This photo was taken in the spring, when it was cool enough to sit out on the patio and drink rum and read The Hobbit. Right now it’s 100 degrees out there, and the only way I’m sitting outside is if I’ve just jumped in the pool.

I always wonder why I’m still in Austin. I love so much about it – friends, a great apartment with a pool, a laid-back vibe, good food – but jeez, I hate the heat. I can look back through my blog archives and see over and over again this pining for scarves and pumpkins and snow and falling leaves. Is that something I can just visit each fall? Will we someday move back to the northeast, where there are tall, tall trees and rocky shores and turning leaves and that vast ocean? It’s a scary thought, but I still think about it most days. The other option is to win the lottery and live wherever we want whenever we want, with a good portion of the year in Paris. Yep, I think that’s the best option.