FROM THE HOME FRONT
Susan Martin: Now where did I leave the rakes?
As I looked at the mountain of leaves that fell in our yard the last couple days, I thought of all the chores that go along with living in a four-season climate.
There’s a sense of routine that comes with it, a certain rhythm.
The lawn mower goes in. The snow blower comes out.
The summer toys get packed away. The sleds are pulled out.
The screens come down. The storms go up. And that garage floor gets cleared, hopefully, to make room for a car or two.
Along with this comes a multitude of feelings, including anticipation (snow!), accomplishment (stacking firewood) and even some panic— not to mention a few aches and pains from doing it all.
Some chores have to be done, while others are simply nice to get done. And there’s a price to pay for goofing off—waiting until after the first snowfall to rake leaves, for example, or not trimming back the tree branches from the roof.
Weekends have been busy in our neighborhood, and our house is no exception. We’re all preparing for winter—inside and out.
The awning has come down and the patio furniture hauled up to the garage loft. The urns have been removed from the cemetery. We have emptied and washed the terra-cotta pots from the porch and yard, except for those potted up with mums. I washed the glass on our outdoor light fixtures, while my husband cleaned and filled the bird-feeder.
We haven’t packed away the garden hoses yet, but we’re working on the list of gardening tasks we routinely do —some of which Sally Cunningham reminds readers about in this section on Fridays. (Today’s column is on cutting back perennials, shrubs, etc.)
But there is so much more to get done: The gutters will need to be cleaned, the furnace and chimney inspected, the cars winterized.
Indeed, all this prep work requires a team.
It’s a lot—and we don’t even have a pool, boat or cottage to worry about.
And it’s not just the outside. I’ve spent more time than usual in the rooms of our house. I rearranged the living room furniture a bit, including bringing up from the basement a library table where I imagine us doing jigsaw puzzles or playing games when it’s 10 degrees below zero.
I cleaned the front-hall closet and brought down the winter coats. Our daughter reminded me that she has outgrown her snow boots, and she already has worn her fake Uggs (Fuggs, they call them) to school.
Soon, I will change the bedding— adding a warm blanket to our daughter’s bed, replacing our matelasse cover with a down comforter—but not before flipping mattresses, laundering mattress covers and feeling very, very domestic.
But will the windows get washed on the outside this fall? The bulbs planted? The family room painted before it’s too cold to open the windows?
Maybe not.
But that extra hour we gain this weekend sure comes at a time when we need it.
Then again, possibly (hopefully?) before we know it, it’ll be time to launch into a whole other routine: preparing for spring.
In the meantime, we need to set aside some serious raking time at our house.
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