It’s been gray/rainy/foggy and cool this week. Typically fall. Our mushroom foray that was rescheduled for today was put on hold for yet another week. It would seem the mushrooms are reluctant to make an appearance. So instead we visited Bed, Bath & Beyond and bought new bed pillows, sheets, and towels. The washer and dryer are working overtime getting them all ready for use. Well, not the pillows of course. (Did I mention the dryer is fixed? Well, mostly. It still needs a new belt which will be installed on Monday, but at least it’s usable.)

I just now stepped out on my deck because I heard the Carolina Wren singing its sweet song. It actually prompted me to write this entry. Such a cool bird to have around and it has so many different tunes it can sing! My neighbor’s rooster was crowing too, and every once in a while the sheep chime in with their cute baaaa…baaaa…baaaa‘s. My neighbor told me that they will be bred this fall so we’ll have more sheepy noises to come. I told her we’d love to have some milk to make cheese from but I don’t know if that will happen or not. It’s complicated. There will be wool though from the shearing. (Not that I would know what to do with it!)

There is also the very loud thwack! sound of acorns (or maybe it’s the other large nut-like things that have been falling this year) hitting the deck of my neighbors across the street. The rustling of tree leaves and limbs can also be heard as the squirrels busily run to and fro with their nutty booty.

Even though the trees are not showing much color as yet, fall has arrived. And maybe, just maybe, I’m out of my blut.

My eyes are finally adjusting. Instead of taking in the wide sweeping vistas around the cabin they are focusing in on a more closed-in view of trees and heavily wooded hills. The trees are just starting to turn here and there. There’s a touch of Fall in the air and we are expecting quite a bit of rain throughout the night tomorrow. Our annual mushroom foray is planned for Sunday (we just got word) but will depend on Sunday’s weather. I hope we don’t get rained out!

We had two cords of wood delivered yesterday. Yes, it’s that time of year again. Last year we didn’t use the full two cords so we have some nicely aged wood to begin the fire season with. Instead of trying to stack it as I went, this year my goal was just to move it off the grass so it wouldn’t kill it first, then slowly work on stacking at my leisure. See how much I got done yesterday by chucking it piece by piece onto the gravel.

Not bad, right? As I worked I heard a rustling noise in the woods. When I turned around I saw three deer walking the fence line. They came out of the woods and crossed our driveway. I went to the gate to get a better look. Each deer as it crossed the drive stopped to look at me, tails flicking with trepidation. I spoke softly to them: I won’t hurt you beautiful things, it’s okay. They stood there looking at me for a few minutes longer, then went on their way into the front yard and I got back to my wood chucking. I felt like a Deer Whisperer or something!

Here is the progress after today’s work:

Almost done! My arms gave out so I stopped. I’ll have Rick help me with the rest tomorrow.

What I wouldn’t give to have this wood at the cabin! Look at that lovely hardwood! Funny how we have this same chore at the cabin—putting up wood—except that there we have to actually cut it ourselves instead of having it delivered to us already split. I will still have to split some of the pieces with our little splitter, but mostly it’s all good to go.

This was also going on around my house today. The big question mark in the sky seems to be asking What? is going on here?

A big air show is going on in our town this weekend and this stunt plane was practicing his maneuvers almost over our house. I took these photos from the back yard. I think he was mostly out over the lake.

And upside down as well.

He was fun to watch. Noisy, but entertaining. I’m sure we’ll be seeing (and hearing) the whole air show almost as if we had a front row seat. After all, we are close to the airport. It’s fun to watch the big old WW II bombers fly over. They shake the whole house and are so magnificent in their vintage-ness. It’ not going to be quiet around here this weekend. Au contraire!

Added as an addendum: Dryer update! The motor is gone ... boo hoo ... so I’ve been hanging laundry on the line (gasp! My neighbors hate this!). Instead of opting for a new one we decided to just replace the motor in this one. Our twin washer is still going strong (both Maytags and never one day of service before this) and pronounced healthy by the repairman, so we hope it hangs in there for a few more years. Hopefully this coming week we’ll have a dryer back again! Not quite the same as pioneer laundry at the cabin, but almost.

Yesterday was a lovely, sunny day. We spent most of the afternoon in and around the pool soaking in the golden rays. These kinds of days have been pretty far and few between this year so we have to take advantage of them as they come along. It was nice having Rick back home again too.

Late in the afternoon we decided to take the canoe down to Green Turtle Pond and paddle to the area where I had seen so many mushrooms earlier in the week. The lake was full of people enjoying the day. Some were swimming, some were floating, some were paddling around in kayaks. As we were unloading the canoe one man said “Nice stripper!” I assumed he was referring to the canoe and not me.

We paddled over to the little lagoon and beached the canoe.

We found a few mushrooms, but most of the ones I had seen were gone by now. Rick demonstrates how big this one was.

Another purple one, this time cupped enough to be store some water.

This one I thought was pretty.

Back in the canoe we tried paddling over to this turtle sunning himself on a rock, but he was too shy and plopped into the water before we got close enough to get a good shot of him.

A little further on we came to this flock of geese enjoying the pond too.

We got too close for comfort for them too, and they took flight.

That was yesterday. Today is a whole different story outside. Take a look.

Oh well. At least we had a good day yesterday!

I did take my long awaited walk in the woods the other day. I hadn’t been yet this summer and mostly because of the ticks. We’ve had mosquitoes too this year, which we haven’t had since we moved here. This year they’re bad! So, I sprayed myself down with Deep Woods OFF! and off I went. I contemplated taking one of the dogs with me but I knew in my heart they would not appreciate all the stopping I was hopefully going to do when I saw something to take a photo of.

A leaf decoupaged onto another from the heavy rain the other day.

The woods are lusher than normal this year with all the rain we’ve had. It was even hard to find the beginning of the trail it’s so overgrown. No thorns reached out to clutch at my clothing as I entered the forest as they have done in previous times. I can’t describe it, but the woods have a different feel to them. Almost more secretive.

The trail was boggy and wet and I came across many pools of standing water. At this point I was glad I decided not to bring a dog!

Of course, all this wetness means that it’s just the right kind of conditions for mushrooms to thrive. I found they came in all colors.

Bright orange.

Yellow.

A combination of colors.

Purple. (!)

Some were huge. These were bigger than they look. My hand could not span the top of these.

Some were ugly.

Some grew on trees.

Some were brown but interesting all the same.

Some had me fooled. (do you know why?) Look closely.

While others didn’t look like mushrooms at all. This one looks like it’s trying to disguise itself by looking like the surrounding mulch.

And this one. Well, anybody for a cheese pizza?

Remember the coral mushroom I showed you the other day? Seems they come in different colors too. Yellow and this lovely peachy color.

I didn’t take just photos of mushrooms. A few blooming things along the way caught my eye.

I walked all the way down to the pond which had a lot of visitors for the middle of the day during the week. An elderly man that was fishing commented to me that it was a nice spot for taking photographs, and asked me what I was taking photos of. When I told him mostly mushrooms he cocked his head, raised one eyebrow and said “Kinda strange, don’t you think?” I told him I didn’t think it was strange at all. I’m sure most of the people I passed on my photographic journey walked right past all those mushrooms and didn’t even see them. Admit, it: aren’t you glad I pointed them out to you?

The other day I grabbed my camera and headed off to see what I could find in my yard and woods. We’ve had so much rain lately that I was hoping to find to find a few interesting things.

In the woods in back of my house I found a few fungusy-mushroomy things. Like this coral mushroom. I’m pretty sure it’s Jellied False Coral. My book says it’s edible, but I think I’ll pass. Can you see why it’s called a coral mushroom?

And these that were growing on a log. I can’t identify the species but I think they are pretty.

I came across this group of Indian Pipe Plants. To me they seem to be members of a dance troupe working out a piece of very complex choreography, albeit a somewhat ghostly one.

Next I focused my attention on what flowers are blooming in the beds. I came across this spider napping. See how he’s holding on to the leaf with his leg?

Bee balm up close and personal.

I don’t know what these flowers are. Maybe bellflowers? It’s the same type of flower that the spider is napping on, just that this one is fully opened.

And this little beauty growing wild in the front yard. It resembles the Pipsissewa  (or Prince’s Pine) that we have in Colorado only this one is white.

And lastly, this strange bug that has been camped out on the same bee balm flower for about three days now. Even after the rain the other night he reappeared. It’s amazing what you see when you are using a macro lens!

He seemed to be studying me and trying to figure out what that big black thing is that is staring him in the face. Should he eat it? Maybe not ...

All this and I never had to leave the confines of my own property. Pretty amazing isn’t it? I plan to take a walk down to the pond, maybe this morning, and see what I can find in the “real” woods.

Edited to add: I think the Pipsissewa is also known as Swamp Pyrola and perhaps not Prince’s Pine.