Recent Things

Recent Things (Joni Mitchell Brackets)

"See the geese in chevron flight, flappin' and a-racin' on before the snow...they got the urge for going and they got the wings so they can go..."—Joni Mitchell ("Urge for Going")

Corn dog on the fly.

Pink corn.

Acorn takes the high road.

Birdhouse in which wrens spent the summer...
...and a mouse spends the fall.
Tomato plants covered at dusk on the night of first frost.

Snake skin in the bee yard. (Note outline of eye and jaw on the left portion of skin.)

Grass shadows on a great book by Jim Harrison.

A mushroom I thought was the shiny cinnamon polypore but now I think isn't.

Ambivalent leaves of staghorn sumac.

A tiny nest.

Grouse crossing!

"Hey farmer, farmer, put away the DDT now—give me spots on my apples, but leave me the birds and the bees—please."—Joni Mitchell, "Big Yellow Taxi"

Ground Control to Major 'Shroom

The mushroom situation is wonderfully out of control this wet, cool summer. It's hard to describe the joy of entering the woods and finding the place popping with fungus. It's been many a year since I've seen this much action!
And it's not just the woods—it's the fields, the lawns, the roadside. Inky caps, fairy rings, dryad saddle, golden fairy spindle, green jelly babies, sticky violet cort, destroying angel, wrinkled milky, fuzzy foot, shaggy mane, Jack O' Lantern—even the names are exciting.I'm working diligently with my field guides to learn some of them; it's surprisingly easy—not! (At least I've learned to tell my boletes from my polypores and my amanitas from my russulas.)
One thing I will say is that mycologists can write; some of the wittiest field guides I've read are the mushroom guides. Must have something to do with the irony inherent in all those gorgeously bedecked toxins. (At the moment I'm particularly enjoying Bill Russell's informative and unpretentious Field Guide to Wild Mushrooms of Pennsylvania and the Mid-Atlantic.)

Here are some of my recent finds—all taken over the past week or so.