What a show. The mushrooms’ most outrageous displays were timed to occur just after the rain. Like a child’s paint book, brush the water on and the faint blue lines turned brilliant reds, yellows, and greens. Mushrooms were like that: you could always count on a surprise.
Red heads polka-dotted white.
Yellow umbrellas teetering on spaghetti-thin stems.
Frilly edges.
Thick purple stalks.
Green viscid caps.
Some covered with warts.
Some scaly.
Some toothy.
Some wrinkled.
Some smooth.
Purple buttons, tinted orange around the edge.
Delicate birds’ nests.
Earthstars, ready to explode.
Spring and fall.
They put on quite a performance.
And, as always, the deadly Amanitas waited in the wings.