Cool, Wet Weather

With the onset of autumn. we've had cool, wet weather.  The grass is growing like crazy, but there are other signs of the cool wet weather . . .

. . . mushrooms and . . .

. . . and dew-laden morning fog . . .

Enjoy!

Trilliums and Earthballs

I went for a long bike ride yesterday.  In my younger days, I would just ride as hard as I can to train for racing.  As I have gotten older and stopped racing, I find myself looking off to the woods and the streams.

Yesterday I came across tons of trilliums ("... billiums of trilliums ...") growing in the shady roadsides under the trees.  Trilliums are some of my favorites.  I jumped off my bike and took a few photos.

Just down the road I saw a strange sight.  I got off my bike to investigate.  Looks like I came across some earthball mushrooms (genus Scleroderma).  They are poisonous, unlike the larger puffball mushrooms which I blogged about before.

Always  take the time to look around.  You ever know what you will find.


Happy Mother's Day!

Giant Puffballs!

The end of the summer has come.  We have been to reunions and parties the last three weekends.  We had a great get-together this past weekend here at our home.  My cycling as been erratic, but I did get a chance to get a few rides in this past weekend.  On one ride, I saw a large white ball sitting in the woods about 15 feet from the road.  When I was riding back, I pulled off the road and went up to the white ball.  Was it a bag of trash, a mushroom, a deflated toy ball?

I pushed it gently with my hand (no, I did not think it was some alien life-form preparing to turn me into a blob).

It was a giant puffball mushroom (Langermannia Gigantea).  I took some pictures of it (in one photo I have a water bottle next to it).  The puffball was about 12 inches (30 cm) at its widest.  It was the largest one I had ever seen!

Just yesterday I saw 2 more nearby our house by the historic Bement-Billings homestead.  It must be puffball season.

A site I frequent states these are edible when newly emergent.  I like mushrooms, but think I'll pass on picking some myself.  It would have been nice sliced and sautéed with a little butter though...