{"id":190,"date":"2009-09-21T19:37:31","date_gmt":"2009-09-21T19:37:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/yourcharmedlife\/2009\/09\/first-day-of-fall-2009.html"},"modified":"2009-09-21T19:37:31","modified_gmt":"2009-09-21T19:37:31","slug":"first-day-of-fall-2009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourcharmedlife\/2009\/09\/first-day-of-fall-2009.html","title":{"rendered":"First day of fall 2009"},"content":{"rendered":"
I love equinoxes and solstices, these change-of-season times that are supposed to be ideal for cleaning and clearing and getting rid of excess. The first day of fall 2009 comes tomorrow, Tuesday, at 5:18 p.m. Eastern time. Here what it inspires me to do:<\/div>\n
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Learn stuff!<\/b> This is back-to-school time which always puts me in a bookish frame of mind, <\/div>\n

\"Anthony<\/span><\/p>\n

but this year I’m craving information like never before. It may be due in part to the largely raw food diet I’ve been eating the past several months. I was reading the website of The Raw Model<\/a> (Anthony Anderson, pictured right) and he was saying how he, too, wants to absorb knowledge more than ever. Coincidence maybe. Anyhow, this is the time when learning is awfully appealing. <\/div>\n

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Walk and breathe the air. <\/b>Autumn air smells the best to me, and September sun is precious since I know what’s coming down the road. Saturday William and I walked from Harlem to Soho (it’s a ways) and took in Central Park, a Times Square street festival, a movie downtown (The Big Fan<\/a><\/i>, by the guy who wrote The Wrestler<\/i>—it was fabulous), and then met my daughter, son-in-law, and his visiting parents in the East Village for dinner. Then we went to Nick’s show, Homer<\/i>‘s Odyssey, <\/i>which, “due to sold-out houses and enthusiastic reviews,” was just extended with an off-Broadway contract. We’re all very proud and excited. (Nick makes a great Cyclops—on stilts even.)<\/span><\/i><\/div>\n

<\/b><\/div>\n

\"pumpkins.jpg\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Go to farmers’ markets. <\/b>They’re lovely in spring with the flowers and the early lettuce, and in summer with the berries and the peaches, but late September, October, and a bit beyond is my favorite time there. I love the look of pumpkins and gourds and assorted roots, of hardy greens that can survive a frost, and hardy farmers who don’t mind coming to the city for a few more weekends.<\/span><\/i><\/div>\n
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Get out the fall clothes. <\/b>I won’t do it just yet: summer didn’t come to this part of the world till July, and we seem to get an extension into October, so my closet still looks very pastel and sleeveless, but it won’t be long before I get to re-meet my sweaters and tweeds and corduroys. There’s just more to play with and layer and express yourself in in cold-weather clothes, especially before it gets so cold you have to cover them with a coat.<\/span><\/i><\/div>\n

<\/b><\/div>\n
Nest.<\/b> As this season cycles in, I want to stay home more and do home home-centered types<\/div>\n

\"paint<\/span><\/p>\n

of things: organize the kitchen cabinets, have people over for dinner, and paint the living room. (When we bought our condo this time last year, we made great color choices in the bedrooms. The living room just doesn’t work, though, and it’s time to repent my chromatic sins.)<\/div>\n
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Write. <\/b>I was on the road the better part of four months getting the word out about <\/a>Living a Charmed Life<\/a> <\/i>and The Love-Powered Diet<\/a><\/i>. Now it’s time to stay put and write my next book. What would you like to read?<\/div>\n
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