Autumn weather

It's rainy and mild today. Autumn in my part of the world. I wish I could go out and do something in the garden, but I will be soaked so fast I'll have blisters before I can get much done.

As I grow older I have come to appreciate the changing of the seasons.Fall color is incidental here but Japanese Maples (Acer palmatum), the native Vine Maple (Acer circinata), Parrotia persica (a member of the Witchhazel Family), the native dogwood (Cornus nuttallii), and a few other can be counted on to color up most years.

With early rains this year it should be a good one for mushrooms and other fungii. Some of them are quite colorful. The Coral Fungi, Clavaria and Ramaria, look a lot like their namesake. Carmine Coral, Ramaria araiospora, is especially pretty with its vivid color. Edible too, but probably fairly insipid. That's the trouble with a lot of wild mushrooms.

Today I saw some Fly Agarics (Amanita muscaria) in excellent condition in the lawn in front of a school. This is an unmistakable mushroom, quite commonly photographed or drawn because of its colorful spotted cap. It's fairly poisonous (and quite frankly looks as though it should be), and is related to deadly things like Amanita ocreata, the Angel of Death mushroom. There are actually edible Amanitas but I leave the whole genus alone. None of them look appetizing to me.