Flowers, Fungi and Ferns - Oh My!

Update July 2: I did a little further digging (so to speak) and came up with an identification of the mystery fungus below. It would appear that it's Xylaria polymorpha (Dead Man's Fingers). It has the ability to morph into different appearances, so that is probably why I didn't locate what I'd expected to see a few days later. Thank you Tammie Lee for attempting to provide a solution. That prompted me to look into the coral fungi where I eventually found what I was looking for.

Most of these photos were taken at least a few weeks ago. They're what seems to be left over on my hard drive and just happened to work out with a flower, fungi and fern theme.

Apple blossoms at the height of spring.

Doesn't this looks like a beautifully-sculpted bowl?

This area is deep inside a well-shaded cedar grove. In the morning, one single shaft of light beamed through to illuminate this fern.

This is the view behind a sunlit flower. It almost looks as if a wee faerie could take up residence here.

Or perhaps right here.

Late day sunshine bathes a field of ferns. Magenta phlox punctuates the picture nicely.

A solitary flower, which looks a lot like the wild chicory I see a bit later in the season - except it's not blue. It's doing its best to grow toward the sunlight through the chain link fence.

This triple capped mushrooms could almost pass for a plate of sloppy pancakes. There's more interesting green fungus all down the right hand side of the stump. And just below that, we noticed a most unusual fungus - something I've never seen before...

Tubular, metallic silver and teal. Frank and I both got busy snapping photos of this one. Notice how some of the tips appear to be either two blips blending into one or one beginning to separate into two? I'm betting it's the latter. If anyone has any idea what this is, please let me know (Leah? Maybe your Mike knows?). It was gone without a trace when I went back to look for it just a few days later.

Further Google sleuthing has identified the fungus for me. Eerily enough, they're called Dead Man's Fingers or by the Latin name Xylario Polymorpha. Here's my source.

A pretty yellow iris looking like sunshine itself.

And just a tiny bit more yellow in the middle of this spring blossom.

Happy Canada Day to all my fellow Canadians!

It's On!

Back to my summer schedule, it looks like I'll be enjoying some cottage time semi-soon. Some of you may have already noticed that my visits have been dwindling and my comment responses are often lacking. I won't apologize because when I do, so many of you kind folks tell me not to, and to just enjoy my real life away from the computer. So I'm going to do just that.

Through the summer, I'll visit when I can, comment when I can and put together the Posts of the Week when I can. And when I can't, you can be sure I'll still be taking lots of photos to share with you when I find that time to do that.

For now, I'm scheduling a few posts and my online time will be sporadic. I may pop in here and there. But I may not. Oh, who am I kidding? I probably will. But if I don't, you'll know that I'm off experiencing new photo opportunities.

Summer mode is officially ON!

Red poppy in full bloom - a side view

And a little more over the top.

An up close and personal view of a red maple leaf as seen in the previous post.

Crab apple blossoms. As fresh as spring itself.

A cute little muskrat makes its way down the shore bank after grabbing a few dandelion leaves to bring to its home.

He brought the leaves into the water and swam several yards before disappearing into the bank.

Faceoff at the seed post, between a cowbird and sparrow. Nobody won. They both took off when they heard the camera click. Edited to add that these are actually two cowbirds - the male on the left and female on the right. They were not facing off but merely enjoying a romantic dinner together. Now I know what they flew off to do. This information courtesy of Frank.

Another cowbird watching from a small branch.

As I sat watching the creek water gurgle and swirl past me, this handsome grackle stopped by to have a bath and a drink along the opposite shore. The sunlight certainly brought out his best colours.

Come Walk With Me

It's no surprise to most of you that I enjoy walking, particularly when I have my camera along. With or without company, I usually find something or other that I deem photo-worthy. I'd prefer the company though, so won't you please join me as I wander around the park? I'll be right with you. I just need to shut the patio door first.




Wait! Come see. There's a tiny bunny out in the back yard, eating grass. It's been a regular visitor for the past month or so. He's grown quite a lot, but still rather small as you can tell by the hand-sized rubber balls behind him. I'm glad to see he's continuing to survive - seemingly on his own. (please click to enlarge)





Since we've stepped into the back yard, let me show you the lovely blossoms on my plum tree. Hopefully we'll get to the fruit before the raccoons do this year. (please click to enlarge)





Watch your step as we head back inside. There a small green insect walking along the track of the sliding door. Google tells me that it's a Six-spotted Green Tiger Beetle. His colours sure look beautiful in the sunlight. Hey! I heard that comment about my eclipsing the sun when I bent over to take its picture! (please click to enlarge)





Stepping out the front door, these Grape Hyacinths catch my eye. I hope you don't mind if I stop to take a picture of them. (please click to enlarge)





Look up. There's a beautiful Robin singing in that tree. I wonder if this lovely tune is for her mate. (please click to enlarge)





Or is she letting her unhatched young know that she'll be back to her nest soon? (please click to enlarge)





The Crab Apple trees are in full bloom. In the autumn, some of the fruit will be quite tasty. (please click to enlarge)





The sun is low in the sky, and shadows are growing. (please click to enlarge)





Let's leave a peanut for some lucky squirrel to find. (please click to enlarge)





As night falls, the lamp post shed enough light along the path for us to make our way back home. (please click to enlarge)





Looking up, we can see new spring leaves illuminated by the amber glow. (please click to enlarge)





The branches make interesting shadows on the wooden dock below. (please click to enlarge)





Lit only by the street lights, a neighbour's tulips brighten up the darker tones of night. (please click to enlarge)





The night is getting chilly. Come on in and I'll make some Chai. (please click to enlarge)


I hope you enjoyed our walk.