a few new challenges. We love warming ourselves by the fire in the den, our Shelty is faithful and obedient, our kitty sweet but shy.
"Expect nothing, live frugally on surprise." -- Alice Walker

Northland Winter

One kind word can warm three winter months. ~Japanese Proverb

Antisthenes says that in a certain faraway land the cold is so intense that words freeze as soon as they are uttered, and after some time they thaw and become audible, so that words spoken in winter go unheard until the next summer. ~Plutarch, Moralia