In search of my inner yellow boots

Traditionally cleaning comes under the heading of spring, so thank goodness I don't feel any pressure to clean out closets or…Wait, I have to put away my shirts with palm trees and fern fronds and get out my fall clothes - and clear out the sandals and find my clumpy, cold weather shoes.

I need to go through my purses and stash my colorful, fun ones, and bring out the brown and black standard issue. Why do I wear brighter colors in summer and then head for the taupes and rusts for winter?

I can remember going to a job interview my senior year wearing a pair of electric yellow patent leather (or shiny plastic) knee-high boots on a windy, rainy, cold spring day. I didn't get the job, though I think it was a case of sending a silent message. I didn't want that job, but it did give the interviewer something to talk about. Where did I lose that spirit?

Spring brings a lift when the sweaters go to the top of the closet, but things lag a little in July and August, returning in early fall with the crisp, cool days and intense blue skies. Maybe it is the shorter days or the end of the gardening season that I mourn.

Soon I will dump my pots of geraniums and lantana out and put the pots under the deck for the winter. Then the guilt pangs creep in. I hate to kill living plants. For all of you who scoff at that, how long did you keep your poinsettia last year?

Add another layer of guilt when I bring some plants in the house to overwinter and leave the rest outside. I hope to chalk up a few points in advance by moving some outdoor plants to other spots in the garden where I think they will be happier. But, I won't know how happy until warm weather comes again.

I will build a "plantatarium" in my other half's office for the winter. The sun comes in the front window, so the sun-lovers are lined up there, and the shade plants in front of the other window. He doesn't mind sharing as long as I keep them watered. There is something about dead leaves on the floor that he doesn't like.

With fall comes the best part - great deals in plants. So I go shopping, trying to imagine what color flower "peach amber" is so I can put it in the right place. Of course, nothing is blooming, and some of the best buys are "blind" - the tag is gone. Unless it is an azalea or rhododendron, I guess at how big it will get, imagine that it will flower and race to plant it before we get the first snow flurries.

All I need is some color to make it through the winter, so I will hunt for my "inner yellow boots" in the purse departments and shoe stores.