Day 353 of 365 - Fall Equinox

Well, it's officially fall now, seemingly a couple of days late.  But, this is the day when the length of daytime and nighttime are equal, so there we have it.  Although the weather is still quite warm, it's time for gardeners to start cleaning up, finish harvesting vegetables, plant fall bulbs and generally prepare for the coming cold days.  I'll be saying goodbye to the overgrown and sad looking begonias which are in my balcony pots.

Being a very early riser, the delay in sunrise has been very apparent to me.  In fact, this morning it was still pretty dark  at 7 a.m.  That would be blissful for those lucky souls who are able to sleep until daylight awakens them.  Alas, I am not one of those.

Now that we are moving into increasingly darker and cooler days, it's a time of moving inward again.  Before too long, we will be putting away outdoor furniture and spending more of our time indoors.  Thus, it's a good time to consider again how we want to be comfortable in our home space.  How do you want to make your interior living space softer and cozier for the days of dropping temperatures?

For me, this means starting to give serious consideration to my next space clearing plan.  Since it needs to be done in stages to allow for rearranging and increasing storage space, I need a strategy.  That's one of the things I'll be pondering today as an introduction to this fall season.

We also move into the astrological sign of  Libra today, which of course is all about balance.  That's also a good reminder to me to go about my planning and clearing in a balanced way, rather than rushing into it and creating chaos.

A good place for me to start this week, which will be a way of easing into this project, is to begin shifting around seasonal clothing.  That will take my energy and attention into all those closet spaces which I have a desire to make work better for me.  Also, it will jump start another clothing purge, which I've been procrastinating on.  I've received so many nice clothes from others in the last year, but I really am unlikely to wear them all, so it is time to sift through again.

Of course, the fall season also brings our attention to different foods, especially the various squash and root vegetables.  We had another stuffed squash dinner last night, which was a good prelude to the kind of comfort foods we enjoy in the colder weather.  Think about what kinds of healthy comfort foods you want to have this fall.  Are there some new recipes you want to try out?  I still have not had time to immerse myself in my new cook book, but I'm sure there will be some good recipes for fall in there.

I love the fall season.  Trees are shifting gradually into their fall colors.  Leaves have started falling.  I love the sound of the breeze rustling through the trees, bringing in the cooler and less humid air to refresh us.  Let's prepare for the harvest, inside and out.





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