Indian Summer

I may not be on the East coast of the USA where the phrase was originally coined, but it so fits today’s weather: one would think that we were in mid-September or the beginning of October, not its last day!

I started out on my walk dressed as I have been for a month, but it took only 100 steps for the sleeveless jacket to come off and it was early on in the forest that the sweatshirt also ended up around my waist. We haven’t enjoyed weather this warm for quite some time.

The oranges are basically gone – a cushion of brown underfoot; some yellows linger and there is even the odd red leaf, mostly strawberry or blackberry.

the leaves cushion the path

strawberries are long gone

 Oh the beauty though of being able to see further in the forest, to notice the light shining on the moss and ferns: as usual I needed to do no staging, mother nature arranges things so well.

and yes ferns can live in cold climates

parts of the forest have a lot of moss

Believe it or not, I found this patch of moss with that leaf turning it into a heart just like that!

There was the noise as well: of me shuffling leaves or if I stood very still, I could hear the sound of the larch needles falling onto the other leaves – the sound of rain without the wet or the gray – I’ll take it!

Larch needles falling on dried leaves sounds like rain drops.