Gathering Winter Fuel

A foraging expedition this morning, the weekend before the shortest day, to gather beech wood for the fire and to find a Christmas tree.  The run of mild days has continued; the sharp frosts and clear skies of a week ago seem very distant.  It seems almost warm at 9 or 10 degrees Celsius.  So the woods were muddy and the ground was heavy.  A shoot on the lower slopes but nobody in the woods; we climbed the stone road past the lower pine woods to the long beech ride across the upper slopes of the hill.  Occasional blue skies and  sunbeams through the trees, making us realise how long it has been since we have had a sunny day and a clear blue sky; even the clear frosty weather seemed grey.  Two good bags of beech branches gleaned; and two large beech branches that, draped in clear glass baubles, will make our Christmas tree and perhaps somewhere to hang the cards.  A cool morning, the wind in the trees, a natural, harmonious and peaceful way to spend a morning.  'Better than shopping,' said a woman we passed on the way down.