I was recently reading a journal entry that I wrote in October of 2013, when I was on a trip to New York. That day had a high of 59 degrees, and I remember being quite cold. The deciduous trees guarding the streets and the parks were shades of gold and orange and red, and there were piles of leaves gathering on the sidewalks and in the gutters.

Today, in the San Fernando Valley it was 99 degrees, and I was thankful that it wasn’t as hot as it’s been the past few days.  The only shades of gold and orange and red I saw today were on the gas stations, strip malls, and fast food signs. The buffeting Santa Ana winds from earlier in the week stripped most of the dry, brown leaves from most of the trees, leaving everything quite green.

Sometimes, the appeal of great weather in southern California feels like an enormous lie we sell to others, while we all moan and sweat.