"Autumn, the year’s last, loveliest smile." - William Cullen Bryant
The time when day and night are equal length. We move into a season of shorter days, dying plants, and animals preparing for hibernation. As the temperatures begin to drop, we find ourselves preparing for winter and less sunlight. For me this means spending more time indoors (I still spend time outside in winter, just not as much) and focusing more on my physical home.
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Contents:
Decorations
Honoring the House
Conclusion
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Decorating
Decorating starts with a deep clean, again. This time I focus on the outside of the house too. Washing outside windows to let more light inside during the winter months can help with heating costs and seasonal depression (not a cure). Cleaning the gutters makes sure they won't clog and burst as snow melts to water later in the winter season. Getting the inside ready for more people is important as well.
I like to decorate for the seasons, bringing that seasonal energy inside in a visible way gets me motivated. I switch out quilts and blankets, kitchen towels, and hang fall decorations. I also switch out my summer wardrobe for clothes that are more seasonally appropriate, such as sweaters. Having a fall or witchy playlist follow me around as I go is always a fun touch, in my opinion. As the season continues, I do add decorations as I go. Such as the corn stalk I cut out of my garden and tied to the front steps, the wreath I'll make out of the invasive vines that were taking over my fence this past summer.
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Honoring the House
It's important to me to honor the house as we begin readying ourselves for winter. It is where I have been preserving, keeping my kids warm as the weather turns, it kept us safe during the summer storms, and blocked out the summer heat. It will do so much more for us in the winter. After all that decorating, I'll make an autumn themed meal to share.
In my practice, I believe in a house spirit or the spirit of the home. So on the autumn equinox, as we are changing into colder seasons, I will share a meal with it. I call it the Feast of the House Spirit. Taking the food that I have made, I will go to the shrine I made out of a match box that sits on my kitchen counter (since I don't have a fireplace), light a candle, and call out to the house spirit. There I will voice my gratitude for what it has done and my hopes that it will continue to keep us safe throughout the next couple seasons. Then I offer the food and eat some as a shared meal.
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Conclusion
I don't do a whole lot since I have so much going on this time of year with my family birthdays. I usually like to get out and hike each weekend so there's no hiking to honor seasons as I do that all the time anyway. As the fall season continues there will be more opportunities better suited for my other celebrations. For now, it is the house that I focus on.
SPOKANE, Wash. | No. 3 Gonzaga loses Killian Tillie for 8 weeks due to injury
SPOKANE, Wash. | No. 3 Gonzaga loses Killian Tillie for 8 weeks due to injury
SPOKANE, Wash. — Third-ranked Gonzaga will be without forward Killian Tillie for up to eight weeks after the junior had surgery for a stress fracture in his ankle.
Gonzaga coach Mark Few announced Tillie’s injury on Tuesday. Tillie re-aggravated the ankle injury during fall practice and additional imaging revealed the stress fracture.
The 6-foot-10 Tillie averaged 12.9 points and shot 58 percent…
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