Oyster Mushrooms

 

Yum yum

it is oyster mushroom season

in our area they grow on dead or dying aspen or cottonwood trees

I have found them in three places this week

get out and wander

 they burst through the bark and grow fairly fast, a few days and ready to harvest

These are growing in my yard on a dead aspen tree

this tree not only hosts mushrooms, 

there is a hairy woodpecker family nesting, 

bugs

bats

moss

lichen

an entire realm going on in this tree

if i had found them in the woods

I doubt I could have reached

yet here at home

a ladder and then a long rake

did the job

~

*

 

 

Seasonal Glimpses

sweet little mountain chickadee

autumn raindrops

It has been a very cold autumn, more like winter cold.

snow a number of times

has come and gone

I love how the snow reveals who has walked by

in this case an elf....

(or possibly a skunk)

Ponderosa tree bark

artful and beautiful

occasional snowflakes

 as well as

beautiful frost

~

*

Tiny Puffballs

few flowers grace our world

as we enter the fungi season

(so glad there is always something to enjoy)

these are tiny fruiting puffballs

found at the base of my mountain ash tree

photographed on a smoky day

giving them an even richer color

I find each one to be a work of art

a small treasure to behold

Then one morning 

I woke to find a squirrel had eaten them all!

That is the task to enjoy the mushrooms before someone eats them. 

Most puffballs are edible for us and the deer and the squirrels

and

who knows who else. 

~

*

Endless Beauty

 

walking at the feet of stone cathedrals

through fields of flowers

and

proud trees

 

inspires sighs

adjusting ones breath

to open ones heart

to meet your beauty

flowers galore

(beargrass)

not to forget

the magical details

natures perfect art

and

glorious water falling

~

*

Velvety Rose Fomitopsis Rosea

treasures of the forest

meeting you makes my heart 

go pitter pat

velvety to see and touch

such unusual conks

also:

these all seem like magical creatures to me

fruits rising from the earth below

I think these are called clavaria

~

still finding mushrooms stored in the trees

warning

i might be on a mushroom kick for a little while 

;-)

~

*

Busy Busy little Squirrels

Squirrels are very busy

climbing high into the trees

tossing tiny pine cones to the earth

then scurrying to stack them in every little hole they find

a funny thing:

they bring the cones from the trees to the earth

and things they find on earth they take up into the trees

such as this mushroom

finding wild apples on the ground,

see the bit it 'hid' under the rock

pieces as big as it's head

 

hiding apples up up in the trees

a mushroom hidden under this tree

it was gone the next day

even filling the tunnels of ground squirrels!

this squirrel is not a ground squirrel

it is a tree squirrel

The ground squirrels have gone underground already for the year

they are also very busy eating!

~

wonderful entertainment!

*

Autumn's Paintings

Autumn has a signature 

within its' light and colors

dancing clouds 

move through the land

setting sun 

paints zenful lines

forest mushrooms

intertwine

lake shore captures fallen leaves

bear tracks

as fresh as the air i breathe

~
*

have the bears tucked themselves in

to a cave

or a tree 

I think it is still too warm here 

to hibernate

~

may you walk in beauty 

~

*