SUNDAY STROLL

For those of you who are also experiencing Mushroom overdrive do any of these few specimens look like your local fungi. I never knew there were this many different ways to express mushroomness. If you are not being visited by the great invasion of 'fungus among us" riot of mushrooms may I present a few of the visitors we have had. First was a big white fellow.

Here are the Silver Squad.

We have been greeted by a variety of Yellow Charmers.

Here were the first Sponge groups to show up.

This fine specimen is saying 'go forth and prosper" and 'hail and farewell'.

I think of these that are everywhere I look as the Pancake People.

We are also overrun by the white on white folks.

More of the same.

Little ones are prospering everywhere, some so little you really have to get down and personal to realize that they are full formed tiny teeny mushrooms.

The Red invasion continues to emerge.

Some mushrooms are truly as pretty as flowers.

The early sponges disappeared and new groups moved into the woods.

This last invasion is just too weird. Check out the true color over at hubby's site.

Fingers? Spaghetti? Displaced coral from an underwater reef?

Everyday we are greeted by rain and new species of Fungus. We love the lush green of the landscapes. After two years of drought we are thrilled with high water in the lakes and streams. This Sunday Stroll stayed close to the ground and in the exotic world of the strange and bizarre.

If you long for gardens and distant vistas take a walk on over to The Quiet Country House and enjoy what they are enjoying.

GRACE NOTES

Here are some more quotes that help me remember to stay open to all possibilities. Gifts of love and understanding are all around and we can share in the adventure of uncovering these gifts. I believe we are here to not necessarily solve all the mysteries of who we are and why are we here, but to just live in the questions and enjoy the process of discovery, however far that takes us.

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Each challenge is there to guide you toward the desire of your heart.

Each problem, seen from the positive side, always turns into a blessing.

Each sorrow leads you to your joy.

Each doubt--to your knowing.

Each lack--to your abundance.

Each debt--to your freedom.

Each feeling of hopelessness--to your power.

Each cry of pain--to your comfort.

Each act of war-- to your peace.

Each act of anger--to your love.

And each journey through darkness--into the light.

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There is nothing to worry about -- ever!

Either you have control or you don't.

If you do, take control.

If you don't, then dismiss it.

Don't waste your energy on worry.

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In the real world

as in dreams,

Nothing is quite

what it seems.

The Book of Counted Sorrows

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When its time, its time,

when its done, its done,

there comes a point when

more is simply more.

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Holding onto anger is like grasping a hot coal

with the intent of throwing it at someone else,

you are the one getting burned.

Buddha

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To win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill.

To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill.

Sun Tzu

SOURWOOD HONEY & UNCLE CLEO

See how clear this honey is? This is Sourwood Honey and it is highly prized for its clearness, wonderful exotic taste and care involved in stealing it from the hive.

The bees can only collect it while the trees are in bloom. The Bee keeper then has to be very careful to only collect this clear delicate nectar.

The trees are mid sized and not in great numbers throughout the forests that run from Pennsylvania to Georgia. The best honey is collected in higher elevations and bumper crops only occur every 5 to 7 years. The season of flowering is from June till August and great care is needed to not allow clover and other flavors to spoil the product.


The flavor like the clarity of the honey is light and has an unique taste that makes it prized by all who are able to collect or buy it. The taste is slightly spicy with a hint of anise and has an aftertaste somewhat like gingerbread.

This is my Uncle Cleo when he was still alive and keeping bees. His Sourwood Honey was a prized product to all who knew him and his bees here on the Cumberland Plateau. We loved him as a sweet gentle spirit who had a magic touch with bees and wonderfully with little children. No child, family or stranger got near him without reaching out to be held by him. All us cousins were mad about him and his kind spirit and willingness to pay attention to us. Uncle Cleo was such an angel spoken of in the following quote I'm sure.

Most honey is made by bees. But Sourwood is made by bees and angels.

Carson Brewer

SUNDAY STROLL AT REST

The morning glory says good morning and shines for most of the day. It speaks to the eyes with it color and joy.
But last night I stepped out on the porch and my ears and soul were greeted by the most glorious serenade of natures very own Night Music. I was enthralled again as I always am as I listened to the cadence and various pitches of tree frogs and insects. I knew I wanted to share the wonder of it all.
So I invite you to turn the volume all the way up. The night critters are loud and wildly enthusiastic about their songs.
How loud are they? They are so loud that one of my daughter-in-laws was frightened by the sounds she heard outside the open window the first time they came to visit here in summer on this mountaintop in Tennessee.
Perhaps after all your strolling over at The Quiet Country House and other places you might like to come back, sit on the porch with us and watch the moon dance across the sky to the glorious night sounds that speak to the heart and affairs of the critters in our neighborhood. Actualy go ahead and listen now and come back if you enjoy the courting songs of the little critters.

FLOWERING FERN

Now wait a minute, ferns don't bloom.

Do they?

Of course not.

Ferns create spores that form on the underside of the leaves and drop off when ready to make new little ferns.

This was an easily solved mystery.

After all-----

I have the world of information at hand. I have a computer.

Now I know.

My Asparagus Fern is not a true fern. It is of the genus Asparagus a flowering plant in the Liliacea (Lily) family.

These teny, tiny flowers gave me a chance to try my hand at using the macro setting on my old Sony digital Mavica camera. I'm not impressed or I'm not very good at this. I was hoping for a huge flower filling my picture. All the really close ups were fuzz, no clarity at all. I'm so disappointed. I love the really close up pictures I find on so many blog sites.

Oh, well.

I love my camera, it's big, heavy and uses a floppy disc which I just reformat and use again, but I know how to use it. I tend to be a modern tech wimp and a waste not, want not sort of gal so I'll be keeping my camera and let other folks do the fancy picture taking.

GRACE NOTES

I remember a quote I came across along time ago.

"When I works, I work.

When I sits, I sit."

It aways stuck with me. I may not have the whole quote and can't find it on the internet, but I use it to tell myself to put myself totally into whatever I am doing. Work or rest deserve full attention. I have accumulated several quotes on work or quiet time, I want to share some of them here.

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I'm a great believer in luck

and I find the harder I work,

the more I have of it.

Thomas Jefferson

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Opportunity is missed by

most people because it is

dressed in overalls and

looks like work.

Thomas Edison

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Whether you believe you can,

or whether you believe you can't

you are absolutely right.

Henry Ford

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Nothing is often a good thing to do,

and always a good thing to say.

Will Durant

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It is never to late to do nothing.

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Arranging a bowl of flowers in the morning

can give a sense of quiet in a crowded day -

- like writing a poem or saying a prayer.

Ann Morrow Lindbergh

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Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass

under trees on a summer's day,

listening to the mummer of the water or watching

the clouds float across the sky,

is by no means a waste of time.

J. Lubbock

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SUNDAY STROLL

A walk back to the lake seemed a good stroll for today. The path has not been cleared this year and it was pretty wild and filled with bramble and downed timber. So carefully picking our way, with Flutemaker in the lead to clear spider webs and tromp down briers we made it to the lake and the jumping off rock ledge often uses for swimming parties. I love how the lake is slowly revealed as we approached. The path is a slow ramble and possibly an old animal trail.

This little lake is the source of the municipal water works and is fed by another lake piped underground and our little creek that runs through our property.

It is an overcast day with temperatures in the low 60' . Sorry the sun didn't choose to shine on our outing. But--"the sun will come out tomorrow, bet your bottom dollar--tomorrow--."

It's a pretty lake. Here we are looking across at a pasture where cows are protected by their donkey friends. Locally farmers keep donkeys in with their cattle because the donkeys are said to dislike coyotes and stomp any that get near the herd.

This is the inlet where our creek flows out and we are looking toward our nephews home place here on the right side of the creek.

If we could have seen around the bend of the lake you could almost see the bridge on my nephews land, some of which is on the other side of the creek.

Along the stream are wonderful bushes and stands of Jewelweed like you see here. I believe smearing jewelweed on a mosquito bit is suppose to soothe the itch. It is a tried and true remedy for poison ivy. (I have added this because Aisling reminded me with her comment.)

A friendly dragonfly follows us along the pathway as we wander homeward.

Here we have found some very curious looking mushrooms at the base of this tree. They look like thin wood shavings that have curled around into little disks. I continue to be amazed at the different ways mushrooms choose to appear.

Finally our last photo opportunity is at the site of a beavers handiwork. This log didn't get hauled away and seems to have been here for a few years. We took many more pictures along the way and had a good time reblazing the old trail.

Be sure to check out the other strollers who have checked in at The Quiet Country House.