Thursday, November 1, 2007

Ever catch a falling star

I took a pretty hard fall in the woods the other day. Haven't fallen in a long time, and it is always jerks you to a new awareness.
On a steep hillside, my foot slid down a log that was hidden under fallen leaves. Acting like a slick banister, it rapelled me downward a good 8 feet before depositing me with a loud thud on my hip and elbow. I was too shocked to even groan, but the sound of impact caused the dogs to wheel back around and check on me ,sniffing my head as I lay there, long enough to make them a little nervous, I think. Assessing the minimal damage and regaining my wind, I inspected the now close ground in detail, and was delighted to find that I had fallen in a patch of earth stars.
These fungi are in the puffball family, and they look magical and delicious (politically incorrect delicious....a little like peanut butter cookies with hersheys kisses in them) here is an interesting fact about them, although I don't think it applies to this species...
http://www.herbarium.usu.edu/fungi/FunFacts/Starfact.htm
stars fallen to earth remind me of the Sly and The Family Stone lyric "I love you for who you are, not the one you feel you need to be"
Easy to think about those we love, harder to love ourselves that way..

5 comments:

Anonymous November 2, 2007 at 1:03 PM  

I guess that gives "seeing stars" a whole new meaning, doesn't it?

Ladeewolf November 3, 2007 at 2:13 PM  

I have seen a lot of puffballs here where I live, sometimes the yard is full of them-but the hubby doesn't like em, so I don't pick them. I've never seen this Earth star kind. They are kind of pretty.

Cady May November 3, 2007 at 6:11 PM  

Dave,
ha!
but seeing is only half the tale, isn't it?

Cady May November 3, 2007 at 6:19 PM  

Linda,
yes, actually, they are really, really pretty, and it is sort of interesting, but in this patch, there were over 20 of them, and almost all of them looked different from each other, like individuals, rather than clones.
btw If *you* like puffballs, you could cook them and eat them, hubby could just avert his eyes at the proper moment(just teasing!)

Anonymous November 16, 2007 at 9:17 AM  

I have never seen these before, but now they're on my wish list! So beautiful - thank you for sharing. :)

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