Dusk carries the scent of smoke: an acrid waft of mingled exhalations from countless fireplaces. The woods that burn carry their own distinct signatures, revealed only in the long moments of immolation. There are other scents as well. The scent of moisture. The scent of mold. Near the castle grounds, on a wedge of land footing the hulking, ancient ramparts, there is a complex olfactory brew of sweetness and something less easily defined. There is a smell of decadence as well: sweetness and fermentation. Follow the smell and you will find the trees. They are gnarled and clumped together, as if for protection. Though trees have stood taller with wider trunks, there is no doubt that these are old, and that they draw harder nutrients from the soil in which they grow. It is not the trees, however, that deliver the scent of cloying sweetness. It is the apples they have shed:a whole carpet of tight, misshapen globes in all of the colors of autumn. It is cold. Each day begins with mist, and so the town's wasps have retreated into their papery nests. Others feed on the carpet of fruits: worms and insects of diminutive and prehistoric pedigree—they are strange creatures, scarcely imagined in younger countries. Some are black, sleek things with tweezer-like jaws, and elongated, half-worm bodies. Some bear wings. Still others are beetles in garish metallic shades of phthalo green and eye-searing blue. There are fungi as well: gray/black mottles that coat the skins of any fallen fruit. It is easy to ignore the apples, however, and the simmering brew of life that they support. Their trees stand upon castle grounds, and the enormous ramble of stone at the heart of Český Krumlov is what draws the eye and the admiration of tourists who photograph themselves before the ornate walls and the waterless moat inhabited by bears. They ignore the apples, the worms, and the molds, and where the apples grow, only locals are prone to wander. Sometimes alone, though most often in the company of friends, or dogs. **** As always, thank you for viewing and reading and commenting on this and on my past photos and other stuff. And hopefully everyone is having a pleasant week.