Pinch Pleats, Ladies' Hats and Mushrooms

  While wondering about the hillside on my thrice daily hikes, many things catch my eye and deem further investigation.  Always on the lookout for unusual patterns in things, the artist in me will drop to my knees to photograph even the smallest of finds.  Recently, a mushroom sort of "jumped' out at me and demanded attention.  Well, maybe jumped is too strong of a word here but the mushroom was quite different than any I have photographed before.  This one seemed to be upside down.  It was firmly attached to a dead branch but its gills were on the upper side instead of below the cap.  This gave the thing a quite ruffly look almost like a lady's hat from years past.  In fact, it looked a lot like one that my grandmother used to wear.  Well, the top of the hat did not look like it but rather the lining was pleated and just about the same color as the mushroom.  Since I was a mere tot when I first noticed the hat, I saw the underside of the brim of the hat more than the top. 

  As I sat looking at that tiny mushroom and  thinking about Grandmother's pleated hat lining, I had to giggle a bit about the similarity.  That hat made quite the impression on my young brain.  I thought Grandmother was the most stylish lady in town with her hats, purse and pumps.  In reality, Grandmother's hats were all handmade.  Her father (my great-grandfather) was the proprietor of the only hat shop in Biloxi for a number of years.  "Carter, the Hatter" was renown in the area for his fine hats...both men's and ladies'.  Grandmother literally grew up making hats so whenever she wanted a new headpiece, she simply sat down and created it.  The pleated one so firmly implanted in my memories just happened to be one of her favorites.  Each tiny pinch-pleat was precisely measured and hand sewn for the lining and the hatband held a silk nosegay of small roses.  I wonder if she got her inspiration from a similar mushroom?

  The mushroom is one of many that belong to a group called split gill mushrooms.  Not that the identity means anything to me as I cannot get past that hat thing.  Still, it was a fine way to spend a few minutes.   Memories are great like that....just saying.