I think it’s part of the Oecobius genus. Whatever he is, he was guarding the tiny mushroom I was trying to photograph and wouldn’t move. With the exception of the orb weavers that I am familiar with, I am always pretty certain every other spider I see is a wolf spider or brown recluse, no matter how irrational that is, so I left him alone. You win today, tiny spider.
Fawn mushroom?
Since the weather hasn’t really been cooperating in getting new mushroom pictures, this is one I took a couple of years ago and just now feel fairly certain of its identification - pluteus cervinus - more commonly known as deer shield or fawn mushroom. I love it when the fawns visit my yard, so I’m going with that one. I’m about ninety percent sure it’s from the pluteus genus but whether it’s cervinus or something else, I am not positive. And this is why I only forage to photograph and not consume. It’s mind boggling how many variations there are within one identified group and how many deadly mushrooms look just like edible ones. I don’t want to mistake one that has psychotropic properties for a totally edible one and be found wandering in the woods talking to myself. And I really don’t want my cold, dead body to be found in the woods with someone remarking about how “she couldn’t tell the difference between a death angel and a fawn mushroom. We’ll just chalk this one up to thinning the herd.” The gills and curled-under cap edges were my favorite features of this one.
Coprinus comatus - Shaggy mane mushroom
Going through pictures from the first couple of years after I bought my first DSLR. A lot has changed since then but my love of mushrooms has been with me since I was a kid.
Angel bonnets
When the big picture gets too overwhelming, break it down into smaller pictures you can handle. If you’ve read my “about” page then you know how that sentence applies to me and my life. Never more so than the days in which we currently find ourselves. I hope you have a place where you can center yourself, one which gives you peace amidst the turmoil.
Prickly pear
I have a strange fascination with the centers of flowers. There is something sort of alien-looking about the stigma, filaments and anthers of them that I love. Especially cactus flowers. This is from the opuntia family and I’m not positive which variety but I suspect it is in the aurea family. There is nothing more beautiful than the desert southwest in bloom. One of my happy places.
SoCal
I will never tire of tide pooling on the west coast…
Finally spring
Even if we get another snow, it will be okay because I know it won’t last long. We are on the spring side now, and my winter blues - as well as deep desire to hibernate - are giving way to the excitement of photo opportunities yet to come. The ones for which I do not have to put on fingerless gloves and snow boots, or find out the hard way that I forgot to charge my rechargeable hand warmer. I wish I’d known those existed long before this past winter.
Beacon Bloom
In addition to macro, nature and focus pull photography, I love community art sculptures and neon signs as well as painted walls. I’ll probably add a page showcasing some of the gorgeous art I’ve been lucky enough to photograph. This is one of my favorites. As soon as Beacon Bloom went up, I decided I needed to photograph it from a different viewpoint than anyone else was doing. If you drove through the roundabout that night, you likely saw me practically doing a headstand to get the right angle looking up through the sculpture. I also had a great story ready in case the local gendarmes begged to differ with my plan. They did not, and this is that shot.
