Hi

Visitor on the back door!

The afternoon turned warm and sunny. So Charlie and I went off on a little trek. I took only the 12mm lens which is a prime 'wide' angle lens. I wanted to challenge myself with it. It is really used quite often in landscape shots and astrophotography shots.

What could I do with it in the forest? There is no Wide Open Spaces. 

So I told myself to think outside of the box. Get out of the comfort zone of having the 14-150mm lens that I usually chose.

It was One Of Those Days. You know. Pandemic- Covid-19- Worry About the Whole Damn World Days. Stupid Mind Racing Thoughts Days.

Time to leave the smart phone on do not disturb and--- put it on a window sill--- and ---out of the way Days.

Getting out of the house and away from the endless drone of the TV is always helpful. Charlie was up for it as we'd skipped our morning walk.

We got to the area of the woods where the fungi liked to live. I sat down on a damp log to try and figure out how to photograph a few tiny fungi, when I noted Charlie sniffing and tasting the berries that came out of the Buckthorn Trees.

The berries look exactly like deer poo and I yelled at him, "Stop, drop it!" The mystery of why he was so sick last week suddenly dawned on me. He'd sampled some Buckthorn Berries. No more hikes in that section of woods for him!

So how did my 'challenge' work out? Here I am yelling at Charlie while photographing a Chicken or Hen of the Woods fungi. Apparently they are good to eat when fresh. Nahhhh, I'll watch someone else eat them first and then decide.

You can get an idea of the size of the fungi though with Charlie in the backround.

I did find some tiny mushrooms that should have been photographed with a macro lens, but here was my challenge. Could I do something interesting? 

The full shot pre crop:

And after cropping:

These were just for fun and challenge. I could have done a focus stack with the lens too but I decided that with Charlie's interest in the toxic berries, we'd move on.

Although this lens did prove to be pretty fun to work with even in a macro world! Below, same log different angles of the fungi. The second shot is cropped.

I moved out of the Buckthorn Forest and thought about how to get rid of those trees. A goat herd would certainly help. They were good on the Buckthorn saplings, but those larger trees were an issue. They totally blocked out the sunlight in this area of the woods. I liked it in a way because it was super shady and the mossy logs loved it for fungi. But I hated them too.

A bull dozer and a herd of goats would take care of those noxious trees. 

I ended up sitting with Charlie at a place I used to go to often. The kids called it The Fort. It is a small rock outcropping on our land.

Charlie loved the rock. I think he likes it when he feels tall.

In this photo you can see his twisted foot and leg. He was born that way and I imagine in years to come that may become an issue. No matter, we adore him anyway. 

This pose is SO Charlie. He will NOT look at me directly unless I hold a dog treat in front of my face.

We will probably go back to The Fort more often. It is a nice place to sit and look over the neighbor's land.

And lastly, the photo that summed up how I was feeling yesterday.

I am learning how to be alone but not lonely.

I am surrounded by amazing things.

I will leave it at that.