I came, I saw, I Blewit

Starting in late August through October if we are not in a drought, it is prime time for mushrooms and a celebration of strange and colorful fungi.

Someone asked me what got me so interested in mushrooms. My simple answer was that I'd seen them and decided I'd like to photograph them.

I like being curious. When I'd find wildflowers, I'd photograph them and take them home to compare to an ID book. Mushrooms and slime molds became fun to find and fascinating to photo. It is like an alien world.

I took these with my cellphone as it seems to adjust to the light better than the camera. They are small. The one below was just emerging from the mix of dirt and sand below it. 

 

I also found what seems to be a hard plant to find. I've only found 6 in all the years I've been hiking. They are not generally seen right next to a trail. I just love their leaves and design. I've seen one in flower one time.

Rattlesnake Plantain:

I also brought along a couple of minifigs. They like to travel and hike with me of course. I found a perfect spot to place the Monkey King.

Last but not least.

I thought I found a Blewit Mushroom

Such a beautiful blue color! So different! I've found them once before in this general area and am always amazed by their color and beauty.

4 years ago in the same general area I found these. 

They are so startling. Another time I found remnants of them as someone else had walked along and kicked all of them to smithereens. 

I do wish people would just admire these beautiful mushrooms and leave them alone.

I looked into the Blewit mushroom and found that these really didn't quite fit the description. Perhaps they could be a fungi known as Indigo Inky.

So I may have blown the ID years ago, but that doesn't stop me for looking for these each year along this section of trail.

Fall is....

Monday 

Fall seems to always make me feel in a bit of a rush. It makes me breathless and anxious as if I am going to 'miss' out on something. The days grow shorter and I watch the forest carefully. When the leaves begin to fall in earnest I feel more anxious.

So what is up with that? Maybe I wish Fall/Autumn with the leaves and color changes would last much longer. I want it to draw out like Spring draws itself out. Spring teases us bit by bit with little glimpses of things to come.

Fall rushes at us like a freight train.

Some days I want to run about willy nilly to try and capture everything going on. And between meals, regular duties, and daylight, there never seems as though there is enough time.

I did get out and walked around our area. I took Groot along just because this little ornament makes me smile each time I pull him out.

I can't help but find this expression infectious.

I did find fine little fungi. I have waited all year just to see these tiny fungi appear on a log in our forest. The log hosts a few different types of lichen and moss as well as these little guys.

And then there are the Wolf Farts. Well, not their real scientific names, but they are popping up all over. I imagine it is due to the heavy moisture that comes on fall nights.

The Blewits. I don't know, it almost sounds like a made up name for a neighbor that would move in next door and be very annoying.

As you can see, they are not an easy mushroom to spot in the woods. Yes, they are large but colored much like the leaves they are hiding in. True to their description, they are commonly found on a forest path. These were between several oaks and other hardwood trees.

Another interesting note. I tossed the one I brought home out into the pasture and my red mules ate it. 

Perhaps that is why I don't find any in their current pasture!

Here is the leaf press/flower press picture I was working on. Sorry, this is just a crappy shot of it with the glass reflection that doesn't really show how pretty it turned out. 

I took another photo of it on the wall. It really looks nice. Better yet, this was a frame and some paper I already had. So the cost was just my labor in gathering the items and figuring out how to preserve them.

I will probably change it up after I get bored at this layout.

Do you recall my search for the Hazelnut tree? Well when hiking with Aurora I found them!

I have to grab those photos off my aged computer yet.

The trees I thought were Hazelnut near my home? They have confounded me since August.

However!

I have them figured out now.

Today looks like a good day to sort my observations and photos of the few bushes and trees I've been photographing and watching since August.

Don't you just love curiosity?

Feeling Creative

Fall tends to bring about my creative side. I thought I'd make a Diorama type set up for ...um, whatever the reason. So I went out in the yard and grabbed some little sticks and brought them inside.

I had some extra Model Magic that was still pliable so I thought I'd make a mushroom and maybe some mini trees.

I used some medicine caps as the tree bases. I put a ball of the Model Magic in the cap with some Elmer's Glue and set it off to the side to dry.

This morning while waiting on my appointment follow up calls I got out an old pill bottle and filled it with tiny rocks for weight. It will be the base for the tree I am modeling to look like it is leaning way off to the side. 
I will  hot glue the bark to the pill bottle to make it look like a tree base.

Now the items have to dry. It will probably be about 2 days or so before I can add paint to the 'trees' I made. One method to make trees was to use foil and create a base to make a tree. That was fine, but I thought an actual branch would make more sense. And after all, I can just go pick one up in the yard.

Guess who was very happy with it so far? 

Groot! 

I love this character from Guardians of the Galaxy. I saw some of those movies while visiting this summer with my son Eddie. When I spotted this 'ornament' in the store, I grabbed it. It was on a new display and most of them were already gone. I knew his happy face would not be there next time I went in.

I set everything to the side to dry and then took the afternoon walk to check on fences, mules, and the colors of fall.

I was so surprised at a patch of Blewits???

There were so many on this old mule/deer trail between oak trees that I ended up spending a lot of time trying to photograph them.

Here is the one I brought home. It was pretty large.

Hubby said there was NO way he'd even try one. I'm not sure either quite yet. This one was nearly as large as my foot!