Schwarzwalder Fungi 3- the holy grail!

Back to sharing my fungi find from Germany.  I did slightly drive CBC mad with my stopping for fungi but he did get involved also and stop and stop and point out so I think he just likes to pretend to be annoyed sometimes!

Shall we see some mushies??

I saw another pink mushroom which I think was possibly a Rosy Bonnet.

Here was a Charcoal brittle grill. I also love the contrast to all the background detritus.

Yet another Russula here. I liked the way the nibbles were making it heart-shaped!

Yet another Russula here

I finally found an intact one- this is known as a 'Sickener' for obvious reasons that it will make you sick if you try to eat it...unlike other very edible Russulas!

CBC deserves a prize for his next find because he saw this from quite far away and pointed it out to me and guess what??? IT WAS ONE OF MY TOP WISHLIST FUNGI!!!!!!!!!

This is a Lion's Mane fungus which, in the UK, is incredibly rare and a protected species! Just look at it!!!!

This is highly prized and edible with many, many health benefits, but you must not pick it in the UK. I'm not sure about Germany. As I am not hugely keen on eating mushrooms, I wouldn't even have contemplated picking it, if it were allowed, as it would be a complete waste if I didn't like it!

It is fabulous!!! I was very sad to leave it!

This next, very Microphone-like specimen was growing quite close to the Lion's Mane.  I believe it is a Calvatia Cyathiformus or the Purple spored Puffball.  Ang asked how I knew the names of fungi.  Well, I did read an entire fungi book a few years ago but I follow lots of Mushroom folk on insta and they often post about a particular fungus. Someone posted this and I realised it was the same as the one I saw in Germany! Sometimes, I search to find if I can ID a mushroom!

Here was another jolly growth of Yellow Stagshorn.

Here was another CBC find.  He showed me this soon after I found something else exciting (in another post!). I wasn't sure if these were some sort of Oyster mushroom or the parasitic Shrimp of the Woods.  Still not sure! I didn't want to disturb it to ogle its gills!!

Finally, a cute little unidentified round fellow!

Any favourites here?

xx

 

Gingerbread Fugitive- - a poetic anniversary!

 It's a year since I've been writing weekly poems inspired by the Toy Press's Word of the week. Here was my first one, an ode to the humble Sleigh Bells. I think I only missed one week in all 52 weeks (the word was routine!) even if I haven't posted all the poems I've written on here. It's also a bit of a milestone that I reached having written 150 poems in the past 14months or so. The good, the bad or the ugly, the process is the valuable part even if most of you don't really have much interest in children's poetry.  Many thanks to any one who has commented, positive or negative but especial thanks to my dedicated commenters who have often given me feedback over the year, Ann, Kelly, Ivana, Vix (who confesses to hating poetry!) and Sheila. 

This week's word was 'dough'.  The other poets on Insta did some really fun poems about playdough and baking. For me, I thought of that naughty traditional story character, the Gingerbread man. And then I looked at the 'ough' phoneme and it reminded me of that poem that begins, "I take it you have heard of...' which then bemoans all the words that don't follow the same pronunciation. I can't remember who it is by but I always liked it.

Gingerbread fugitive

His body was dough, 

He was baked to be tough, 

Ginger filled his veins through and through.

The cook thought she was thorough, 

But she made a real hiccough.

For he did not await his fate in furlough, 

He escaped through the door, she cut it rough.

Along the lane, he did quickly plough, 

He passed a pig, wallowing in a slough, 

A horse joined the chase, abandoned his trough,

A boy desired a taste, also not fast enough! 

Until in a moment, a snap, bite, cough,

As he was carried across a deep, deep lough, 

He was swallowed by a crafty fox (pity though).

Hope you are well.

xx

Schwarzwalder Champagnion 2

Onto round 2 of my Black Forest mushroom hunting. 

This first nestled example looked like another Russula but perhaps the Lavender Brittlegill. 

This prickly fella is possibly some sort of Puffball. 

When I first saw this, I think I'd found one of my wishlist - a Chanterelle! In this case, was it a Golden Chanterelle or a Winter Chanterelle? 

I wasn't sure if this was an old fungus that was distorted or a Phlebia Radiata or Wrinkled Crust.  

Here was my first Shaggy Inkcap or Lawyers Wig in its young state. 

Here was what looked like a Bay Bolete or certainly a type of Bolete. 

I wasn't sure what this yawning fungus was but it did have a bready appearance so I did wonder if it was a tiny Penny in? 

Here is another Saffron Milkcap. They go green when they get bruised. 

Here was a Beech Brittlegill, somewhat nibbled. 

 I didn't discover what this prickly fungus was! 

Any favourites here? 

Schwarzwalder Champignon

When I shared my Heidelberg Fungi post, I mentioned how disappointed I was at the amount of fungi I had seen this Autumn.  This is partially due to a lack of walks in the right places.  But luckily, we were headed to the Black Forest in Germany so I KNEW this was my chance to see some more interesting fungi.  But would I be able to spot them?

We were staying in the beautiful spa town of Bad Wildbad, where CBC and I had spent a couple of happy nights and days with his Brother some years ago.

We headed up the funicular railway to the Sommerberg and after a visit to the Tree top walk and the epic slide, we walked onwards through the forest.

And here's the first of a few posts of what I saw.

The first fungus I spotted was Yellow Stagshorn emerging out of a mossy stump of a tree. I've seen this a couple of times but a colourful fungus is always exciting!

Next, I saw this pinky/red fungus which I think was a Beech/Beechwood Sickener, Russula Nobilis, definitely a Brittlegill/Russula mushroom, if not that exact one.

The ones below, which were somewhat damaged (as is often the way with Brittlegills as they are tasty to insects!) were Russula atropurpurea, otherwise known as the Purple Brittlegill.

At this point, CBC had given up on me and walked ahead.

Once I got up close and personal to the leaves, I spotted more and more.

This orangey one below was intriguing to me.

And here's another view of it where you can see the light shining through its gills. This one was in better condition.

As there were plenty of these, I wanted to have a look at its gills so I tried to lift it up a bit but then it snapped.  This bright orange latex oozed out of it.

It wasn't till after the next day's walk and seeing plenty of these that I found an ID on this fungi-type. And it's a highly-sought after edible which is called the Saffron Milkcap or to use its rather delightful and apt Latin name, Lactarius Deliciosus!

Here was another example I thought, but now, looking at it, it's not the same one as it has a white stipe!

I'm not sure what this was.  Was it a Fly Agaric variety without its spots?

These pale pink mushrooms are perplexing me a bit. They could be Rosy Bonnets, Mycena Rosea but the shape is slightly confusing

It was hard to tell if this was a Russula Amethystina or another Purple Brittlegill! It had a big pool of water in it!

 In my first 20 minutes of looking, I was already happy to have seen to many but what would I find next? I had come with a wishlist of a few fungi I would like to see but would I see any of them??

x

#TARDISTuesday Yaz Khan

Hi there!

I wore this TARDIS Tuesday outfit for school today and I was determined to ACTUALLY photograph it! Managed to get CBC to take a picture for me too so no faffing with the tripod!

I cannot believe that I haven't featured this outfit since May 2023 for this week's TARDIS Tuesday.  Utterly perplexed!

This will be the 3rd time I have featured a version of this outfit for TT!

Let's look at the original!

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/uk-news/jodie-whittaker-faces-final-doctor-25333198

Worn by Yaz Khan in The Power of the Daleks, it is classic Yaz.

It featured a Dessa Balfern jacket by All Saints, and a burgundy and black snakeskin-print blouse, also from All Saints.  Some unidentified boots which may be from Doc Martens and some black jeans.

I like this outfit because it's made out of cotton materials, not leather or synthetic!

Last time I featured this outfit, I was wearing the screen accurate jacket but NOT one owned by me.  I was the recipient of this jacket for my Russian friend Anna who lives in Argentina.  I sent it onto her but she let me take some photos in it.  I liked the jacket but never planned to buy it as the RRP was ££££ (over £100, possibly £200!!).  However, a year or so back, I saw it for sale for £5 on Vinted! £5!?!?!?!  I couldn't resist it at that price and I am glad I went for it! Such a jolly Autumnal colour.

I wore my ASOS black trousers as usual. I do actually have a pair of SA Yaz Khan All Saints jeans (not these ones!) which were a bargain at £5 too but I can't wear jeans for school!

 I am not the biggest fan of animal print but the snake skin print on this shirt, also from All Saints is really pretty in the colours it features in! It was also very cheap! I like the fact it's actually cotton and has nice balloon sleeves and elasticated cuffs!

I'm not sure if she is wearing any necklaces but I decided to wear my K necklace!

For warmth, I added in this mustard cardigan from White Stuff (a present from my Father in Law and Mother in Law a long time ago when FiL was still alive). I know it was cold today because I kept this cardie on all day even when I was playing 'In and out the dusty blue bells' with Year 1 children in the music room!

A final touch is my hair in plaits! I found this amazing blog which is dedicated to analysing ALL of Yaz Khan's outfits, shoes, jewellery AND hairstyles and they show that this hairstyle is actually 2 strand twisted braids so I might try that another time! You can find it here

I enjoyed this outfit and it's nice to return to Yaz's outfits again!

x

Cherished things

 At church today, we had a lovely sermon given by a young woman named Steph who occasionally gives a sermon and often shares a profound message. One thing she said, which struck a chord was, I'm stuck Lord and I don't know what to do but I see you!  This is quite comforting and was comforting as I was feeling somewhat anxious and things were on my mind, even through the sermon/service. 

At the end of the service, the vicar, who leads the worship said to me, I'm not very good at encouraging people or remembering to tell people how much they are appreciated but today, as we were playing, it struck me that I should say this to you today. I wanted to say to you that when you play, not only are you talented at playing the notes but your playing is anointed, that comes from God and is pleasing to him.  I can't remember his exact words, because at that point, him saying that, brought tears to my eyes. I thanked him because it really did mean a lot to me to hear him say and I really did need to hear that today and from that moment on, the things that were filling my mind and were making me feel anxious, seemed to fade away. I wanted to record it here because I think it's important to remember moments and things people say that you cherish. I do know that when I play at church, that I am blessed and it blesses.  I always feel comforted and I am so grateful to know God. If that sounds cheesy, then I am Camenbert and proud! :-)   Even hours later, when I think of what he said, it brings tears to my eyes but these are tears of gratitude of God speaking to me.

It meant a lot to me.

Another cherished thing was this weekend sharing a friend's 40th birthday celebrations in London.  Our friend lives in Sweden and had come over to celebrate with all her friends back in the UK.  We had a lunch in a pub in Bloomsbury and then a trip another pub before heading to the Bloomsbury Lanes for Karaoke and finally having pizzas and drinks in the Lucky Pig in Soho.   We had such fun at the Karaoke. CBC and I sang A Whole New world from Aladdin together as well as What is this feeling? from Wicked and The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.  It was SUCH a joyous event. Everyone had such a good time at the Karaoke and I really enjoyed singing even if I felt a bit embarrassed at first (as there were lots of singers there). It was fun to do that together with CBC and to remember what it feels like to hang out with friends and just have fun!  We don't do that so much in recent times and it was lovely.

Hold the little moments!

xx

Brainteaser

 I've talked about our dear family friend, Norma in various posts on this blog.  Norma was such an interesting friend and a great story-teller.  One of Norma's stories, which I loved, was the inspiration for today's poem which began from the Toy Press word of the week, Track. I'll give you the backdrop to the poem once you've read it as I don't want to spoil the ending.

Brainteaser:

We’re going to track a criminal

Of the most heinous kind.

They’ve done the deed most foul,

The culprit will be charged and fined.

They’ve licked off ALL the chocolate

On every birthday Malteaser.

Left me soggy honeycomb pips,

But WHO, is the great brainteaser?

We’ve scanned the crime scene, looked for clues,

Seen footprints brown and small.

Let’s follow the trail to catch the fiend,

I’ll soon reveal all…

In the corner of one room,

Sucking and spitting them just like that.

His whiskers all chocolatey, looking guilty

Is my Loathsome Lenny Cat!

 

As a child, I delighted in her tales of her cats.  In particular, were the many stories of her Burmese cat, Lenny, known as Loathsome Lenny due to the many crimes he committed!

She told me the story of having a box of Malteasers which she had opened, put in a glass bowl for some gusts and was really dismayed to find that she'd found many of them bereft of their chocolate and some of them abnormally shiny.  She discovered that one of her cats was indeed getting the Malteasers in their mouth and then spitting them out when she caught them in the act! I'm not sure that it was Lenny, I can't remember which of her many feline residents it was so I decided to atrribute it to Lenny as it is absolutely the type of crime he'd commit!

I wish I had written down someof the stories Norma told of her cats and her life working for the Sound Archives department at the BBC. She was such an interesting person.

xx

Update:  Apparently the culprit was JIM!  I'll leave it as Lenny though as I had such affection for that cat that he deserves to be preserved in a poem!

The Box of Delights

 ...is available to watch on BBC i-Player! 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/p00tjpwk/the-box-of-delights

I am very excited about this as it was one of my favourite things to watch as a child. We taped it from the TV when I was younger and we would wheel it out during any school holiday- didn't have to be Christmas.

This was a 1984 adaptation made by the BBC of John Masefield's classic children's story, The Box of Delights.  It is a sequel to the lesser-known The Midnight Folk, featuring main character, Kay Harker and some magical folk, characters from history and pagan mythology, wonderous creatures and forays into the past plus the earnest desire to ensure that the 1000th celebration can be held at Tatchester Cathedral. Masefield's original text includes lots of his delightful poetry and the book is set around Christmas.   The TV series featured the wonderful Patrick Troughton as Cole Hawlings, an enigmatic character and the music is delightful. When they filmed it, they spent the most money (£1million) that had ever been spent on a Children's TV series and featured live action AND animation.  The theme music is from the 3rd movement of Victor Hely-Hutchinson's Carol Symphony which is a haunting rendition of The First Nowell. I very much recommend it.

I am currently dressed in my TARDIS Tuesday, worn for school but I just can't summon up the energy to find my camera, tripod and attempt to move racks of washing to find a nice spot!

So, go and watch The Box of Delights.

You can also listen to the radio adaptation of it too.

Heidelberg Fungi

 On our second day in Germany, CBC and I began our day in our bargain hotel in Frankfurt, Hotel Cult. We paid £46 for the night in a double room including amazing buffet breakfast. We found free parking on the street. The night before, we walked down the street to a lovely family run Vietnamese restaurant for dinner. The next morning, after our epic breakfast, we drove to Nieu Isenberg for a quick visit and then drove to Heidelberg for a quick visit to the castle there. 

After our visit, we took the funicular railway up the hill and decided to go for a steep walk through the woods up to the higher station. 

It was rainy and quite slippy and I was annoyed at C for rushing me. 

However, the walk became bit interesting when we started spying fungi. I should explain that I've been feeling pretty hard done by this Autumn as everyone else seemed to be going for walks and seeing incredible fungi including ceps/boletes. 

When C first mooted the idea of a German holiday, particularly returning to the Black Forest region, my head immediately thought, "MUSHROOM SPYING!!!" 

C pointed out this one and my (still disgruntled) reaction was, "Honey fungus is dull!!" 

One of the fungi I see the most is Turkey Fantail.  The wonderful thing about this is that it takes so many different colours and you can see so many different hues when you spy this one.

Above is quite a reddy/pinky example which I haven't seen very often.

I spied these tiny Bonnet mushrooms coming out of some beautiful wood.  CBC accused me of up-skirting it but was jealous he had missed this example.  I suspect is just a Common Bonnet (Mycena galericulata flata)  but I'm not sure.

There are many Bonnet varieties.

Although I generally find white mushrooms relatively dull, this one was beautiful. Not sure what it was.

These were definitely Common Bonnets and they have an almost floral appearance sometimes.

Are these Clustered Bonnets?

I took a wrong turning at one point, away from CBC who was far ahead and annoyed with the fungi examination as the light was fading but I'm glad I did as I saw this variety of Bolete mushroom sticking out of a root.  

It was hard to get a clear picture of its spongy pores as the shadow and lighting made it hard to focus.

Further up, I saw this Coral fungus. It's part of the Clavaroid fungi family. I think this is the  Ramaria Stricta.

I caught CBC up and we reached a proper road for a while

I loved these Creme Brulee looking mushrooms but can't seem to ID them!

These white-gilled toadstools had a beautiful, wavy-angel-like appearance.  I suspect they might be the Giant Funnel, Aspropaxillus giganteus. 

I saw this intriguing early growth fungi.

I've tried to see what this could be and there might be some suggestion these will be Schizophyllum commune (Splitgill mushroom),young Oyster mushrooms, Lionsmane gill or a Common puffball in their 'egg' stage.

Are these the same ones? They definitely looked more like  a Common puffball variety.

This one below was very prickly-looking. I wondered if they were some sort of growth or were part of the original fungus?

Finally, here  was a variety of puffball Lycoperdon perlatum (Literally translates as Wolf farts!) or Earthball (Scleroderma citrinum)?  Hmmm, which was which...

I'm inclined to go with Puffball but without cutting into it, I couldn't tell!

CBC and I finally reached the top of the Berg and the Cable Car station to take us back down to the car. It was now getting darker but we could see some lovely views of Heidelberg.

It was a fun walk and visit despite the rain. I'll share a bit more on the castle anon.