The Imagination Wins Again..

Yesterday..it rained. What was once a near dead

garden suddenly looks so much better..so refreshed! The first thing this morning, I hurried out to plant pumpkins and squash! A few cucumbers, watermelons and tomatoes soon followed! I am hoping to get in another summer garden before it cools off for the fall. While in the garden, I noticed several things different. One being the fig tree! I had finally picked all of the figs that the birds allowed me to have and ceded to the fact that fig season had come and gone without me getting my fill. Then today, I notice that the tree is full of tiny figs! A second season seems to be occurring! Perhaps the drought had put a damper on the tree producing all it should and now, with the rains, the tree decided the season was right to produce more. Whatever the reason, I am hoping that perhaps I will get a few of these! The birds and I will battle it out again. My uncle told me to hang some shiny pie pans with a few old forks or spoons in the branches. According to him, when the wind blows, the utensils will clang against the pan and scare the birds. The flashing of the sun on the shiny pan would also help! I will try this as I am desperate to taste some fig jam on my morning biscuits!

Then I went off on a tangent..mushroom hunting! Not to eat..just to photograph. The rain seemed to have caused a rampant sprouting of fungi in the yard! Under the tomato plants were the prettiest white mushrooms! A nice cluster of the bright white beauties! Each entire mushroom was covered with little bumpy things!There were actually two sets..each looking slightly different from the other. Both very white but one set more tightly closed than the other. They might have been the same sort but one set could have been just older. I am not an expert when it comes to mushrooms..I just think they are interesting! There is something fascinating about them! I do have the unsettling feeling that these might be poisonous so they can stay in the garden and not on my plate!

For some reason, I am intrigued by the world beneath my feet or in this case..about eye-level! There was a whole forest of little 'shrooms in one of the hanging baskets that also held the Swedish Ivy. It would have been the perfect setting for some fairy tale! I could just imagine some little elf or fairy living among these little umbrella-like mushrooms! I would not have even noticed these if one of the little birds had not landed on the chain holding the basket.

Then on the mulch pile, there was another. This one was quite tall and had the most unusual burgundy blotch right in the middle! In comparison to the ones in the hanging basket..this one was much sturdier. It had a nice strong stalk whereas those had almost wispy stems. This one stood a good five inches tall and right in the top of the pile as if to proclaim itself "King of the Mountain"!

Then literally under my feet were these tiny button-like fungi. These tiny things were not bigger than a pea! What caught my eye, were the ones that were "opened". The tops had split open and revealed a mass of dark blue "spores" or at least I am assuming that is what it was. They looked like a bunch of little bowls filled with some (unappetizing) soup! These were everywhere! I could not take a step without smashing the smithereens out of a whole slew of them!

So what started as a productive day ended with me in search of more mushrooms to photograph! I blame it on the rain!