A multi-media account of my travels through life
About three inches in height, these Violet Toothed Polypores are very similar to Turkey Tails but their color, to my eye, is far more appealing. There was about a 2-3 foot stand of them on a fallen log in Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest. ☙
Tango on the Log — a continuing and fun theme from previous posts. This time in Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest. Note the beautiful new collar from The Kenyan Collection, courtesy of friends Daryl & Craig. ☙
Reportedly it has been a bumper-crop-year for mushrooms in western North Carolina. Lucky me! A few days ago I posted Little Helmets, lovely white fungi that are about 2cm in height (about 3/4″). Today I present a 20+cm beauty, a Shaggy Mane (Coprinus comatus) discovered along the road to Wayah Bald. Remarkably these two mushrooms are in the same family (Inky Cap or Coprinus)! But they certainly present differently. The Little Helmets were all clustered together near a woodpile. The Shaggy Mane stood in solitary splendor at a hairpin curve on Wyaha Bald Road. ☙
The pace of change is quickening. Colors are intensifying … autumn has taken hold. ☙
Mushrooms are making a comeback after a 3-4 week hiatus. New blooms are popping up everywhere. This aptly named Jack O’Lantern mushroom is quite spectacular and very seasonal. ☙
Some time ago I posted a blog called “Dead Hummingbirds.” Over time it has been among the biggest draws to my blog. I can’t imagine who is Googling for “Dead Hummingbirds” but stats don’t lie…right?
Today I present a dead butterfly, most likely a swallowtail variety. Friends and frequent readers will know that I worked in hospice for six years and I can already hear a few of them — “Leave it to Alice to find a dead butterfly.” Maybe it is a cosmic, spiritual link that leads me to these things. I mean, how many people have found a dead hummingbird on their front yard? Dead butterflies are easier to find. I have numerous pictures of various wing parts, shattered on some roadway or forest floor. This particular butterfly was on a dirt road, somewhere near Franklin. I was sitting, almost laying on the road trying to get a shot of the “Broken Hearted Tree“. As I went to get up there was the remains of this butterfly. Such a small bit of a beautiful thing. How could I not take a moment to acknowledge and photograph it?
“All things must pass,” sang the great George Harrison. It is an important thing to remember.☙
The blades of grass and mossy ground cover give you a sense of scale for this beautiful mushroom. It has been a wonderful season for mushrooms. New ones continue to emerge even as the days grow shorter and the nights cooler. What other treasures does North Carolina hold as the seasons change? ☙
About a year ago I posted a blog entitled “Grass on the Mind“. I revisited it today and a portion of it really jumped out at me.
My passion these days is photography and I LOVE photographing grass. There are thousands of varieties of grass in the world and a lot of them live here in Florida. At this time of the year many are “going to seed” — a phrase we have come to regard as pejorative. But if you get close enough to these grasses you’ll see a world of color and wonder. They may be “going to seed” but they do it in style. Just look at the colors and textures of these two samples.
There are many beautiful grasses here in North Carolina, of course. I have only just begun to photograph the N.C. variety. You’ll see their pictures in future blogs. Life has been very full in recent months what with moving to N.C. and working on this old place. It seems there has been little time for photography but once again I have been blessed. Nature has presented a bounty of mushrooms to photograph this year — right in my own backyard — and I have posted many of those pictures. But the grasses are calling me — their rich colors and awesome translucence wave at me in the deepening autumn sunlight. ☙
A peaceful image for a day carries so much sorrow – 9/11/2013.
Alice's WanderLand 