236: Flourishing in the rain
Posted: May 17, 2011 Filed under: 365 Life in the Bogs Challenge, Adventures in Life, Earth, home, nature, Photography, Quotes, Spirit, Spring, Walking, water, weather | Tags: Boulder Colorado, Colorado, Friedrich Nietzsche, fungi, fungus, mushrooms, Photography, postaday2011, Rocky Mountain National Park, Susan Sontag, Thomas Carlyle 24 Comments
Nature alone is antique and the oldest art a mushroom.
~ Thomas Carlyle
While some things are not doing so well in our supersaturated system caused by all the rain, others are flourishing. The fungi are loving it.
There are all kinds of strange growths out there. It would be nice to learn what is edible and what is not. But without an expert here to help me out, I’m not going mushroom picking. One wrong fungus could be deadly.
Out of damp and gloomy days, out of solitude, out of loveless words directed at us, conclusions grow up in us like fungus: one morning they are there, we know not how, and they gaze upon us, morose and gray. Woe to the thinker who is not the gardener but only the soil of the plants that grow in him.
~ Friedrich Nietzche
All of the above photos were taken a day or two ago. I did not bring the camera along when I went outside today. For one thing, it’s raining pretty steadily. For another, my outdoor time today was about running errands and doing chores.
All of the following fungi photo were taken last August in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. This seems like a good time to use them in a post. I’m putting all my fungi in one basket, so to speak.
Magic Mushroom
M the Younger and his lovely wife, Merdi, will be packing up and leaving Colorado this week. They were our excuse to take vacation visits to Colorado over the past two years. I’m a little sad that they will be leaving as I fell in love with the parts of Colorado I have visited, particularly Boulder and Rocky Mountain National Park, and it was nice having a reason to go back. However, I’m mostly happy that they will eventually be living a bit closer and hopefully that means we will see them more often.
Another positive note to their move is we will now use our vacation time to have new adventures in new (to us) places. Both M and I have long lists of places we want to explore. Perhaps we’ll get a chance to start whittling away at those lists.
I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list.
~ Susan Sontag
Life in the Bogs 
Like you, I am hesitant to eat some of these creatures out in the woods without an absolute identifying person along. I had one a couple years ago, but still hesitate to pick mushrooms (except morels) without her guidance. Isn’t it hard when our kids leave places we liked visiting? Even though we will learn to like their new places, it can still be hard. I really miss visiting Ann Arbor, MI, for one. (Where our son went to college.) It will be fun for you to explore new places.
I’m looking forward to it, Kathy. 🙂
Those are some Willy Wonka mushrooms if I ever saw ’em.
I used to have a greater sense of adventure, and I’d just eat any old toadstool or mushroom that I found. Then I read more books… turns out, that’s not such a great idea.
Cool, aren’t they J?
And no, that’s not such a great idea.
Nice mushroom photos–I especially like the red dotted one. i guess with all that rain . . . then I suppose I shall be shooting mushrooms myself!
Thank you, Teresita. 🙂 Yes, all that rain does lend itself to mushroom shoots.
How much fun it will be to explore new places!! Good for you – but make sure to post your photos!! I went out to Colorado probably about 18 or so years ago, and I LOVED it!! The mountains are incredible – we don’t have ANYTHING like that around here, that’s for sure!
Thanks, Holly. 🙂
We don’t have anything like the mountains of Colorado around here, either. Another nice thing about the Boulder area is that they get plenty of sunshine. Can’t say the same for the Bogs.
Love to see all these great photos of the “fungus among us” but so true, they are not for munching. Never saw the red ones except in fairy tale books. I didn;t realize they were “real.”
I had never seen them before our visit to the Rocky Mountains, Bo. I thought they were fairy tale mushrooms too.
Lovely shots! I adore mushrooms – both in the wild and on a plate.
Don’t touch that red one… It’ll get you.
Thank you, Marie. 🙂
No worries. I won’t be eating any of the wild mushrooms without an expert to guide me. Since I don’t know any experts in mycology, it’s unlikely to happen anytime soon.
Yes – funghi do love the endless wet and damp. Mushrooms are among my favorite photographic subject. Well done!!!
Thank you, Marcie. 🙂
I’m noticing a light green tinge on many things—a layer of moss perhaps.
We have the same thing happening here, Christine, especially on the trees.
Those red mushrooms are something out of a fairytale. You really have fairies as neighbors!
Thank you, SunsetSeaSoul. 🙂
The red mushrooms, however, are not from around here. They grow in the mountains of Colorado which is a long way west from the Bogs. Our fairies grow different mushrooms.
Agree with the other comments about the red mushrooms – they are great photos!
I love mushrooms – but I’m very careful to buy them in the greengrocers!
Thank you, Robyn. 🙂
Wise choice.
Seeing all those mushrooms is making me hungry! NOT that I would even THINK about eating any of THOSE!!
I’ve never seen those “magic mushrooms” in person, always just in fairytale books.
That’s a relief, Michaela. I have a feeling none of the mushrooms pictured would be good for you, no matter how hungry you are. lol!
I keep meaning to post a comment here. The day you posted this I had my daughter check out the pictures (for identification purposes). Here is what she said:
the red and white one is an amanita muscaria. it is edible if prepared a specific way (i think you have to boil it) but otherwise will make you sick. most sources report it as inedible, but the guy who writes the most informative and accurate mushroom books eats it and prepares it for houseguests and some annual mushroom hunting event he has. the white one is likely an oyster mushroom but it’s hard to tell without seeing pictures of the bottom of it.
The others she wasn’t sure about. But I thought you might like to know about the ones she did know.
I love the pictures, by the way!
Thank you, Corina. 🙂
That was interesting and informative, but I think I’ll stick to buying my mushrooms at the store, just to be safe. 😉