the summer languished and palled , the sea grew colder and the flowers in the garden ceased to bloom , but nurtured their seeds ; birds were seen in the sky , soaring a great way off , bidding goodbye to the shore for weeks and months together , pursuing their ritual paths ; the leaves withered and dropped into mulch , concealing the squirrels careful stashes and feathering over the beds of sleeping hedgehogs , dormant beneath their spines ; the evenings drew in dark and secretively over cosy homes and drawn curtains , while wanderers donned hats , scarves and mittens .