Another slow week as fall begins

Not much happened this week other than my toothbrush broke, the batteries died in the clicker for the garage door, and my belt broke.  Annoying little things, but it took time to deal with them. At least I got the lawn cut, the garbage out, the food cooked, the dishwasher cleaned, the laundry to the basement (I won't go as far as to risk doing the laundry!), the kitchen floor washed, the groceries done, etc.

Maddy has been more playful than normal. Maybe it is the cooler temperatures (one morning it was 2.4C) and the good sleep she gets during the day with nobody home much. On the other hand, it could be the fact that she sleeps spread out on three quarters of a queen bed, with her feet against me trying to regain the last quarter of her space... her nose will probably be out of joint when Wendy returns tonight.

Maddy and her rope ball - she hadn't played with it for many months!

I took Maddy on another photo hike in Dundas at the main trail area this morning. The weather was fantastic - reaching about 25C as we finished. She met the usual assortment of dogs and interested children. The fall colours were not really spectacular, but I took a few shots anyways. Still figuring out the new camera.

The Dundas Trail Centre

These will get better as the colours change in the next few weeks.

Fall has started, but just barely

More for our previous fungus theme...

Tonight is the night that I drive back to the Buffalo Airport to pick up Wendy, Parker, Mel, and Murray after their Disney World/Universal trip. It will be a bit of a shock when they feel the temperature (about 20-25C less than they are used to), bu they probably deserve it for going somewhere warm.  Should be able to post a few images from Wendy's phone camera in the next few days, once they have unpacked. All reports are that it was a fantastic trip.

Dinner with a mycologist

Last night we were invited to our friends' house down the street for dinner and mahjong. Being that he (Jianping) is a mycologist, it is safe to assume that some form of mushroom/fungus may be on the menu. When we arrived, we headed out to the back deck to find this display.

Jianping's fungus collection for the day

Apparently, Jianping went out with the kids to go hiking and ended up collecting some samples for his research (he is a prof in the biology department at Mac; same with the other mahjong player). These samples, as we soon found out, were actually not for dinner! In fact, the white ones on the left are the infamous "death angel" or "destroying angel" mushrooms (Amanita creata) that are known to cause a rather agonizing death rather quickly if you dine on them. They contain amatoxins that are known to inhibit RNA polymerase II (you'll have to take my course in cell biology to get the full story on that one...sorry). What caught Wendy's eye, however, was the rather large one on the right.

The biggest puff ball mushroom we had ever seen

It is called a puff ball (Lycoperdon umbrinum). We (and Jianping) had never seen one so large. Apparently, it is a very tasty mushroom, but it would not be eaten until the next day. Jianping described it as being best lightly fried in a little butter and garlic. For his research, however, he will dry most of them (after eating some of course...) and will take them to China for a comparative genetic study. His colleagues will harvest DNA and genotype them to see what similarities and differences are apparent in common fungi in the two different locations.

Even though we didn't eat any of these nicely arranged specimens, the stir fry was great! Parker persevered and learned (yet again) how to use chopsticks. Lots of encouragement and it only took him about 1 hr to eat his plate of food. No wonder he is skinny.

Learning to hold the chopsticks

On Sunday, we decided to go on our usual hike, and wouldn't you know it, we saw lots of mushrooms! Must be the season for them.

These might be chandrelles...

We found several logs completely covered with mushrooms. This was one of the best displays.

Must be a bit damp in the forest...

Found a few that were somewhat interesting shapes. I thought this grouping looked a little like brown flowers, but of course, we wouldn't touch any unless Jianping adds his mycologist blessing.

More fungi

The ultimate find, however, was one of our favourites - the lowly puff ball.

A 'micro' version of the puff ball (~1" diameter)

And no, we didn't take it home for dinner. I'm just guessing that jerk chicken and roasted corn-on-the-cob probably wouldn't go well with puff balls...