Hello Bloglandia!

As most anyone who has been around me this time of year will know, i HATE autumn.

I know, bring on the complaints. Many of you seem to think this horrible time of year is beautiful and full of color and you’re all excited about your nasty pumpkin spice everything.

Not me.

To me, fall is a time of wet and muck, of my garden dying, of the days shortening and getting way too dark way too early, of dismal weather, of a lack of a variety of fresh and local produce, and of chilblains (I have Raynaud’s, so my hands do not fair well in cooler temps).

And fall color? Ha! This is Portland, Oregon. We might get a couple maples here and there that look pretty, but really, most leaves turn from bright green to muddy brown. They then land on the sidewalks, get rained on, and turn those sidewalks into a danger zone of slipping and sliding.

But I keep trying to figure out what’s going on in the heads of you people who like autumn. I mean, there’s got to be something positive about autumn, right? Well, besides the fact that it’s almost over (hoorah!!).

Then I found it. Mushroom hunting! No, not wild, edible mushrooms. I’m not that brave/crazy.

I don’t know if it was our wickedly hot summer and the accompanying drought, but interesting fungi I’ve never seen before have been popping all over the neighborhood.

And I’ve been having fun (as much fun as you can have in the cold and wet as you’re nursing your chilblains) snapping pics of them.

There was this gem in my back garden…

Then this little guy who looks like a toothless old man with a big sombrero…

And wow, finally, some fall color with this giant fellow…

All this inspired me to create my own mushrooms with needle and thread.

So I designed and (slowly) embroidered this little bit of fungi fun that’s full of all the fall colors we don’t have in Portland…

Your turn to help me understand…what in the world is so wonderful about fall? Why in the world would you enjoy a season that’s so full of muck and ick? Go on, try to convert me!

UPDATE 4 December 2021

A couple more fungal wonders have been discovered!! There’s this quite eerie little cluster…

And then this makes me think it could work as a bistro table and chairs for pixies…

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10 thoughts on “There’s a Fungus Among Us”

  1. The only good thing about Fall is Halloween. This time of year there is still yard work to do–mostly picking up leaves, mowing about once a month–and it’s cold and wet out. At least when winter comes, the daylight hours starts getting longer and there is no yard work to do.

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    1. Halloween. Okay, I’ll give you that. Candy candy candy!!!

      Yep, there’s yard work to do, and you have to do that yard work in the wet and cold and you can’t really wear gloves because they get sopping wet, but if you do it without gloves, your fingers fall off. haha.

      Here’s to counting down the seconds to Winter Solstice!

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      2. Noooooo!!!! I do love squash, but I HATE pumpkin pie. It’s like eating baby poop in a pie crust.

        As you can see, I’m very resistant to the Cult of Autumn. I think the only way you’re going to get me to this retreat is to drag me kicking and screaming. Of course, while my fingers drag along the ground as I’m being dragged away, I’ll be raking up some of those damn leaves you’re so excited about : ))

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    1. Exactly. That’s all I see, is plant death and dark, dreary days. When winter rolls around, it might be cold, but at least the days are starting to lengthen again. Still, hibernating animals have the right idea!

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