Even though it has been warm lately, you feel a draft. Then there's a hint that the sun is fading. It is dark in the morning when we rise, and dinner, which used to be at sunset, is now well after. Even despite the unseasonable warmth right now, you can feel it coming. We are losing the sun. In fact, we've been losing it since June 21. Winter is on its way.
So it makes sense to nest. It makes sense to clear out the closets and clean out the refrigerator. It makes sense to declutter and vacuum out the recesses of your home that haven't seen this kind of action since last spring. But it is also time do more.
As the sun fades, we remember what it is like to feel cold, and we begin to crave warmth. It is warmth that then becomes our chief luxury, and the thing that we want most in our homes.
Warmth.
Look at your home and see if it feels warm to you. If it doesn't, now is your chance. Now is the time to look at your bedding, your rugs, your lights, your windows and all those things that lend warmth to our home. Now is the time to make your living room and bedroom cozy, to fix your windows of drafts, to prepare your bathroom for long hot showers, and pull your warm coat and sweaters out of storage.
But where will this warmth come from? While we draw warmth from the sun less and less, we come to realize that during these darker months, we also crave another kind of warmth, the warmth that comes from within.
Aside from our homes, the other chief luxury of the colder months is the warmth we feel within; which we share with others. In September, we begin wake up from our dreamy summer state and our inner fire returns. We step more lively to work in the morning, our ambitions take flight, and we crave the warmth of friends and family. Fall is the time of our most important celebrations, both religious and otherwise. Fall is the time we all draw together for warmth and to remind one another of why we are here. When we light a candle now, it holds a new significance.
So this month as you work on your home, think not only about how cozy it is going to be this winter, think about how your work is stoking your own fire. While it may be cozy, the warmth comes from you, and it is this - as well as your home - that you will share with others in the months ahead.
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
You had me convinced up until "We step more lively to work in the morning".
Nice piece, Maxwell.
One of my nesting activities this year has been to invest in a fancy fuzzy logic rice cooker. Now I can cook Forbidden Rice and Calypso Beans, Jackson Wonders and Bhutanese Red Rice. I cook by color and sight and sound--taste is the last sense to be satisfied--and fall foods are great for all that...
I like Fall and Winter, because I always look forward to seeing my fellow New Yorkers in coats and hats, so I DO step a tiny bit more lively to work in the morning, in a way.