I posted this video back in May featuring Ellie Mae and Jack Shadbolt (the cat not the painter)….here it is again.
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Ellie Mae RIP
We lost our fantastic Newfoundland dog Ellie Mae this morning. She was a fabulous dog – gentle, strong-willed, fantastically lazy, a great actress, and a delight to have around.
In this photo, she’s just scarfed down the last of one of the cat’s dinner, and needed a little lie down after.
And in the video below, watch Ellie and her pal Memphis go for a swim
Shaggy Manes
The other day one of my colleagues spotted some shaggy manes growing on a lawn across the street from where I work. They are delicious mushrooms and there were lots of them. Unfortunately, I wasn’t going to be able to use them that day, and shaggy manes are ephemeral. These are mushrooms that spread their spores using deliquescence. They dissolve themselves into black ink of their own creation.
I’m hoping there is going to be another flush of them one day soon. I’m ready to pop across the street on my lunch break to do a little harvesting.
Banjo and Dance
I stumbled onto this nice little video featuring Riley Baugus on banjo and Ira Bernstein dancing.
Angeline the Baker
Me again, practicing Angeline the Baker.
Weird WordPress bug action
I made a brief post on this blog – you can see it here – it’s an update about the health of our dog Ellie Mae – it showed up for a second and then disappeared. It isn’t on the blog and it isn’t in the drafts yet it exists at the permalink I pointed to. I found it because I cross-posted to Twitter at the same time and the Tweet with the link was right where it was supposed to be.
Now let’s see what happens to this post…..
ARRRRGGGHHHHH….of course! When I published this post, the last post re-emerged from the ether and appeared on the blog where it belonged. Weird.
Another Ellie Mae update
Ellie Mae, our older Newf, is continuing to have a problem with her leg. She can’t really put any weight on it at all right now, even with her pain meds. The underlying problem has not been diagnosed. If she doesn’t show improvement, we’ll take her back to the emerg clinic for another look. We’ll keep you posted on how she’s doing.
Soldier’s Joy
Back in late September I posted a few versions of Soldier’s Joy on this blog. I was watching a bunch of performances of it because I was starting to learn this one on clawhammer banjo. Tonight I recorded a bit of a practice session, so here’s me playing Soldier’s Joy (in all it’s clunky glory)
Fall Garden
The canoe garden just keeps on giving…
Fall Garden
A mycological adventure
A fellow named Jamie commented here at the land of milk & honey….he was interested in finding someone to lead a little mushroom walk at his cottage. I’m no pro-mycologist but I can identify a good number of tasty edibles and quite a few assorted other mushrooms, and it sounded like a fun idea. This morning I met him a the marina on his lake. Memphis and I hopped in his boat and off we went.
We had exchanged a few emails during the week. He had found some blue mushrooms. Could they be blewitts? I suggested taking a spore print. Blewitts have pale pinkish-buff spore prints.
Yikes – those mushrooms are not blewitts! Field guides can be dangerous things. You see a photo and a short description and it seems close to what you’ve found in the woods. Not so fast. There are look-alikes out there. You have to be certain if you plan to eat wild mushrooms. The field guide also lists the spore colour – if you aren’t certain of the ID, take a spore print.
This one has everyone carefully combing the forest floor. Could it be a horn of plenty – Craterellus cornucopioides?
Georgia
Memphis made a friend – a pup named Georgia. They had a great time together this afternoon.
Toothed Fungi
Among the more interesting finds of the afternoon were two different edible toothed fungi – combed tooth and bear’s head tooth. These were both found growing on downed trees, a short distance from one another. Another edible mushroom found on dead wood was a chicken of the woods. If he’s lucky, Jamie will have another chicken in the same spot next year. A few other edibles were found – two varieties of Suillus – and also a few pear-shaped puff-balls and some honey mushrooms as well.
I had a fun time this afternoon – I got to make some new friends, enjoyed a great walk in the woods. We found some interesting mushrooms, and I had a chance to pass along some of my knowledge to others.
27th Street 