Beautiful Shell Mushrooms

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Tue, 03 Dec 2013 05:46:22 +0000

These tiny mushrooms are mature and fully open. At their full size, each is a maximum of 5mm in diameter! So tiny and precious!!

336/365: "Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence" ~ Aristotle

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Tue, 03 Dec 2013 05:46:36 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

3 more pictures and a note above ! :)

It rained most of the day but I kept checking to see if it stopped, and finally it did, if just for a short time. I left the house without the dogs because I didn't want to spend 20 minutes drying them and wiping off mud! And since I was off on my own, I made a bee line for the lower forest, since I won't take the dogs because there's no fence to the main road.

As I left the house, I knew it was windy, but I didn't realize that stray droplets were coming down and spraying everywhere, so I ran inside to get a plastic bag to cover my camera while I crossed the smaller meadow, bracing myself against the chilly draft. Immediately upon entering the dark and moist lower forest, the wind dropped down to a slight breeze, and I was comfortable again. Ah, macro heaven! Where do I look first?!! :D

I immediately began finding little mushrooms, but they were buried in leaves and were too much work to excavate, so I moved on. I found some beautiful moss-covered stumps with wonderful sporophytes and pretty lichen. Then I found some beautiful Orange Jelly fungus and some itty bitty baby shelf fungus, and also some interesting white fungus that looked like rows of molar teeth! FASCINATING! I took pictures as I went along, and then arrived at a favorite area with many rotten logs and plates of bark. Everything was bristling with tiny fungus, moss, and lichen species, and when I found a large chunk of bark, I dropped down onto my knee pads and carefully turned it over.

"OHHHHHHH!!! Look at all the little white mushrooms!!! WOW!!! SO AMAZING!!! All over one section of this bark were dozens of extremely tiny shell-shaped mushrooms in various stages of development. I spent moments slowly gazing at all of them without my glasses, delighted at this stunning microscopic show I was able to enjoy.

I noticed that many had miniscule, period-sized dew drops on them, and suddenly I found a droplet on the edge of an absolutely perfect, heart-shaped mushroom! Happily, I took many pictures from various angles and apertures, hoping I'd get that impossibly tiny droplet in focus. When I got back to the house, I discovered that only a few were in focus, but to my delight, the one I was most hoping for was exactly right!! HOORAY!!! :D

Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC)was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology. Together with Plato and Socrates (Plato's teacher), Aristotle is one of the most important founding figures in Western philosophy. Aristotle's writings were the first to create a comprehensive system of Western philosophy, encompassing morality, aesthetics, logic, science, politics, and metaphysics. Wikipedia: Aristotle

Explored on December 3, 2013. Highest placement, page 3.

The Three Muskateers and the Tiny Spanish Dancer

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Tue, 03 Dec 2013 05:46:23 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

1 note above! :)

There were so many wonderful little mushrooms to photograph, I could have been there for an hour with various groupings, but I decided to find two groups that looked very different, and this one I just loved. Three mushrooms just about to open to their full size, and under them, an adorable, tiny, brand new mushroom that looks like it's wearing a frilly Spanish dress! OLAY!! :D

Photos, videos and docs of Janet Brien, with the keywords: "stemless"

Beautiful Shell Mushrooms

336/365: "Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence" ~ Aristotle

The Three Muskateers and the Tiny Spanish Dancer