A Bright Yellow Day

   When folks hear that I live on the Bayou, they often have ideas that I conjure up all sorts of weird potions, fill the Little Bayou House with oddities and have knowledge of all sorts of things crammed in my brain.  Well, two out of three ain't bad, right?  I do, indeed, conjure up a lot of "potions" but mostly they are herbal tisanes and not of the magical sort (maybe).  The Little Bayou House is home to thousands upon thousands of "treasures" as I have been dubbed the "Keeper of Weird and Wonderful Things".  That knowledge of all sorts of things is more like an inkling of a vast sort of things and, probably, nothing of importance.  The information is still crammed into the nooks and crannies of the brain along with spiderwebs and the smell of old books.  Occasionally, that information will spill out at the right time and that makes it appear that I am an swamp sage.   Most of the time, however, the tidbits are trivial and have no bearing on current situations.

  Just this morning as I was making my rounds about the place, a tiny morsel of information slipped out of its hiding spot and spilled into the spotlight.  Aha!  That is "Witch's Butter"!  Hmmm...where did that come from??  I pondered a bit and another name came to mind for the mushroom or fungus which I was trying to identify.  Yellow Brain Fungus...I am not even sure where I learned that!  

  The fungus is actually a parasite to the wood decaying fungi that helps to rot fallen limbs.  It is a jelly fungus that is soft to touch but is most notable for its bright yellow hue.  That is what immediately caught my eye!  Yellow on a gray day is most welcome.  The second thing that caught my eye was that, at the angle I was taking a photograph, one blob bore a great resemblance to a tiny, yellow bird.  That set me off on a different search as the Prothonotary Warblers should be flitting about the creek bed, too!  

  I did find my bird!  If there is one thing that I have noticed about these birds, they seem to like people.  They have no problem dancing about the grass or flitting among the branches just a few feet from a hiker.  Prothonotary Warblers love to find spiders and other insects but will eat berries if a live meal cannot be found.  I sometimes see them in the marsh but, more often, they are down in the thickets of the creek bed.  

  So, all in all, this turned into a very yellow day.  The brightness of the bird and even the fungus did wonders for my mood that had turned into a blah mess with all of the gray days as of late.  

Witch's Butter or just another Tall Tale?

  Just when I think I cannot come across anything new here on the Bayou, the place surprises me with something I have never seen before.  Folks often ask if I ever get bored here but, to be honest, I have yet to find the time.  There is too much to do...too much to see...too much to experience to be bored.  

  This morning, the old dog and I took our morning hike in the mistiness of the Bayou.  I have yet to decide if it was a heavy fog or drizzly rain but Mr. PJ did not appreciate getting his fur wet.  Since he had been feeling poorly during the night, I kept the walk short, let him do his business then let him retreat to his warm, comfy bed.  This was not before I had eyed something curious, however, and my hike did not end with his.  I just had to go back to the marsh edge to investigate a rather lovely fungi growing there.  It was perhaps the brightest orange mushroom (or fungus) I have ever seen!  The lovely, tidbit of a thing was growing on a fallen pine branch which is why I noticed it in the first place.  I gather small twigs to be used as fire starter as I hike about the hillside.  When I went to grab the pine branch, I noticed the mushrooms.  

  Not knowing the type had me curious.  While I could spend hours searching for the correct orange mushroom, I chose to ask several of my "go-to" folks for an answer.  I figured that would be quicker.  They did give answers but I got several different answers!  One was the intellectual identification that is probably correct but since I could not pronounce it, I could not spell it to check.  One of the other identifications intrigued me to the point that I want my fungus to be that one...Witches' Butter!  Who names a fungus Witches' Butter?  I dared to ask about the story behind the name.

  "Well, first, Witches' Butter only grows on dead pine wood.  Story has it that back in the day before all of this treated lumber, folks made their houses out of whatever wood was available and pine was the choice of many.  That pine would eventually start to rot and mushrooms would grow on it.  If the Witch's Butter grew on some one's house, it meant that that family was put under a spell by a local witch.  This was a terrible thing so folks would check their houses regularly for any sign of the mushroom. All was not in vain, though, because the spell could be broken quite easily.  The head of the family had to poke at that mushroom with a sharp knife until it died then the spell would be gone." 

  Hmmm, now.  That is quite the fanciful tale and I am still not sure if my cousin was making this up as he told it or if there really is something called Witches' Butter.  I guess I really will be spending some time researching.  Personally, I think it looks more like some type or orange coral than butter but it was growing on pine wood so maybe?  (I really liked the tale, however, and will probably always refer to the bright orange mushrooms as Witches' Butter!  It makes for an interesting tale!