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)