Crumbs of Shadow : Mushroom Identification Class

We shall by morning
Inherit the earth.
Our foot's in the door. - Sylvia Plath

1. Sparassis: Cauliflower Mushroom; 2. Armillaria mellea: Honey Mushrrom; 3. Laetiporus: Chicken of the Woods; 4. Pleurotus: Oyster Mushroom

Silent and Felt: Great Horned Owl Release

"Coming down out of the freezing sky
with its depths of light,
like an angel, or a Buddha with wings..."
- Mary Oliver

He was found in a brush pile, a nestling fallen from his home.  No owl families were located nearby to raise him.  He was rehabilitated by a rescuer and we attended his glorious release.  With a thrust of his great, silent wings he rose and flew off into the sunset.

Spontaneous Sunset Picnic : Stony Man Summit

"Drink dawn like a cup of spring water
or take in sunset like supper..." - Rumi

It was our last sunset picnic of the summer and school begins Tuesday.  We hiked to the top of Stony Man and watched the sunset.  We found our way back down to base in the quickening darkness and at our picnic under the milky way.

"This was the most extraordinary, beautiful day", he said.

Summering Vignettes

One of many sunset picnics

Paper Armor

Mother & Son tandem sewing

Web collecting

The tide of Legos

Rainy days

View from the tree house tent

street art

Soaking up Summer : School starts next week

Spider's leaf puppet

Gifts from the mancub

late bloomers

Road Trippin' : Midsummer Night's Dream NY

Imagination bodies forth. - Shakespeare

The mancub has heard my stories about the best performance of Midsummer Night's Dream.  The one that ruined me for all other productions.  Yes, THAT good!  I wished and wished for many years that the cast would reunite and perform the play again.  They DID!  And we drove to Brooklyn to see it.  We arrived a few minutes late, but three seats were saved for us in the second row.  It was as phenomenal as I remembered. So wonderful to see these friends again!

To my surprise and delight, on the brick wall outside the theater door was stamped the puck, rubber stamp that I made for Amo who plays the knavish sprite.  He brought it with him and stamped the wall to surprise me.  What a joy that was!




We drove out to Long Island to stay for a few days and visit with my mother and friends.  On the way we stopped at Bayard Cutting, one of my favorite childhood haunts.  I wanted to show the mancub my favorite childhood tree, an ancient weeping beech.  



In the morning, the mancub wanted to catch his first snapper.  We drove to the dock and dropped a line in while eating a breakfast sandwich.  I told him the stories of how when I was a little girl I went fishing with my grandpa and awoke while it was dark to catch the morning tide.  My grandmother would bring us a picnic meal and the salt air seemed to season it.





My friend Donna (a marine biologist whom I met on the train the summer before) joined us.  She invited us on her boat.  She and her husband, captain Bob, gave the mancub some snapper-catching-tips and he reeled in his first one. 









"My legs are shaking!", he squealed.

July Vignettes

Wilderness Survival Camp

Jason Drevnak & the mancub

Wilderness Survival family camp out

Gift from Lille Diane

summer blanket forts

dive in movie

Polyphemus Moth Larva

lego raptor

cupcake gifts from two mighty girls

Sunflower fields McKee Beshers Maryland

Mind controlled Shark

bedside dragon