This August has been the coolest I’ve experienced since moving to Pittsburgh nearly 4 years ago. With highs in the 70’s, sometimes low 80’s, and lows dropping down into the 50’s, sometimes even the 40’s, it feels like summer is over and autumn has begun.

July is typically the hottest month in Pittsburgh, with average highs of 85 and a record high of 101, but August isn’t far behind, with 83 and 97, respectively. The last time I lived a summer like this, it felt like I never really baked the winter cold out of my bones, and I was psychologically unprepared for winter when it came. That year, first frost caught us with loads of green tomatoes on the vines because it never got hot enough to ripen them.

This year, I’m seriously thinking about moving to the deserts of the southwest. Naturally, thinking about it is easier than doing anything about it, especially since the biggest thing holding me back is the specter of living on the other side of the country from most of my children — along with their children, when they come along. But it still calls to me — both the warmth and the clear skies. This year’s Perseids were the one of the few meteor showers in the past decade to take place when the skies were clear — and light pollution from Pittsburgh drowned it out.

I want to live in the middle of nowhere, where the temperatures are high, the skies are clear, and the noise and light pollution of a city are far, far away.

Well, a girl can dream, can’t she?