I’m not here.

I’ve been reading Winter World by Bernd Heinrich and I’ve been encouraged to look more closely at my woods. So this weekend I took a path I don’t usually take and surprise! I’ve seen an earthstar before but this one is in better condition.

Amanita muscaria, one of the most recognizable and widely encountered in popular culture, especially children’s books — it’s constantly appearing in my daughter’s. I always associate this mushroom with the Smurfs. This is odd, of course, because it’s hallucinogenic — perhaps that explains the Smurfs.

It was an active and productive weekend of mushroom photography.

Great skies coming home from the Arboretum last weekend.

Meet my new favorite mushroom: Helvella lacunosa, or the Fluted Black Elvin Saddle. Today was a bumper day for mushrooms — my daughter and I photographed at least five or six new species for the season.

Another mushroom from the trip to the Arboretum, I can’t identify it though.