Yesterday we formally hit the wall as far as Arizona summer is concerned. It happens every year around this time: after three months of 100+ temps it’s not enough that the temps hit over 110, they do it on a day when the humidity is over 50% and a dust storm rolls in from the south, blanketing everything with a fine film of brown as you take a swim in a 93-degree pool to “cool off”.

Look, you take the good with the bad, and few who live in Arizona do so because of the summers, but it’s just a day like this that you long for days with a little chill in the air, the ground blanketed with colorful leaves and that wonderful musky smell of fallen leaves while brown oak leaves rustle in a November breeze. If you go out to the ocean you see the sea a cold, clear blue-gray and white-capped under crisp fall skies, creating a desire to find a cozy place with a fireplace to enjoy a cocktail or two with friends as the season and year begin to close in around everything while classical music like this plays in the background.

Unfortunately, Boccherini just doesn’t work under dust-filled skies and temperatures over 110.