The very best time of year (in my opinion) is here…it comes along so quickly and each good day must be cherished because the frigid temperatures are on the way. I do like the snow, but all color fades for the winter so this is our burst – the foliage – to hold us over till next Spring.
“You make the road rise up to meet me, you make the sun shine warm upon my face, the wind is at my back” …Rebecca St. James
Lately there are numerous mushrooms in the yard and in the woods. Today is sunny and cool and too gorgeous to be inside working…so I took a break and took the camera out to get some mushroom pictures.
I have tried to identify these by using my Field Guide to New England, but I am not an expert by any means so if I have named something incorrectly I’d appreciate the heads up.
According to the field guide, there are at least 10 deadly poisonous species of mushroom in New England. I sure didn’t know that. In fact I never knew the name of any mushrooms until today. Like my seashell collection, I like them… but never really cared what they were called.
This yellow/orange mushroom is the Fly Amanita and I think the little one (below) is a “baby” since it was growing in the same area as the others, but I am not sure.
The red one below is also poisonous, but doesn’t say “deadly poisonous” like the one pictured above.
You can read more about the Emetic Russula mushroom on the site link, but I find it interesting that the site doesn’t mention that this one is poisonous.
On my way back into the house from starting the car this morning, I noticed the sky. As I went in through the slider, my son said “Wow, come look at the sky”.
I told him I’d try to get a photo, but we had to hurry because a pretty sunrise can be gone in an instant. He got his camera and the two of us stood on the deck and got some photos.
A marvelous gift on the first day of Fall.
Then it was off to the bus stop, which is down by the lake – where I thought the sky would be spectacular. Instead a large dark cloud was moving in over the water and blocking out most of the sky.
Summer in New England means fresh country eggs and it seems that many folks raise their own chickens. (Click here to see pics of their baby chicks!) My neighbors have some (that I ‘babysit’ when they go away) and the little store downtown has it’s own “Farm Fresh Eggs” section. The farm on the outskirts of town also sells them.
But this year they have been scarce. I haven’t bought one single dozen from my neighbors (the kids do the selling for fun money)…and even the little store has frequently had empty shelves. Usually people are giving their eggs away because of the abundance, but not this summer.
I blame it on all the rain and cold weather in June and July, but don’t really know the reason. I’ve heard that chickens need lots of sunshine to produce eggs, and I guess numerous rainy days could be the culprit.
Now Fall is approaching and the hopes of having fresh eggs is diminishing.
What’s the difference you ask? Well, just don’t start eating fresh eggs because you will be hooked and store bought will never appeal to you again.
By the way, raising chickens isn’t easy – it draws all kinds of unwanted critters such as foxes and bears, to the yard. It seems they love the taste of chicken. My neighbor has an electric fence up around his entire pen. He had to do this after a bear tore the coop apart and ate a bunch of the chickens.
New England's Narrow Road 