Thankful for mushrooming, Part III

To get this photo, I held one of the largest mushrooms we found in my left hand and the camera in my right.

Lamont got close to the ground among the ferns and evergreens.

Sweet smile to me, his mom.

If you look closely, you can see Lamont on the left and Leland on the right, diligently searching and harvesting chanterelles among the ferns.

Lamont's find.

Leland's find.

Wow--what a mushroom!

See its size in relation to Leland!

And here it is in my basket.

At times like this, the woods seemed like a maze, but I had not a single worry, trusting my sons as I did to get me, themselves and the mushrooms back to the car.

Look at this terrain behind the guys and their baskets. Fallen trees of all sizes cover the ground.

Lamont heads up and over a fallen tree.

The guys stopped for a moment to stand beside this huge stump! In the background, see the trees lying across the clearing? In a few moments after I took this photo, I decided to take a seat and rest there while the guys went across a little creek and into a darker part of the woods. They said they'd come back in a little while and get me.

Lamont took a few steps and found a mushroom.

Here he is with it. You can see my downed-tree-resting-spot even better in this photo.

I placed my basket on the tree trunk beside me and got this photo.

Lamont came back and got me. When I looked back at one point at what he'd helped me climb and clamber over, I couldn't believe it. I don't think this photo does it justice, but it's all I could get. Little space existed between trunks and limbs, all with moss everywhere. I said, "Hey, guys, I feel like I've landed in Ewok land." They agreed, and Leland said, "That's Endor, Mom." "Right, I remember now. Endor," I said.

Lamont has both of our baskets--I'd need both hands free to help myself over the terrain. And when I saw this part of it, I thought, "Ah, less obstacles!"

Here's a lavender-purple mushroom that we left right where it grew.

And a brown one, too.

And these little ones, growing so sure of themselves.

How about this little crowd of mushrooms?

A drop of gold, found by Leland. He waited for me to get there so that I could take photos.

Harvesting it from the earth, carefully.


Not long afterward, Leland disappeared behind some low branches, only to find a great chanterelle. "You ought to see this one," he cried. "It's huge!" "Hold it up above the limbs," I said. And he did.

Here it is from the stem side.

Lamont took this photo for me, to show you those trees in the background. I managed with his help to get up and on and over them. Only casualty--my pants leg came out of my boots, but I didn't even notice that until I saw the photo.


Sorry, y'all, but I took so many pictures that I can't finish yet! Mama said, "Don't put so many pictures on there." I replied, "Mama, this is for me, too, because some day when I can't remember some of this, all I'll have to do it look at the blog." "Oh," she said, and she then remembered what she'd understood after reading through the printed sheets from Lucy's visit. I'm mailing them to my Aunt Baker in Puckett, Mississippi, who doesn't have a computer. Mama had looked up from the kitchen table and announced, "I know what your blog is. It's a journal." She's so right. And I thank you for indulging me!