Pushing Through

It's been instructive watching the life cycle of the fly agaric toadstools on the lawn at the end of the road. 

Today's photo indicates how they start. Shaped rather like the head of a penis they push through the soil and then form globular structures. See extra. The earliest stage is known as a button. The toadstool appears to be mainly white.

After two or three days the heads flatten out and the colour is a deep red. As time goes on, the head seems to 'flip' and form a cup. The colour soon fades.

I've added an extra photo of a collapsing Amanita. The gills have rumpled up. It's hard to believe that just a week previously it had looked in perfect condition. 

I had to go back this afternoon to take more photos as I hadn't got focus right this morning. Rather difficult to get right down to the ground when your knees won't support you. I resorted to using the remote camera app on my phone, which seems to have worked fairly well. The trouble is that you really don't know what is acceptably sharp until you transfer the images to the computer.

I also took a pair of scissors to do a bit of 'gardening' between the subject and the camera but really could have done with doing a bit more and clearing some more dead leaves out of the way.

Basil had his haircut today. He was a different boy afterwards. I think he doesn't like being shaggy.

And Len collected five of my canvases from Oakley Grange Farm cafe since another photographer/artist has supplanted me. The canvases are for sale at cost price plus p+p if anyone is interested. I have a storage problem. They still look smart and don't seem to have deteriorated in the cafe atmosphere. View the photos on Flickr. The size is 80 cm x 60 cm.