Thursday, September 8, 2011

beyond soggy





I wish I had carried my camera with me today when, in the twenty-five minutes that it wasn't raining, I went for a run. Up the road from here is a pond which I dubbed the "magic pond" back when my kids were little and I did things like that. But the pond is actually sort of magic because its surface sits above the level of the road as if the basin is somehow suspended in space. I don't exactly know how that happens, but if you stand on the road next to the pond and look towards it, the top of the pond will be above your eye level. To me that is as close to magic as it gets. So I always stop in the middle of my run and puzzle over it, enjoy it (because it is a pretty pond) and hope that perhaps there will be a blue heron somewhere nearby since they seem to be attracted to this particular pond as well. But no matter how much rain we have here, the pond has never overflowed its banks - until today. Indeed, in the wake of Irene and the post-Irene rains we have had for the last three days, the pond has actually sprung a leak. As I ran by I noticed water pouring through a gap and into the ditch at the side of the road. I think it is probably going to be OK, though I did have visions of the pond emptying out or something like that since it sits like a sink above the rest of the ground. . .but I do wish I had been able to take a few pictures of the water coming over the side just to prove to any doubters that it actually happened.
To prove just how wet and soggy it is around here, however, I am posting just a few pictures of the myriad types of mushrooms that have sprung up in the grass in the last few days. I have no idea whether any of them are edible and I am not going to find out, but there is one - the picture at the bottom of the toadstool with the egg under it - which I think will soon be housing elves.

2 comments:

MartinWainwright said...

Hi there pondrunner!

I love the notion of your hovering pond. Perhaps it is held up by elves, who worship it in their underground artists' studio.

Quelle coincidence avec le fungi. Thanks for posting on mine and do get yourself a good guide, skull and crossbones and all. I bet you have good names for them over there, as we do. From memory, I'm pretty sure that one of the worst of ours is called the Destroying Angel.

Loads of people over here forage for them, specially people with roots in eastern Europe, but P and I are too scared. And anyway, the ones we get in the shops are very nice.

xx to all and from P

M

MartinWainwright said...

Hi S! This may be a repeat cos I thought I'd left a comment but something about the way Blogger reacted leaves me uneasily in doubt.

In case I pressed the wrong button, I said that I was beguiled by your hovering pond and the notion that toadstool-dwelling elves may be holding it up from below (when not painting, like you)

I also remarked on our fungal blogging coincidence and hoped that your US names are as good as our UK ones - eg the Destroying Angel, one of a nasty family called from memory Amanita. Loads of Brits forage for them specially those with eastern European roots, but P and I are too scared.

Great that you are still running. Not sure I can any more though P skips around the tennis court once a week

xx to all

M and P