Autumn Housecleaning any Witch Way

As Autumn rolls around, as the winds begin to carry a bit of a bite and my Egyptian cotton sheets don’t quite do the job at night, I start thinking of a couple of things while I lie in bed wondering if it’s time to unpack the down comforter.  My mind seems to wander and worry a bit more this time of year as I contemplate the months ahead.  Hallowe’en is just around the corner.

For me it marks the beginning of my Holiday season which extends until January 2nd.  And what am I thinking about as I lay abed with my toes beginning to chill? 

Housecleaning

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Wouldn’t it be nice??

To clean the house with just a twitch of the nose or a finger whirled in the air (a gesture I love)?  Well… there are witches and then there are witches, I suppose. I’m afraid I never quite got the hang of that nose twitch.  Around here the house gets cleaned in the usual way, if not at the usual time of year for a lot of folks.  You know, those “Spring Cleaners”?

I mean, I’m all for a clean house in the Spring too.  But really, I’ve gotten over throwing my refuse from meals and such on the floor of my castle in the last few centuries or so, and these days, no matter how cold it is, we all take baths.
I know, I know. Spring cleaning began as the way to clean out all the winter gloomies and yuckies and germs and stink.  Long gone are the days of the plague and winter vapors. 

Actually, my house stays so clean during the winter that spring cleaning isn’t but a wave of my broom and a twitch of my nose!  It’s this time of year that the house needs some serious, pre-holiday sprucing up!

Let’s look at this problem objectively.  All summer long the wind has been blowing sand in through all the tiny cracks in my late 1800’s native stone house.  Now, I’m (almost) as likely as the next to break out the old broom and dustcloth every so often during the summer, but let’s face it; when the weather is nice, I’ve got better things to do!

In the spring I’m planning my garden and making lists of all that needs must be done while I check the thermometer and wonder when the last frost will finally come. I’m ordering and sorting seeds and sowing them under homemade mini greenhouses… peppers, herbs, tomatoes, and morning glories.  I’m taking long walks on the back 40 to see all the tiny desert wildflowers.

In summer I’m planting and weeding.  I’m designing new and cleaning up old landscaping. I’m playing catch up on the laundry I got behind on during winter and spring when the weather was too wet or too cold to hang out on the line (I draw the line at hanging jeans out when they come in standing on their own until they melt and puddle in front of the fireplace.  Jeansicles are not cool.) Summer is for napping and swimming naked, for sea-dooing at the lake, for visiting friends up the coast, and for late nights under a sea of stars.

Then comes fall. As the days begin to cool I have a bit more energy. Good thing, because there’s still not much time for the liesurely pastime of housecleaning.  Here at lack Widow Ranch I’m wrapping up the gardening for the year. Time tobegin the harvest. Picking pumpkins, gourds, and winter squash. While the weather’s still warm-ish I’m attening down the hatches for the coming winter.  Time to make sure tools are put away, and the house is sealed up tight against the coming cold. There’s firewood to gather, cut, split and stack, and yes, finally, the house to clean so we can enjoy being inside for the winter months.

So if there are dust cougars under the beds by fall, if the ubiquitous desert arachnids have gotten a little too cozy in the closets, if my pottery collection all have half an inch of sand in them, well… you get the idea.  Fall is the time to clean up for the guests and snuggles and crafting and reading.  Fall is the time that I actually want to clean my house, instead of just thinking that I need to clean my house.  Besides, If I don’t clean out the fireplace before the first freeze, I might blow the house up!