Nature holds some deep secrets if we take the time to explore her majesty. As an avid hiker I spend a lot of time under the canopy of the trees. Far away from the hustle and bustle of life, the quiet tranquility of the forest has become my church. The realities of life that she reveals always intrigue me and keep me seeking more.
One of my favorite occupants of the forest are fungi.
I remember to this day crossing this beauty's path. I believe it to be the violet webcap, Cortinarius violaceus (I'm not a seasoned mycologist though so my guess only comes from other encounters I have read about). Needless to say I was spellbound. How could something so amazing spring forth from the forest floor. Just this one little purple mushroom amongst a sea of green and brown. My lesson from that encounter.....anything is possible.
I am uncertain of the species of this mycological masterpiece. But what we see in this picture is something that I see over and over in the mushroom world. Mushrooms are strong. When they choose to pop up they can move what seems to be mountains in order to reveal themselves. A mushroom can pop up into full fruition in as little as 24 hours and exert a lot of strength to do so. My lesson from this encounter.....don't let obstacles stand in your way.
Here is another fungi doing its thing, where it wants and when it wants to. This limb stuck out over sheer drop into a veracious creek. Lesson learned.....go out on limb, be brave and stand your ground.
There is much to identification of these little oddities that we stumble across. It can be a daunting affair. My interest stemmed from pure awe and curiosity. I have documented my discoveries with photography and am now just delving into the elaborate kingdom identification of fungi. What I am certain of up to now is that you don't necessarily have to know all of the technicalities of them to be inspired by their spirit.
This Bolete(species unknown by moi) showed me that cohabiting with others of another species is where its at. It even seemed to me that they may be learning from one another.
While I have no skill at photographing these little guys, they are among my favorite to come across. White toothed jelly fungi (Pseudohydnum gelatinosum) are amazing. They have this ghost like air and leave me with wonder every time. The lesson learned from this unusual little spemimen..... be yourself, stand out, leave people in wonder.
This old haggered one was the icing on the cake of one of my mycological adventures. He seemed to have adorned himself with a crown. My lesson.....take what you can from your immediate surroundings and make yourself fabulous.
I hope I have inspired you to get out into nature and to look deeper into what's really going on. The order of nature is intriguing and mesmorizing.
The pictures and commentary in this post are original. Thank you for reading. Please look forward to more of what nature can teach us posts and in the meantime....take a trip into nature and see what she has to teach you.