Unique Fungi in My Woods

Remember that old song, "Don't sit under the apple tree, with anyone else but me."?  That's the way I'm feeling about my hubby as I sit beside purple or lavender coral fungi on the trail to the knoll across Tom's Creek.  My hubby didn't have time to sit with me though, so he continued on up the trail.

We've found three small clusters of these purple coral fungi on the back twenty so far and I've been enjoying them immensely, so much so that I wanted to share them with you just in case you haven't seen them yet.  This must be the year of the corals, I've seen more this month then ever before.

This cloudy, damp, morning leads me to their growing spots once again to journal and ponder about such rare beauties in nature.  I'm swatting mosquitoes as I pen in haste.

This is a cricket audio morning and the trail I followed to the woods was lined with dewy spiderwebs, the kind with a solitary tunnel near the center that you can look down into with wonder but seldom see the master who created them.

Along with the purple corals, again today I notice white and tan corals in large numbers. I also discovered what I thought were corals but are actually earthtongue fungi  (Thank you, Holly!), in black, orange and yellow colors.  The black earthtongue is growing in my yard and it's the first time I've ever noticed these small wonders.  Orange earthtongue, tallest of them all, extends it's tentacle like branches hither tither toward the sky, appearing like small bursts of flames dotting the forest floor.  The florescent like brightness of the orange color really catches one's eye.

Irregular Earthtongue in bright orange!

The purple coral fungi tend to blend in with last year's oak and maple leaf remnants.  I have to look hard on this overcast morning to notice them.  When I gaze at it, I feel as though a spell has been cast upon me, as if I were swimming across an ocean bottom, sporting a pair of fins and a snorkel.

Tan Coral

Irregular Earthtongue in Yellow

Black Earthtongue

White Coral

This purple coral that I am journalling next to is growing near rattlesnake plantain and several other fungi.  It emerges along the edges of a small tree root.  My photos do not capture it's full beauty.  Like Uncle Axel would say to me, I'll repeat the same words to the purple coral, "I'm glad I got to see your smiling face?"

I hope you get a chance to walk out in a shady woods and see Wisconsin's coral fungi some day too!

Annual Cardinal Flower Trek

I came today to look for the red cardinal flowers at the end of the road where it meets the beautiful East Fork of the Black River, a sort of birthday tradition of mine. 

This balmy Sunday morning left my tennis shoes damp, as well as my socks beneath them, as I trudged through the damp weeds on the trail that leads to the end of the earth like I do every year about this time.

As I approached the river I noticed a pair of pink sunglasses, neatly folded up laying in the center of the wooden bridge that replaced a rusty metal one almost a hundred years ago.  The glasses sat there gazing through their dark gray lenses at the river to the north.  Whether dropped out of a pocket, or neatly placed there for me to ponder about in a blog, ha ha, I'll never know!

I was disappointed because the recent rains and high water appeared to have covered up the cardinal flowers along the river's edge but the Joe-Pye weed that stood tall and graceful, upstream all along the banks, gave me delight, as the morning sunlight focused on lavender blossoms.

As I sat there on the wooden bridge, penning in my journal and swatting mosquitoes, I felt so thankful for another year of enjoying this precious life on earth.  A beautiful blue sky, without a cloud in it, towered over my head, while ripples flowing over rocks in the river below me sang comforting melodies.   I could've sat there forever, yes I could have.

I missed seeing those August cardinal flower blooms but checked carefully in the backed up water's edges on my way home, and I found a few.  My day wouldn't have been complete without seeing them.

The cardinal flower's bright red glow is my favorite color in nature, next to the cardinal itself, or the red glow on the top of a pileated woodpecker's head.

Jared, did you leave the sunglasses for me?  Or was it you, "Orange Truck Man"?

I left the glasses where I found them so they could guard the cardinal flowers and gaze at the moon and stars tonight on the wooden bridge.