king of the forest

I went looking for fungi in a different forest today. Plenty of interesting finds but not a single cep. Walking deep into the darkness of the firs, I realised that I was holding my breath - it felt like a very alien environment. Very little on the forest floor except pine needles and the odd broken eggs from crows' nests up above. I found this lion hanging from a tree branch, tied on with blue baler twine. No idea why it was there or for how long...

I've dried yesterday's ceps in the dehydrator...only so many mushrooms two people can eat!

Joe has been here for the weekend; he went out last night to look at the stars through binoculars. I had told him that it's (just) possible to see some of Jupiter's moons - Jupiter is so bright in the sky just now, being so (relatively) close to Earth. Mars is very easy to spot as well. One of the nice things about the longer nights is being able to gaze at the night sky.

The rest of my day was spent gardening and then making and eating an aubergine fesenjan. Nice.