Dog walk, no dog

20 yards into the old, regular woodland walk, a tree lay fallen across the path. This was my first walk here since we lost Skirlie the Westie three weeks ago.
 
Things have changed since that day. Leaf cover has thickened, darkened. Silence lay heavy today, broken only by birdsong and the hum of insects. Summer is about its business, flowers making seed, brambles setting fruit, cherries already ripening. The rose hedge near the apiary, fifteen hives now, cacophonous with bees.
 
I expected a difficult time, but this small white soul still walked mostly to heel, lagging 20-30 yards at the traditional sniffing sites, trotting slightly ahead on the downhill, and still there. And not having to wear that wretched harness any more.