The pants are slowly starting to loosen from the excesses of Thanksgiving and fall is solidly giving way to winter.
Prince George is beautiful in the fall. When I remember to look up from the road in my seemingly endless driving to and from schools, work and shops, I am struck anew at the beautiful colours revealed in the fall. Autumn is a strange season in the north.For one, it feels like it is a time of endless preparation for the upcoming winter.And two, it feels like the bulk of the population is still mourning the summer.
At our house, we have been cleaning out the carport, putting away the bikes, sweeping and washing off the house, putting away the outside chairs, cleaning up the outside toys, cleaning up the outside toys again after the children found them when our backs were turned, evaluating the mass of "Outside Projects" that I optimistically thought I would have time to finish this summer and hoping that there would be enough time to wash the windows.
In the midst of all of this, I have scrubbed the deck and have managed to avoid any garden clean-up to winterize the small plots that I have. I found a nest of slugs in a shady corner in my garden late in the summer and I've been getting the heebie-jeebies every time I walk over to the garden bed armed with my tools. I think that I'm secretly hoping that the snow comes before I have to clean up the garden.
Fall is transition.
It's a time for school to start, harvest to reap (or not, in my case) and for the annual hunkering down and complaining about the pending snow. My husband has successfully started up the snow blower and we've packed away the rakes.We might get one more lawn mow in before it snows but it is more likely that we'll put it off until the snow falls. Somewhere in the mad rush to get ready for the winter, I have had an epiphany: I need to hire a housecleaner.
Or perhaps, a legion of housecleaners armed with dust rags, mops and armfuls of clean laundry would help.
In the meantime, I will put away the outside toys (again) and play in the leaves with the kids while I continue to avoid the slugs in the garden and washing the outside windows.
Remember to look up.
