don't let these photos, with sun dappled light through the trees, fool you: we had a very wet weekend. the wind howled long and hard for the first time this season, blowing down trees and leaving more than a few of us in the dark for at least a few hours yesterday (some for much longer). and the rain was occasionally epic, pouring down in monsoon sheets for long periods at a time. but in between, here and there, a bit of blue sky would appear, and a few shining sunny moments with it. like any good islander, we took advantage of these little windows as best we could.
mainly, we were hunting for chanterelles again. that would be the main premise by which i can get A to come out for a walk with me, anyway. but we all know i love to tramp through the bush with my camera handy, seeing what i can see. there were tiny mushrooms aplenty, and there are sometimes other curiosities. above are fragments of a deer skull, part of the jaw and top of the head (i believe that one pointed area at the top of the skull is where the antler attaches). they were in odd broken pieces, with no other signs of the animal left. allows time for wondering what carried them there, away from the other bones. treasures of the forest.
and you might think, with A "focused on the task" - as he put it - while i am flitting about with camera, getting distracted by light and plants and whatnot, that he would bring home a lot more mushrooms than i. we each had our own bag this time, since we tend to wander in separate directions, always within earshot but not always sight. and when done he knotted up his bag quite separate from mine, wanting to head home and weigh them to see who had been working harder. i will somewhat smugly report that i had the heavier bag, by just a hair.
but the man had other things to make him happy this weekend, just in to head out into some of that wet and wind yesterday afternoon. a new toque to keep off the chill, in cosy soft merino. colourwork is not always my favourite, and i will be the one to notice where it puckers despite a good blocking, but still i'd count it as a success.
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i'm not sure if it is the change in weather, or just overwork, but my hands and joints are aching a lot lately from stitching and knitting. so i'm feeling a bit slowed in my work, even as i try to fill up the shop as (hopefully) folks begin to have holiday shopping on the mind. please let me know at fogandswell[at]gmail[dot]com if there is something you are hoping to see soon, but otherwise i hope you'll forgive me while i wait for the ibuprofen to kick in! :)
6 comments:
Well, you can séé it's not only green but wét too!!! Love those tiny mushrooms in the first photo!
I bet you had a lovely meal of chanterelles (;-( we don't have any woods near ...)
You knitted Man a beautiful toque
Do you have any good resources on foraging for mushrooms? Which are safe and which are not? Growing up my parents always feared wild mushrooms, worrying they would pick a poisonous one, but I'd love to give it a try!
funny thing is i was walking in the forest after work today contemplating life as I so often do and thinking that the fungi and slime molds galore would look very much at home on the ocean floor
my son and I found a perfect deer skull - complete with antlers - in our woods and wondered, as you do, what happened to the rest of the body? it felt like a solemn gift and he's now one of our garden guardians. very envious of your chanterelles...
Love that first photo. I haven't been for a good walk in the woods in a long time, too long. I think I should change that.
The first photo - wonderful!
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