a photographic expedition with my 4 year old

I went on a little adventure with my youngest yesterday.  Cameras in hand, we took a short walk through our woods.  She's shown a lot of interest in using my camera lately so I thought it would be fun to unearth my old point-and-shoot and let her snap a few pics.  These are her pictures with no editing or cropping from me.

Not surprisingly, mushrooms were a favorite subject.  She is my daughter, after all.

She also took a few that I think perfectly captured "her".

My heart swelled a little when I saw that last one, that she took looking into my dye pot.

She had no worries about how to frame her shots or of lighting or focus, she just snapped away, having a good time in the process.  When we were looking at her pictures on the computer she was just as fond of the blurry and out of focus shots as she was the lovely ones.

I can appreciate the fact that this child, who is so adept at pushing my buttons and driving me crazy, is equally adept at reminding me to relax and go with the flow.  It's like that with kids I guess.

I hope you have some relaxation and fun yourselves today.  Happy Thursday.

mushrooms on a Monday

 

If you've read this blog for any length of time you probably know that I'm a bit obsessed with mushrooms.  I love to read about them, eat them, dye with them, and craft their likenesses out of wool.  But I think that even for those that aren't interested in doing those things, fungi can be fascinating.  The variety of shapes, colors, and textures are stunning.  (Google "stinkhorn" sometime and check those out...wow)  For those of you that find them interesting, please enjoy a few photos from my walk in the woods yesterday.

  

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Monday, all.

start of the season mushroom feast

 

Fall mushrooming is upon us.  From the woods you can hear me cooing "hello beautiful, oh hello lovely" each time I place a mushroom in my basket.  I love this time of year.

 

Yesterday's haul consisted of just a few black trumpets, a few chanterelles, and a few lobster mushrooms.  I did find a few more past-prime lobsters which are heading to the dye pot to create more of that pretty pink.  The rest headed to my belly.

 

I wasn't in the mood for pasta, and I thought it would be rude to stand with the fry pan in my hand eating them all myself (though tempting) so I made a quick tart of sorts.  I had a puff pastry sheet in the fridge so I rolled it out and baked it, then covered it with cheese and my mushrooms and onions that I had sautee'd in butter and garlic.  I sprinkled it with Maldon salt (a gift from Julie) and oh... so good.

A good start-of-the-season feast.

I hope the rest of my week starts off as well.  And yours too.

Happy Monday!

no chanterelles, but no matter

A few days ago I went for a bit of a crawl through the woods in search of chanterelles.  I didn't find any, but of course had a good time anyway.  Anytime there are mushrooms to look at, I'm happy.(click on the photos to seem them close up)

 

This guy faked me out more than once.  I saw that color and got all fluttery in my stomach, but alas, not a chanterelle.

 

I saw a few oysters, which are edible, but the bugs had gotten to them first.  Maybe next year I'll catch them.

Coral mushrooms are so cool.

I love these tiny and delicate ones.

It looks like a fairy dropped her umbrella.

I saw three large clumps of these and from a distance thought they were a maitake or a cauliflower fungus, but no.  I believe these are polyporus umbellata.  The bugs beat me to these also.

I like how this one is poised on the stick.  So graceful.

Uhh... okay.  I haven't ID'd this yet, but I'm guessing it's a type of coral mushroom as well.

Back in my yard my kids found this teeny guy.  This is one I've wanted to see for years and here it was right out my door.  It's a birds nest cup fungus.

See those black "eggs"?  They're part of the fungus.  It looks like there had been two more inside there at one time, and once full it would look like a little nest.

The wild strawberries are ripe and I had a little (emphasis on little) snack out in the woods.  I felt lucky to get them, my kids can sniff out a wild strawberry a mile away and mow them down like small grazing animals.

Wishing you all a good weekend.  I hope you get to sneak a little sweetness and wonder into yours.

a wet pant legs kind of woods-wander

I love a rainy Sunday morning.  Especially when I can sneak off to the woods for a little quiet time.

Nibble on some columbine.

Smile each time I find more bedstraw. (you'll see why in a few days)

Marvel at the carpet of trilliums beneath the trees, knowing they'll soon be gone for the season.

Squeal at the tiniest red mushroom in the moss.

Wonder at the bellwort with their twisted beauty.

Stretch with the worms.

Get lost in a forest of sporophytes.

Finally see some of those plants in flower that I've been wondering about.

Starflower

Wild Geranium

Bring home a little appetizer for dinner time.

Anticipate tea in my future (wild sarsaparilla),

and grains (culry dock seeds).

Think about the abundance of "weeds" we're so lucky to have here.(absinth wormwood, I think)

And think about how useful this haphazard yard of ours is.(mullein)

Catch the aroma of chokecherry blossoms.

Spot the beginnings of plums on the little trees we brought in from the woods.

And revisit the photos of my walk over a hot cuppa and a rhubarb shortbread bar.  (recipe here) (mine are orange because my girls' egg color overpowered the rhubarb) (lastly, oh so tasty)

Have a wonderful end to the weekend, all.