I Love Mushrooms

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If I seem a bit more forgetful than usual lately, I’m blaming it on the mushrooms. Early this morning, I headed for the garage to open the doors and let in the fresh, cool air. But walking through the kitchen, I was distracted by the spore print on the counter—a simple grade-school project I somehow missed until now. The intricate detail amazed me, and a tiny mushroom face smiled up at me. By the time I returned to the garage doors, warm sunlight was already pouring in. 

Lately, mushrooms have been stopping me in my tracks. I’m intrigued by their beauty, and I can barely walk a dozen feet in the yard without tripping over one. But I’m not the only one here who enjoys them. Squirrels and chipmunks feast on them, apparently unaffected by toxins, while turtles, turkeys, and deer also include mushrooms in their diets. Often, I see discarded stems, like when you eat the middle of an Oreo cookie and leave the rest behind.

Mushrooms fascinate me: fresh from the ground with perfect baby skin...

pushing leaves and sticks aside...

or elephant-skinned with life scars and lots of character. 

Some, tiny as peas, catch the eye with neon colors...

while others show off their gills and stripes.

I love mushrooms, but more than that, far more, I love the One who made them, who also made the stars… and us. 

Through Jesus, He calls us into a relationship with Him: He invites us to call Him Father.

Instant Gratification

The first part of August was unusually wet this year, too wet to mow the grass. As a result, treasures sprang from the ground in the form of a variety of mushrooms, pushing aside earth and rocks to make their way toward the sun.  They grew before our eyes.  With all the things in this world one has to wait for, it's nice to have some instant gratification.

Mushrooms were strewn across lawns like miniature pyramids.

There were shiny red mushrooms, glossy as candied apples, and smooth white mushrooms and white mushrooms with bumps, and brown mushrooms, and green and orange and yellow ones.

Deer, chipmunks, rabbits, and squirrels eat mushrooms, and we're told that turtles find them irresistible.  A lady near here saw a mushroom in her field, big as a dinner plate, with eight turtles arranged around it, feasting as if they were seated at the table in King Arthur's court.

On the underside of the mushrooms, held in honeycomb-like containers...

 and in neat spore filing cabinets, are millions of potential new mushrooms. 

 We'll be waiting.






Linking with Mandarin Orange Monday