Time to Be Outside

It's nearly Halloween, and in other parts of the country, that means cooler days and even cooler nights. The temperatures drop down and before long, there'll be snow on the ground. The residents in these northern and eastern regions are thinking about preparing their gardens and yards for the cold weather, and putting up the garden harvests- canning, freezing, drying and otherwise preserving for the gardenless days ahead.

Here in the Valley of the Sun, we're emerging from the long hot summer. We've planted our veggies and are planting still more. We're seeding our dying Bermuda grass lawns with rye seed, and we'll have green grass in the winter months. We're spending more time outdoors in the warm afternoons, the cool evenings, and the chilly mornings.

One of the things people like to do here in the fall and winter months is spend time around a firepit or outdoor fireplace. While not all of us have well-appointed outdoor living spaces, we may have little bits of space in our backyards where we can sit beneath the moon and gaze into the flames dancing inside our little chimeneas.

We put a lot of work into our gardens, into our veggie gardens, flower gardens and into our landscaping. On these cool nights, when the work is done and the constellations loom high, we should remember why we do this, and step outside, snuggle up together and let the flames lull us into a dream.

Bob and I spend a lot of time working; we both have day jobs and when we're not working, we're working on producing more videos, focused on the DIY lifestyle. I spend my free time writing, and gardening, and writing about gardening.

We're like a million other people, working, working, working. This post is about taking a break. So take a break tonight. Take a break and spend some time watching the flames. Dream a while. It's good for you, and your garden will be all the more beautiful for it.