Turkey Tail Fungus

I am on a trip down memory lane as I slowly reconstruct my Blipfoto folder on iPhoto , if a mere three and a half years could be said to constitute "memory lane".  I just finished 2013. I hope that the day will come when our newly revived Blipfoto will be able to reopen the store since I have found any other way of making a 365 book beyond my powers.

OilMan, Ozzie and I trooped off to Spring Lake wondering if we had chosen the correct layers for the weather which was alternating between rays of sunlight and pouring showers. The light drizzle which followed us around the lake seemed perfectly appropriate for the mushrooms and fungi which are beginning to make their appearance, although perhaps not for my slower than usual pace. 

What we think are chanterelles are pushing up through the oak leaf mulch everywhere, but we aren't confident enough of our identification skills to eat them , even though chanterelles are both delicious and expensive. Small armies of tiny yellow umbrellas are pushing up in the open grasslands, and a neighbor found the most spectacular large but delicate looking "lion's mane" mushroom growing out of a hole in her oak tree. (When I googled it I got pages of dietary supplements, so apparently it is both edible and good for us.) I particularly liked the turkey tail fungus growing along a moss covered log.

As if aware that he may have caused my dramatic tumble, Ozzie behaved himself on a short lead, except for when we took it off so he could charge up and down the water filled gully next to the paved trail. Unlike me, he is in his element in the wet weather.

It wasn't raining when we got back to the car so we headed for the Flying Goat where we wiped off the wet table and chairs outside with napkins. By the time OilMan made it outside with our coffees, it was starting to rain so we finished them in record time and came home. As I write, I can see the sun shining through the front door. OilMan swears It is raining in front of the house but not in back. Localized rain showers indeed….

A mixed day indeed as we head to Sebastopol for dinner with friends there….