Sunday, July 3, 2011

yard critters and more of that fungus-amungus!


this past week we've had rain almost every afternoon...
which  is a little unusual. 
the towns along the coast get rain almost every day...
but not us.
even if rain is in the forecast...it doesn't always make an appearance.
we can be watching the weather scan...
and it shows big blotches of green all over us...
but...then...what happened? where did it go? did  it just split and go around us?
did it evaporate before it hit the ground?

anyway...what i'm saying is that for us to have rain every day
is not the norm.
but i love it. i love the rain. i love a good thunderstorm.
earlier in the week...one evening...sam & i heard this loud tapping sound...
on the roof.  we have a metal roof and a couple of skylights...
it sounded as if someone was throwing golf balls.
we looked at each other & instantly we knew.
with surprise and recognition...we said in unison
"HAIL!"
that was the first time I'D seen hail  since i moved to
florida in '87.  come to think of it, that was probably the first time
i'd seen hail since i left NY in '74.

 well, a year or two after i moved to florida...when i lived farther south
in the tampa area...plant city actually (the strawberry capital!)...
i  awoke one morning to this fluffy white stuff covering everything!
icicles hanging from the carport and trees!
i ran outside and started to make snow angels in the front yard.
no, i'm just kidding...there wasn't THAT much snow.
everything was frozen. even the water pipes.

but let me get back to the here and now.
i haven't had to drag the water hose around...for about a week now!
mother nature has been giving me a break.

with all this humidity & wetness...
everything is growing like crazy. 
flowers blooming. 

(purple passion flower with it's fruit just over it)

 (inside a Day Lily)

the butterflies & dragonflies are flying around 
with permanent smiles pasted on their tiny faces.


and if i'm happy. if the butterflies & the dragonflies are happy.
then the  lizards are happy too!
 (Anole proudly displaying his dewlap)

 (Fence lizard)

even the squirrels are elated because 
they don't have to wait for me to fill their water bowls!

besides all the little yard critters...
one of my favorite things to spot...are mushrooms, lichen, fungus, moss!
each is so unique.
i've done a few posts on these  wondrous plants...but i can never get enough!
i can't help but take pictures of all of them!
don't worry...i'm not going to upload them all.
and unless you know your mushrooms...i'd advise you not to taste any!





 (twins!)


have you had enough?  just a few more...

 (siamese twins!)

(taste tested...no, not by me...)

(pushing its way up through the ground...thanks to all the rain.)

that's it. OH yeah...
just a couple of stubborn leaves i saw on the ground...
that have just flat out refused to lose their  bright Fall colors!
(fine by me.)



thanks for wandering through...and for NOT eating the mushrooms.

~have a safe journey & enjoy the ride~
:]  laura




24 comments:

  1. loved all of this!!! more, more!!!

    the twin 'alien head' mushrooms were so cute! then the siamese twins cracked me up! we'd love some rain here so i know how much you must be enjoying yours! 'permanent smiles on their tiny faces'. loved it!!!

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  2. Hi Laura,

    back again at your page, just a short break into the web.
    Wath wonderfull pictures.
    My herb and mushroom heart makes boom if i saw your PASSIFLORA- it is one of the most excelent herbs for the mind and the calm.
    Also some of your mushroom are excellent to eat, but you have to know them like i Do.hihi.

    So Laura in Facebook i'm not so much, so i will write further on to you by e-mail or here in your excellent blog.

    Have a nice sunday afternoon, take care, love and peace
    Doris

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  3. Wonderful critters and nature post. The fungus and mushrooms are cool looking. Great post and photos.

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  4. Oh, Laura, I can never have enough of mushrooms, fungi, mosses and lichens...in fact, that's exactly what we were in the garden photographing today and I'll be uploading a post on this later today. I'd spotted so many new and unusual little mushroom clusters this past week, but never got around to photographing them, so today I suggested my husband grab his macro lens and follow me into the garden. We unfortunately couldn't find any mushrooms...it's probably too cold for them right now (we're having a cold snap!), but there were lichens and mosses galore.

    I always love walking around your garden with you. I'm thrilled to hear you've been having some welcome rains (& even hail...we also had hail this past week!) Nothing brings a garden to life as quickly as glorious rain!

    Your garden has so much insect life..we couldn't find anything except a few aphids today! Our dog, Bonny saw a couple of bees which she was trying to catch. She eats them!

    Big hug,
    Des xoxo

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  5. Cool 'shrooms Laura. The twins and Siamese twins are good finds. Your fungus is always welcome! I've never seen so much fungus in one area as you have.
    Nor have I ever seen a purple passion flower. It's so pretty. And I don't know how you get such good face shots of the creatures-the dragon fly is beaming!

    So much freshness from a good rain, huh?

    Love the George Carlin quote-very true. Have a great weekend Laura!

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  6. I never get tired of looking at mushroom pictures!

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  7. wonderful to see your world, so much beauty and awesome critters to live with. enjoy the rain while it lasts.

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  8. Rain is so refreshing.
    I am glad that it hit your side of town.
    Look at those amazing pictures.
    The squirrel quenching its thirst.
    Gorgeous flowers, butterflies, and lizard.

    You brought back so many wonderful childhood memories with your mushroom pictures. I remember many different kinds that sprouted in my old neighborhood. Thank you.

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  9. Oh Laura, the 4th last Mushroom above the 'Siamese twins'... I have some photos from a few years ago of the same type, even with the little chewed pieces, also amid Leaf Litter. It was under Trees and Shrubs amid the Scrub Bush area here in Queensland Australia, being romantically lit by midday Sun filtering through the Branches.

    How wonderful seeing the Connectedness occurring on this beautiful Earth... warmed my heart.

    Have never seen the Passionfruit's Flower in Purple tones... what colour is the skin of the Fruit when ripe? and, the taste of goodies inside?

    Always am intrigued by the many Butterflies visiting you. I saw on a Map that Florida is in essence is a Peninsula, like a finger laying out on the Ocean (Atlantic - yes?) pointing towards Cuba. I thought, maybe is a contributing factor to the seeming endless variety you have.

    Love your Clock... suits beautifully. All those little cogs and wheels someone once engineered to monitor and follow Time's Path... the Human mind does know how to do wondrous things.

    I feel such a lot of respect and awe in the way you are developing and creating "forestwalkart" Laura.
    I'm not a Facebook kinda person, but I do believe it is a great way to generate knowledge of "forestwalkart's" Storefront. Twitter too, I have heard, helps to generate the Knowledge and Traffic.

    Glad your unusual rainfall is only quality rain... may it remain so. Fascinating how weather can be different from one nearby location to another. I once lived on a small acreage, where often when it poured with rain... a five-minute drive away the rain had not fallen at all, or if did was only a mild shower.

    Hugs and good wishes to you Laura... and may the rains be gentle to ease your way through the passing of Summer.
    With love from your Friend Magda in Australia

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  10. As always, Laura, I loved the narration and the pix! The quote from Carlin at the end says it all! Me...I love to dance!!...:)JP

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  11. where we live is a bit like what you experience, we see the rain go by either side of us...that said, we did get quite a bit of rain last month

    my two new words for the day, courtesy of Forestwalk blog are:
    anole and dewlap !?!

    glad to see you give the critters some water, we also do that and fill water troughs for the kangaroos in summer, being on tank water our neighbours think we're crazy sharing limited resource with the native animals, but I reckon its the least we can do for sharing the land with them

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  12. I'll look at all the fungus pics you can post. and butterflies. and lizards. Skulls and bones? bring 'em on!!! When you put up a new post it makes my day!
    (you'll notice I didn't mention spiders.... but I can manage the occasional one)

    :)

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  13. I love a good thunderstorm too! Wow, your weather has gone a bit wild over the past week.
    All the rain, so good for the garden and everything in it! Ha ha, I can actually see a little smile on the dragonfly's face ;-) I just loved that cute picture of the squirrel having a drink.
    You've got a great selection of fungi, in all shapes and sizes... lovely colours too. On a recent weeding job, I uncovered some fungi very similar to that in your second photo - much to my immense pleasure. All your toadstools are so interesting, ha ha, love the siamese twins. Beautifully lush lichen too.
    A lovely post and I thoroughly enjoyed the wander around with you :D)
    (I love to dance too)

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  14. What an exuberant set of photos. (Can the set be exuberant? Or do I mean the subjects? Oh, you know what I mean.)

    A spot of rain in summer livens everything up. (And you can tell that I've already forgotten what our past summer was like!)

    Love that anole strutting his stuff.

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  15. THANKS everybody...for enjoying the 'exuberant' critters...AND mushrooms! they were all so happy to feel the rain...over and over! me too!
    ~as far as the dancing quote...i don't dance...never really did...not unless i got something IN me to loosen me up! now...i you might catch me dancing in the rain...and i always am dancing in my head!

    thanks so much!! i appreciate ALL your thoughts & kind words... :)

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  16. Such delightful photos. And I love the fungus photos.

    On Saturday we walked a bit at a local nature preserve. I hadn't taken a camera and only had the cell phone. Ended up making lots of fungus photos. Mostly out of focus. Was really tickled to then see these on your blog.

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  17. I came,I saw, I enjoyed!

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  18. I love the "action" photo of the mushroom that still had dirt on his head from pushing up so quickly! He just couldn't wait!

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  19. Beautiful, all of it. I would like to send you some butterfly wings. I have emailed you a picture of them.

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  20. We have also been having rather weird weather: Rain in the middle of winter (The Highveld does NOT get rain in winter! Who missed the memmo?!), a spectacularly cold winter and winds from June instead of August. But it's all as it is meant to be, hoping someone has the plans to all of this strangeness.

    As usual though, your pictures are absoutely amazing. this time I simply can't pick out any one as my fav... They are all amazing.

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  21. yep! the weather's sure been weird...AND unfortunately...devastating in places!
    but the wetness brings the mushrooms...and i was elated!! to catch that one 'shroom poking it's head up out of the dirt!
    WINGS and bones are always welcome here! :)
    i hate it when i forget my camera...no doubt you ALWAYS see something that makes you wish you grabbed it!
    come - see - like - glad you all did! :)

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  22. Great photos! You know I envy your rain!

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  23. So call me insane - 'cuz I just love your mushroom music. As to your rain, you can keep it. We've had enough up here in WA to last the rest of the year! (Want me to ship you some mosses & ferns? Just send me some sunshine in return...) GREAT photos & post, as I've learned to expect!

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  24. Great blog and photos. I've been to FL three times in my life. Last year we went in February, and it was freezing cold here in CT and 85 when we stepped off of the plane. FL is just beautiful and otherworldy. The fauna and flora are so different from here in CT.

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thanks for stopping by! it's always nice to hear from fellow wanderers!