mushrooms

Mushroom Family – Day 706

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Mushroom Family – Photo: L. Weikel

Mushroom Family

Standing on the flagstones leading to our home the other day, I looked up. Lo and behold, a mushroom family beautifully revealed itself, cradled in the arms of one of our beloved, aging maple trees.

I’m pretty certain mushrooms have made an appearance in the crook of that tree before, but I swear they weren’t golden caps with brown highlights. At least they weren’t as juicy looking.

Mushrooms from October 28-29, 2019 – Photo: L.Weikel

Ah! I found a photo – and sure enough, it was almost exactly a year ago: October 29, 2019, when I first discovered a pack of mushrooms living in our tree and wrote about it. (What? You didn’t realize mushrooms run in packs? How could you possibly not know that?)

Anyway, based on what the mushrooms looked like last year, I have a feeling these recent specimens simply need some time to mature. By October 29th, their appearance will shift and mellow and they will look as griseled as their ancestors did last year. Only now it looks like the family has grown!

The Maple Tree

I actually got a kick out of the opportunity to explore the beauty of our maple tree, the one that serves as host to these fantastic fungi. By taking a variety of photos that show off its craggy personality and late stage ability to still show a bit of color, it felt good to shower some love and attention on this tree. Like Sheila, it feels like we only have a short time left to revel in and appreciate its contribution to the overall personality of our home.

Simply Lovely – Photo: L. Weikel

It’s interesting to me that the appearance of the mushrooms was the precipitating force that led me to take these intriguing portraits of this grand maple.

Looks Like a Protective Ent to Me – Photo: L. Weikel

Unintended Consequence

Funny how that works. We think we’re doing something for a particular, specific reason. Something catches our eye or we love the way something sounds. We take photos, we record audio; and then – unexpectedly – we realize that what we’ve captured was something completely different than what we expected.

I’ve already spoken of how that phenomenon seems to be an undercurrent to all my cloud photos. I just never know what’s going to show up when I chase clouds and try to capture their souls.

The anima of this tree is obvious, as I’m sure you perceive as well. I’m just grateful for the appearance of that attention-seeking mushroom family, for it’s through documenting them that I paid some much-deserved attention on our maple.

It makes me wonder where else in my life this principle operates.

(T-405)

Munchkin Mushrooms – Day 351

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Tree mushrooms – Photo: L. Weikel

Munchkin Mushrooms      

Just this past Thursday I was sitting on our porch steps working on my laptop. The afternoon sun had reached that magic place where it was blazing directly into my eyes as I sat in my usual spot, so I’d shifted my position.

Still being acutely aware of the return of birds to our feeders, my eyes swept upward when I caught sight of movement along the bark of the tree. I sensed a nuthatch, perhaps?

Whatever it was that caused me to look up in that moment eluded me. However, I was astonished to see the little munchkin mushrooms, above, peaking out at me from the crook of one of our old maples at least 8 feet in the air.

I was entranced. Those mushrooms are adorable – and such beauties!

Four Days Later

What a difference some rainy days make.

Here is a photo of those very same mushrooms only four days later.

Makes me wonder what type of an intricate (or would intimate be a better word?) connection with the tree these little guys have.

I wonder if any birds or squirrels will eat them? Or how large they’ll in fact grow? Guess time will tell.

Munchkin Mushrooms Growing Up – Photo: L. Weikel

(T-760)

Critters and Such – Day 276

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Photo: L. Weikel

Critters and Such

“They grow ‘em big here at Amadell,” is something I guess you might hear if you listen closely.

This fly is not your normal housefly. While I didn’t “Google” it to see what makes this one so much more amazing than its woefully benign cousin, the common housefly, I’d wager at least part of its coolness comes from hanging out in a rainforest.

Take a close look at this amazing creature, though! From its white face to crimson, astonishingly bristle-haired abdomen, it is a sight to behold. And it was remarkably placid, at first landing on my foot to get my attention and then nonchalantly striking a few provocative poses as I snapped its photo from a couple of angles.

Photo: L. Weikel

Then there’s this lovely little fungus, his cap glistening as if he’d been dipped in lacquer upon sprouting. I found the utter newborn-ness of this mushroom’s appearance captivating.

No matter where I venture at Amadell, trees dominate the landscape. While there are always a myriad of flora and fauna to explore under my feet or on the ground along the cliffs and hillsides, it always pays off to try to remember to look up!

Photo: L. Weikel

Whenever I do, I almost always find my breath catching in my throat. The majesty of these great Beings is impossible to ignore. They are the Keepers of this Land, the sentinels, the Watchers. It feels distinctly unwise to pass through these forests without paying my respects both sincerely and often.

Respect. Gratitude. Appreciation for the life that abounds around me.

And how could I end another post from here without another Amadell sunset:

Photo: L. Weikel

(T-835)

Treasures From My Walk – Day 263

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Photo: L. Weikel

Treasures From Our Walk  

It feels like it’s been forever since Karl and I had a chance to take one of our walks. But we managed to take one this evening. In fact, we went around twice, just for good measure. Along the way, we picked up some cool treasures from our walk.

The first discovery was this greatly intact butterfly. When I discover butterflies that are fully intact, I assume (rightly or wrongly), that it’s been hit by a car. Too many times, I’ve been driving along and suddenly see a butterfly, flying in a characteristically loop-the-loop flight pattern, waft out into the path of my car. Often it’s too late or too difficult to avoid hitting it; and all I can do it hope that the air current passing over my car will buffer the delicate one from slamming into my windshield.

Sometimes we get lucky; sometimes we don’t.

I’m afraid that’s probably what happened to this lovely one, which I found on the side of the gravel road near High Rocks. It’s too intact. It obviously wasn’t killed by anything that tried to eat it.

 

A Surprise Peeking Out of the Mud

Later in our walk, I noticed the Township road crew had recently dredged out along the side of the road. With a combination of scraping and scooping, they cleaned up the piles of mud and debris that have accrued as a result of the flash flood-inducing rains. The sides of the road have been getting pretty full lately, to be honest.

Something bright and pretty caught my eye, flashing a smile at me from the muck left behind. What a pretty mushroom! I was struck by how bright a color it is, and even more so when I got up close and saw the bright yellow outline around its cap.

I’m trusting one of you will fill me in on precisely what kind of a mushroom this is.

Photo: L. Weikel

Frog But No Photo

I also found a dead frog, but alas, I did not take its photo. Truth be told, Sheila found the half-dessicated frog while taking a pit stop to add her scent to the neighbor’s flower bed. I saw her suddenly shaking her head in the characteristic fashion she  employs when she’s trying really hard to swallow whole some disgusting tidbit before having to “drop it!” when we realize what she’s doing.

I declined to photograph the frog. It was not particularly flattering. But that makes me think of another frog I photographed along that same route quite some time ago. I’ll see if I can find it and will post it here, too.

Woman-Frog – Photo: L. Weikel

Success!

Tell me you don’t see the woman with upraised arms?!?

Treasures from our walks. We’re so incredibly lucky to live here.

(T-848)