Coupling Seeds

Spring is in full bloom. Flowers bursting forth, insects humming their songs of life and pollen drifting in the air to set the seeds for next year's vibrant show. I spied these tree seedlings that had survived the winter now perched on fresh spring-green growth in a cozy pose together. The perfect pose, really, as it encompassed the idea of reproduction in their appearance as lovers snuggling on a bench enjoying the fine day together as if engaging in the human form of the "mating dance."

Solitary Snow

On a cold, winter walk in the woods, you'll often find snow yet there was none this day. Strangely, you see some on a few branches where it should have been the first place to melt not the last. Walk closer and it looks like dirty snow. Walk even closer for inspection and suddenly, your focus miraculously transforms snow into fungus. Nature fooled me twice in one walk and in less than 50 feet apart. She's such a joker.

Really. A cursory glance would lead you to believe the heavens had deposited the white fluffy play stuff on this branch. Yet the rains had washed that away. Imagine if the marshmallow Fluff factory decided to rain down their gooey treat upon sweet-toothed kids? Every child would be vying for a drop of "snowflake" on the tongue. Meanwhile, it'd wreck havoc on windshield wipers and tires for the commute home. Let's leave all that to the imagination and instead continue to walk through the amazing world of fungus. It certainly deserves its own taxonomic kingdom as it is a world of its own to explore and respect.

Talented Woodland Animals

Fairy Tales. The great thing about them is how they're so not ordinary. If you're going to let yourself go, it best be your imagination and not your hygeine. Taking a walk in the woods one afternoon, I came upon this scene that made me wonder whether magical creatures lived so close to suburbia. I first noticed it out of the corner of my eyes as I often subconsciously look for tracks, scat, and the creatures that make them. My initial thought was to curse an irresponsible and inconsiderate dog owner until I realized the offending object appeared to be impaled upon a stick. Curious animal and most talented at that. Even more curious was the multitude of excrement on a stick all about. Upon closer inspection of the dessicated feces revealed that indeed, it was not feces at all. Rather, it was some sort of fungus which could be found in all sorts of shapes and sizes wrapped around twigs and branches or merely resting on top. Incidentally, it was only this first fungal oddity that had caught my eye to actually appear turd-like in texture and pattern whereas the others were decidedly more fungal-like. I confess it's quite a detailed observation on poo, but I've picked up after a fair number animals of all sorts.