Mushrooms and Snails

We enjoyed another warm and sunny Fall day here. My sons and I got a chance to take a hike in the woods and enjoy the "leaf rain." We had to be extra quiet so that we could hear the whisper-rustling of the leaves as they fell. At one point we sat in a shelter along the trail and peacefully watched the leaf storms as we shared a snack. What a miracle to get two busy boys to slow down and just sit quietly!

Along the trail we had a treasure hunt of sorts. Our goal was to find three things: mushrooms (to photograph), round rocks, and an egg sculpture. My youngest was the first to spot mushrooms--some polypores growing on a tree. We figure he's a great mushroom-spotter because he's closer to the ground than we are.

I have been reading a bit more about polypores, and they are incredibly diverse in color, shape, and form. They are different from most mushrooms because they have pores instead of gills. If you look closely at the bottom of one, you can see the small pores quite clearly. The bottom of one we saw last weekend looked like shark skin. Rather than being spongy, they feel amazingly like the wood they consume. Most polypores are not poisonous, and some, including the turkey tail, have a range of medicinal uses.

We found the egg sculpture, installed by Andy Goldsworthy. We speculated about its nest and the BIG bird that laid it.

We also revisited some of the mushrooms that we saw on our last walk.

We saw these puffballs (shown above) last month, when they were beautifully cream-colored and smooth. Now that their spores have burst forth into the world, they are slowly rotting.

Unfortunately we didn't find any smooth, round stones small enough to carry away, but we'll find a more likely spot next time.

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Here a few more treasures I found at the Friends of the Library book sale.

A small greeting card by illustrator Jean Pierre De Bernay. You can find a better-quality digital version here. It caught my eye because of the grouping of mushrooms, ferns, and snails. Sound familiar, anyone?
And here's a quote from the book, Odd Pets (by Dorothy Childs Hogner, Scholastic Book Services, 1951), that shows me why the twin fascination with snails and mushrooms isn't so odd after all:

Some land snails are very fond of mushrooms. They will eat almost any kind of mushrooms that grows in the woods or the fields. But if you should pick a pretty mushroom and feed it to your land snail and it agrees with him, do not think that you can eat the mushroom too. Snails can eat some kinds of mushrooms that are deadly poisonous to man and not get a stomach ache.

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My family's quest to have a TV-free household is coming along well, with a few minor bumps. I think we watched about 15 minutes of TV for the whole long weekend, and the kids have even stopped asking about it. The boys are playing together a lot more as a result, and now they call each other best friends--the kind of love-hate best friends, of course. We've been lots more active with the kids, and they are getting more outside time--hiking, biking, and just playing like puppies. My daughter is busy enough with school and extracurricular activities that she hasn't missed the TV a bit. I think it's hardest on the adults, who sometimes just need a few moments to chill at times.

It's hard for me to believe, but this is my 99th post. To celebrate this milestone, and to give something back to the craft blogging community that I feel so happy to be a part of, I'm planning some kind of giveaway for my 100th post. I'm having a hard time figuring out what I have that people might like--books, fabric, papercuts, knitted items, felted creations? I'll be working on that, so you may not see me until next week.