My morning walk has turned to ash

On most mornings I take a walk around the neighborhood, chat with morning joggers, take a few pictures, do a little bit of exercising.  Often I would walk a trail through an area that is mostly covered in cedar trees/bushes, live oak trees, and weeds to look at some of the local wildlife.  We have birds, squirrels, deer, rabbits, cats, and others that I don't see.

Yesterday I walked through the area that used to have the trees.  Since it burned on August 15 things are just not the same as it used to be prior to that.  The ash on the ground remains mostly undisturbed except by the tire tracks of vehicles that were used in checking for hot spots after the fire and footprints of the people who searched and dug out the hot spots.  There are a few other footprints now, dogs, deer, and mine.  It smells like smoke and ash.  The ash lays on the ground like a thin layer of snow or frost. The charred wood and grass heats quickly in the Texas sun and the smell of charcoal is in the air all day and night.  There has been no rain to water the ash into the ground even if it could soak into the baked earth.  No new green grass shoots coming up to reclaim the sun from the now dead trees.  The only green in the burned area is the top of a broken glass bottle lying near the base of a burned tree.