Motley Monday - September 29, 2025

 I believe I've identified the unidentified mushrooms from last week.  I'd taken new photos, and a search brought up one similar.  I didn't hear from the Master Gardeners. 

I believe these are Scleroderma polyrhizum, commonly known as the star earthball or dead man's hand, in an "irregular form."  All but the one photo online show them unfolding into more of a regular star shape.  The Wikipedia photo looks like these. I was going to go back and check Sunday morning, but the air quality was in the red, unhealthy. 

Other fungi I saw at the park recently included these two. 

A new (to me) kind of bird's nest fungi.  The kind that appears in my yard in December is Common bird's nest (Crucibulum laeve), while the ones at the park, which grow in late summer and early fall, are Fluted bird's nest (Cyathus striatus).  These still have the lid, called the epiphragm, intact.  I hope I get back to the park to see them with the "eggs," if I can find them again.

In comparison, the Common ones look like this.  The one on top is just losing its lid.  The others remind me of pancakes, although the middle one here looks like a hamburger bun!

These are Harefoot inkcap mushrooms. They are quite common at the park, but I thought these look interesting with the wood chips they emerged from still on top.

Well, I guess it's that time of year.  The time to unpack the Halloween decorations. 

The grocery store has a Halloween donut with a cookie on top.  I didn't buy it!  It's a good deal, you get a free cookie with a donut purchase. 

My son and I went to the annual library book clearance as soon as it opened on Friday.  It wasn't busy, and it wasn't nearly as good at the last time we went.  The books aren't priced, it's whatever donation you were able to give.  

It seems my books were heavy on the poetry!

Don't judge me for the McKuen!  I got him to reminisce; as a teenager I babysat a family who had his books.  At the time I liked quite a lot of his work.  I even wrote some in a small notebook I still  have more than fifty years later!  I no long like the poems, I don't think they stood the test of time.  If I may be blunt, they are pretty terrible!

The green one, Reflections on a Gift of Watermelon Pickle?  That replaces a warped copy I found in the bins.  Why does it matter?  It's an anthology from long ago.  At least as long ago as my elementary school days.  It was a text book, and I still remember the teacher reading one of them aloud.  Some poems stick with you.

I did get a couple of fairly odd antique ones, which I'll share in some Tuesday Treasures post in the future.

Mickey and I usually take our walks to the park in the morning hours.   I accompanied someone in the evening a few days ago.  I was surprised to see just how busy it is there after work and school hours.  There was quite a big party in the large picnic area, kids playing football (American), a group playing basketball, lots of people walking with and without dogs.  The dog park was busy too.  Too many people buzzing about for Mickey's comfort, we'll stick to mornings. Once the air quality is better. 

There should be some people here this morning to take the cedar rounds from the tree that was cut down last year.  I hope they take enough make a difference!  I didn't have the tree men take them, or chop up the branches, to save money. It was a big tree, and they cut it down, cut it into rounds, and made neat piles of the branches, for $400. 

Hope your week goes well.