The ground was autumn-crisp with leaves despite the heat. The oaks along the rivers’ edge black fingers, bare as winter.
‘Not right,’ muttered Clem, knocking the underbrush with his boot.
A fir cone tumbled through the dead leaves and came to rest against a fleshy crescent of Maid’s Bane fungus. Bluebell spikes shivered.
‘World’s turned on its head,’ said Clem.
The sheepdog, Tab, looked up at his master, uncertain.
Gramma Cora – all gums, mottled scalp and whiskers – had told tales when Clem was small. When winter takes summer’s hand, when spring lifts her skirts and dances autumn’s jig … He frowned how did that old rhyme end?
Tab came suddenly to heel, his flank quivering against Clem’s leg.
‘What is it, lad?’
A feather of snow fell on the back of his neck. Soon the ground was white, the air a haze.
‘The Final Winter shall fall,’ he whispered.
***
Written for Crimson’s Creative Challenge. It’s a pleasure to join in this week to help Crispina celebrate a year of CCC. Do visit here to join in – it’s huge fun.
Word Shamble 
Gosh, I love how you write… This was fabulous, Lynn.
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Thank you very much, Dear Dale 🙂
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I like how you’ve picked up on the incongruous spring greening yet the carpet of autumnal leaves, and a suggestion of summer’s glint on the horizon… yet the mist chill to the air. And you’ve tied it up with a credible countryfolk’s saying. I nod. Excellent.
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Thank you very much Crispina 🙂 I hope you notice the fungus – Maiden’s Bane – invented in your honour, the Queen of Fungus Photography!
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Wow, Lynn, that knocks me out. Hey, I have a fungus invented in my honour. I grin, widely. 🙂 I thank you. 🙂
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My pleasure! You always manage to capture the beauty in those fascinating organisms, the fact that they seem neither quite vegetable, quite animal, their mysterious nature. If I could really name one after you, I would 🙂
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I thank you, Lynn. They were the first life on Earth. Okay, maybe not the absolute first, yet they underpin all later development, a vast network that holds it all together.
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I only realised recently how important fungi are to plant growth – Monty Don is always sprinkling a fungal powder over plant roots on Gardeners World. Helps the plant develop and grow strongly. There was a BBC Four programme about fungi The Magic of Mushrooms a few years ago – fascinating.
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I think I might have seen that on YouTube.
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Well-written and intriguing! Thanks for sharing. I enjoyed it 🙂
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Many thanks 🙂
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