Time to Fix Your Fundamentals?

October is Fix the Fundamentals Month, according to Free Will Astrologer Rob Brezsny. Boy is he right, and not just for the Capricorns among us.
    For this Cancer, at the opposite pole of the zodiac, October is Fix My Fundamentals Month because with the waning of summer’s pleasures, I’ve seen the truth of all that’s been left undone.
    Time to turn to home-front chores, so we can go cozy into winter hibernation.
    Just in time, here comes Bay Weekly’s annual Fall Fix-up Guide. Its advice and advertisers make fixing the fundamentals a doable order.
    Touch up exterior paint advises our story on 5 Steps for Winter-Proofing Your Home. I’m past that advice. This should be the year for repainting. That big-time chore will lead me to Maryland Paint and Decorating, whose paint has already sparkled up the inside of my home.
    Taking all the pictures off the walls for that job added another chore to my fix-up list: replacing aged matting and frames that never quite made the cut. For creative new framing, Fall Fix-Up, offers solutions aplenty. Choose Benfield Gallery (Severna Park) House of Frames (Prince Frederick), McBride Gallery (Annapolis), Medart Galleries (Dunkirk), Street Side Framers and Gift Gallery (Severna Park) or Wimsey Cove Maps and Art (Edgewater).
    But perhaps it’s your clock that’s behind time? You need Maryland Clock Company.
    Fall-Fix Up leads you to many more places to find decorative art, as well: Annapolis Maritime Antiques (Annapolis), Cindy Bateman Antiques (Severna Park), Eye of the Beholder Consignments (Gambrills), The Magnolia Shoppe (Friendship), Second Wind Consignments (Deale), Then and Again Antiques (Annapolis) and Vintage Stew Art, Furniture and Lighting (Deale).
    These shops put the fun in the fundamental. For true fundamentals — the infrastructure of your home — follow Fall-fix Up to Belair Engineering, Colonial Electric, HJ Poist Gas Company, Marshall and Associates Insurance, Mr. Appliance of the Western Shore or ServPro of Edgewater/Deale-Churchton/Lothian.
    This time of year, my lawn and garden need fundamental fix up. Yours too? Fall-fix Up guides you to professionals who’ll help you from design to maintenance at Ciminelli’s Landscape Services, Homestead Gardens and Entzian Enterprises Landscape Services.
    If it’s the whole home that’s the issue, you may need Schwartz Realty. If smaller structures will do, you’ll find quality options at Amish Structures.
    If the sun blinds you on your drive, follow Fall-Fix Up to XLNT Tint Window Tinting.
    Too done in by fundamental fix-ups to clean? Call Spouses Cleaning Houses. They’ll free your time for the fun you’ll find in Fall-Fix Up — at The Clay Bakers Ecoasis Garden Center, Homestead Gardens, Knightongale Farm, Wine & Design — and, as always, in 8 Days a Week.
    And if you, like me, can’t shake those dreams of summer swimming pools, have a talk with Catalina Pool Builders.
    For the short term, I discovered right here in Fall Fix-up that I can still enjoy outdoor yoga through October at Historic London Town and Gardens ($10 donation) every Sunday at 10am.
    Read on, and make your own discoveries — like En-Tice-Ment Farm Raised Meats for local eating whatever the season.

Sandra Olivetti Martin
Editor and publisher; [email protected]