And so this....

Take a good look at this mess. It may well be a memory by this weekend. 

I got a text from Patrick on Monday saying the Dumpster will be delivered on Wednesday. I was momentarily confused as he'd planned the work for much later. He had the time and is getting right with the program. 

Color me very very impressed.

The engine hoist stays, that is how I lift the mower and clean it out. It may be placed in a less conspicuous place.

September 2026

March 2026

Most of the 'stuff' that was piled around the garage has been cleaned up, but there is stuff in the weeds that I can't get to and don't want. Hopefully those small things will get cleaned up also. I am not allowing the scrappers back to search in this building, it is a hazard at this point.

June 2012

The deconstruction and this week's work will keep me from getting out to another Fungi search at least until Sunday. 

Stay tuned! I may set up my trail cam to take a time lapse of the de-construction.

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My Grand daughter will be spending Saturday with me and she is not a forest person at all.

Looks like a busy week for me and no fun fungi marches!

However, I can add to what I did find last Sunday.

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Below is a photo of the end of the bluff where the trail dead ends looking over the Kickapoo River.

Below are some very odd looking mushrooms!

Elfin Saddle or White Saddle and Scientific name:

Helvella Crispa

I almost passed these up because they had such bizarre shapes. I thought perhaps they had been stepped on and deformed. However, saw too many of them to be that.

These beauties below...well maybe not beautiful to

the casual observer...

Amanita Panther 

Poisonous!

I couldn't help but think of Ailie who is an action figure I have. She would chop one of these down and dry it. If you got on her bad side I imagine she'd slip some Amanita Powder in your drink. Be nice. 😋

 I didn't know what this might be until I got out my reference books.

The common name for this beauty is a Cauliflower Mushroom.

I think it could be called a Sparassis americana or spathulata. This is the first time I've found one and spent quite a bit checking it out.

I found so many of these growing, tiny little Boletes beginning to come up all over.

That is the end of my fungi/mushroom tour on the Wintergreen Trail. I can't wait for another trip out along the bluffs of the Kickapoo River.

Busy days ahead.

Like it or hate it...I'm having a blast.

I'm not very good at making my figures fly through the air but I thought I'd try a leap.

The easiest way to do this, is put a small piece of wire up their bum and position it so it isn't too obvious. Then take it out in post process. You can actually see it a bit in the upper shot, but it looks so close to the grass I decided just to get rid of the obvious bit.

I am however one of those that are always curious no matter what. I recently got a great deal on something called a Lensbaby. This is considered an 'Art' Lens. These lenses have always fascinated me and I've always wanted to try one. I went with a used Sol 22. It is tiny and it can be a real pain or really cool.

It is a manual focus lens with only an f3.5 aperture. In short, it demands your attention when using it. Many photographers don't see the point of this kind of lens and then there are those who absolutely are wild fans of them. Many say ... well I can just do this post process!

But what it you don't have to do any fancy work? What if it is enough to challenge yourself and try something out of the norm?

All I did here was crop the photo just a bit. The orangish color is from the Ulanzi lights I used to help set the mood to a color to highlight the feeling of rusty junk behind Wall-E and Eve.

I picked these 2 up at a Dollar Store over a year ago and couldn't for the life of me figure out what I wanted to do with them until I felt like experimenting with the Sol 22.

The lens let me make Wall-E the focus of the subject matter with his sad looking face. Eve is obviously there and comforting Wall-E. She is part of the 'story' yet not the main focus.  Anyway, that is how I see it.

This next shot is of Donder. He is a Luggan and I really am not sure what his back story, but he comes labeled as a Luggan from 'Acid Rain'. Apparently in the future, the world as we know it is washed away and destroyed by Acid Rain. There are a lot of figures created around this story.  Donder was interesting and bizarre enough to catch my attention.

In my story... Donder hooks up with the MiniBots to create or find a way to get out of horrors of the world that has gone nuts. 
He and the MiniBots find worm holes and rips in time to transport themselves and anyone else who is willing to pay to leave.

Of course worm holes and rips in time aren't things you can predict....but Donder doesn't really care.

I thought I'd use the Sol 22 with Donder and try something out of this world for lighting. The Lensbaby would focus on Donder and the rest would ... well you can see...

I had a crazy idea of using bubble wrap with mini lights taped to it as a background.

The result was so amazing, that I had to use it in a few more scenarios.

Here is my favorite shot of the experiment.

I used side lights of a yellowish glow to highlight Ailie.

Ailie and Rabbit at the Worm Hole... [not shot with the Lensbaby lens]

One thing led to another and now I'm taking this mini lens with me to figure it out. Manual focus can be hard as well as composing with this lens. In fact there are a LOT of times I wouldn't use it, but it is great for slowing down my thinking process and making me more aware of compositions while using it.

Last but not least. A landscape shot with it.

I didn't like it at first. But it does give me a feeling of huge expanse of the ridge I visit often.

I am embracing this new challenge. Quite fun.

Fun fotos...

Just because...it is after Christmas and I have a bunch of fun fotos from the month of December.

Santa's Relief Driver????

My all time favorite
ornament!

...I collect horsey ornaments. This may be
the most photographed ornament I've ever had.
I've had it for over 30 years. 
It was a cheap plastic one I picked up in
some second hand store so 
many 
years ago!

A much newer addition to my collection...

My tiny Button jointed Teddy Bears I made

years ago. Still up to no good!

Even Dragons celebrate Christmas?

I can't help it.

I think Dragons are cool.
New addition to the dragons!
A Baby Lego Dragon!

And then there was Mini-me
and Charlie doing last 

minute errands in the Village...

Little Bear and his wooden friends gather on

Christmas Eve at the Chair.

[These are old toys gifted to me

over the years.]

My ever changing toy display next to

the Christmas Chair.
It is made up of Vintage Boxes 

and

an old nesting box for hens.

I really didn't want to take down my cheery fun 'display'. I've had so much fun with it this year. 

But eventually the party ends, right?

I took down the Christmas Chair, the North Pole, and the Christmas Village and traded out the Lego buildings for the Medieval Village. I wanted to take a break from Lego so...

...before the rains hit, I grabbed some of my of my action figures and headed out. 

Ailie and Rabbit came out to play. I added the snow in post.

Time for a change up...

Story Times...

Meet Glenda...she runs
a Lego animal 
sanctuary...

in my Succulent Garden!

 

You can probably guess that she stays pretty busy.

Let's not forget to check in on Joe and Dog. They are still wandering about exploring this wonderful world that is not The End of All Time. I don't think Dog is too impressed with the pond they are going to cross.

Nor do they know what else they may find.

Ailie and Rabbit... transported from a Starship in the somewhat distant future.

There is a Lego Photo Challenge this month, that I will be participating in. Wouldn't it be fun to get the project??? I can only try. 

So you could see some fun Lego shots here as I work through that 'assignment'.

Submit photos of LEGO subjects in interesting environments to apply for this On Assignment project. The selected photographer will receive the Space Construction Mech 60428 to create a series of at least 5 photos.