Welcome Home!

This time of year, I think we all respond – whether we acknowledge it or not – to some visceral and very ancient call. A call to prepare. To get ready for the hard times.

I don’t know about you, but every fall I feel the urge to stockpile hearty soups and casseroles in the freezer. I go through my clothes and pull out my favorite sweaters. I bring home new favorites.

I buy paint. I bring out my box of magazine clippings or start snipping new ideas and line up home improvement projects that are perfect activities for the dark days of winter. I make lists and write personal goals.

I identify the things about myself that need a little work. I admit it. I’m a do-it-yourself project, too.

I get ready for a long hard winter.

For gardeners, this is the natural way. They dig out tender tubers and bulbs and cradle them through cold weather. They mulch the roses and bind the wounds in trees. They put the garden to sleep, to hibernate until the warmth of the sun penetrates and brings a wake-up call.

Some people find this season depressing, but I love it. I feel the energy, the charge of purpose shared by all living things, vibrate through me. I’m restless. I’m content. I fold the duvet at the end of the bed, within reach if the night turns cool, and toss a cozy throw over the sofa to make reading even better.

I’m an amateurish gardener. I know just enough to be rewarded with blooms in the summer and pretty bulbs in the spring.

But when it comes to nesting, I’m a pro.

It just comes naturally.

This week in Home

As if early autumn wasn’t beautiful enough, when the dahlias bloom, turning their big, bright faces to the sun, it’s an end-of-summer party and everyone’s invited. In this week’s cover feature, we get a tour of one of the prettiest dahlia gardens in the area.

Our Green Living correspondent, Megan Cooley, introduces us to two women who keep housekeeping clean, using natural ingredients for all their products. And in Treasure Hunt, we get to share one woman’s experience at the Antiques Roadshow.

We’ve turned another page on the calendar. October is here. It’s time to settle in and put the kettle on.

This time of year, there’s no place like Home.