wild mushrooms

Pretty lacey mushroom

Paul gathers mushrooms

Mushroom top shifting to blue colors

Stump and mushroom in the woods at Edgewood

Amanita. The classic poisonous wild mushroom. Shiny red with white dots. Looked really cute later nestled in Paul's winter garland along the porch railing.

Black "chantrelles"

Golden chantrelles

Blown mushroom

Blown mushroom 2. I like the focus on the other better, but the position of the stalk in this one pleases me more.
This didn't come out too bad considering that it was taken with my Treo 600 phone.

More pretty wild mushrooms. They were all over like wildflowers. I saw easily a dozen varieties.

Big bright fungus. This stuff is usually a lot smaller and growing on carpet in houses with damp problems.

the same again for scale. A big tree with a big batch of mushrooms at the base.

Paul in the woods. There are golden chantrelles all around that stump in the background.

Bonanza! Those light spots that look like fallen leaves are all golden chantrelles.

Banana slug. slim, golden, determined.

[When I posted this on Flickr, my pal Jish said, "Look out, it's gonna git ya!" and I replied, "No, no, it would recognize a fellow slug. (The banana slug is the mascot of my alma mater). I wanted to pet him/her, but didn't want to mess up that carefully achieved slime sheen. The SLUG's sheen, I hasten to add."]

A lovely banana slug. The Christmas slug in the garden.