Walking Into Fall

Gunnar and I try to vary the trails we walk, but we made sure to bring the camera when we headed up the trail that passes the tree I mentioned a few days ago.  I'm sure you can tell which one I'm referring to...

The roots are exposed, just to the right of Gunnar's feet.  We'll keep an eye on it.

Just nearby we found another tree trunk covered with fungus.  You know why?

It's dead.  It broke off just a few weeks ago, right onto the trail.

Somebody rolled the big chunks off to the side.  It's a good foot in diameter - glad we weren't around when it came down!

Anywhere there are old stumps or downed trees they act as "nurse logs" for younger plants.  This old cedar stump is supporting a hemlock (you can see the slim trunk and lacy branches) and a huckleberry bush growing from the top of the stump.  And at the base...

... huge fungus - bigger than my hands.  I don't know what kind of mushrooms these are, but so many are poisonous.  We don't take a chance.

The only ones I know for sure are good to eat are the morels, and they're more common in the spring.  My grandma could always find them, but I haven't seen any for years.

Our fall mornings are often foggy, so it was nice to come out of the woods into a bright, crisp, sunny day!

We still find a few blackberries lingering, but they don't ripen up sweet and aren't very good.  The birds can have them.

Lots of snowberries around.  I should pick some branches and bring them home.  Later, when food is scarcer, the birds will eat them - but we'll still find them all winter.

The Mist and All

by Dixie Wilson

I like the fall,

The mist and all.

I like the night owl's

Lonely call-

And wailing sound

Of wind around.

I like the gray

November day,

And bare, dead boughs

That coldly sway

Against my pane.

I like the rain.

I like to sit

And laugh at it-

And tend

My cozy fire a bit.

I like the fall-

The mist and all.

Time to head out for another walk!