Red carpet

Yesterday's dogwalk was in the forest up at the Walkers' Barn. Been a bit rainy and windy lately (an understatement) so it was soggy and damp underfoot with bits of broken trees littering the open ground. But in the forest of tall trees there weren't so many fallen branches as it's sheltered from the wind. Damp though. And the ground was covered in fallen leaves. A red carpet. So the trees were bare. So it was lighter than usual. Even on a cloudy day at dusk. Odd in mid-winter. Strangely, in summer, it's darker. That's when the leaves shield the sun. These were some of the thoughts I had when trailing Hamish. Odd too that the recent downpours have swollen the valley rivers and streams while on the other side of the planet bushfires are raging on the hottest day ever in Australia. Floods too in Angleterre apparently. Wasn't so long ago our valley stream had ceased flowing. No stream, just puddles in rocks. Cattle were parched. Farmers hauled water tanks behind chugging tractors delivering to distant fields. Tough times. But now the fields are sodden. Cattle are wet and huddled under sheltering trees. But the trees have no leaves. So the rain gets through. Ah well, that's winter. Soon be the shortest day. Come to think of it, it's today. Soon be spring. The red carpet will have disappeared. Munched by worms. New leaves will appear and the forest will darken again.