The picture to the right was the last straw: mushrooms at the beach. I can't go anywhere these days without noticing mushrooms, never the same variety twice it seems, in multitudes of colours shapes sizes and habitats.
(Me and visiting mom at said beach, moments before finding Beach Mushrooms. WTF what-the-fungus)
Something to do with the weather...a hot dry summer punctuated with just the right amount of rainy deluges...a wet September...a dry October...and voila: Fungi Fiesta.
Mushroom pickers must be delirious--I don't know much beyond the basic life cycle myself, and the general precaution not to eat any unless they have been approved by a seasoned mushroom-ologist (mycologist). But I can feel their joy.
There's something wonderful, anyways, how mushrooms erupt from the forest floor..or the beach..like little people in big hats, oblivious to their vulnerability.
In fact, what we notice as mushrooms are the fruiting/spore-producing bodies for the root structures or mycelium that form networks in the soil. A year like this reveals how much lies hidden most of the time--there are varieties emerging this year that mycologists haven't seen for 15 years!
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I've also noted that the mushroom patches on my clients' properties--usually just over the bank on the green belts or under trees in low-traffic areas--have generally exploded in size...probably indicating the true size of the underlying mycelium.
I just like photographing them because they appeal to my gnome-like sensibilities.
Friend Brenda, Amanita,Puff the Magic Dragon, and me.
I somehow missed the shroom stage of my life. Brenda thinks that's funny, and a little sad.
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