Fungus are fascinating

 I am a fanatic about fungus and photograph them whenever I can.  My nieces and nephews now refuse to walk in the woods with me because I stop to fuss over every fungus.  Now Willow the Golden Retriever is stuck with waiting fairly patiently for me to finish a photo session when we go tramping around our woods.  I found this specimen very fascinating with its folds of flesh reaching out beyond its host, a fallen tree.  And is that sort of a face at the base?!

And then I fooled around with the colors in Photoshop and produced this futuristic fantasy of a fungus.

Follow other tomfoolery from the folks at ABC Wednesday.

P.S. Here is the song that may be the foundation of my fascination with fungus.  I think as kids we drove everyone nuts with the inanity of this one!

And here is the website that tells you all you would ever want to know about the lyrics that flooded Chicago and the midwest US from radio station WLS: Hugh Barrett and the Victors.  Trivia to a fault!
 

Exciting Event for ABC Wednesday

We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming, As the Cardinals Fly, to bring you this important announcement.  From our Bird-on-a-Wire Service, we have learned that the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the Audubon Society, and Etudes D'Oiseaux/Bird Studies Canada are partners with Wild Bird Unlimited in sponsoring the Great American Bird Count this weekend, February 17-20, an exciting three-day event 

Keep your eyes on the birds for as little as 15 minutes and be a "birder" for the day!  For all the details and the reasons why this is important, please visit the Great Back Yard Bird count website at Bird Source.  

GBBC is fun to do and you get feedback from a local "expert" if you have come up with a bird rarely seen in your locale.  My first year I counted several Purple Finches and the Michigan ornithologist questioned my seeing them here as they are rare in SW Michigan in the winter.  But I had luckily photographed the finches I thought were Purples not House or Rosey.  I sent him the photo and he replied, "yep, those are Purples!"  However, I still have trouble distinguishing Woody and Hairy Woodpeckers, the other lookalikes around here.

Here is one of my photos from last year's GBBC, a Red-bellied Woodpecker.

Ease yourself on over to ABC Wednesday for ever exacting,  exotic, but hardly evanescent contributions to  E-day from Mrs. Nesbitt's emphatically enthusiastic bloggers.

 

Mighty Mac in the morning

In honor of Louis laVache's 100th Sunday Bridge posting, here is Michigan's best bridge on an early morning in September.   Unlike the glorious Golden Gate, the Might Mac is surrounded by tall trees not tall buildings.

Be sure that you do not miss the glorious photos Louis has posted for the celebration at Sunday Bridge Series.

Drinking with a buddy

In last week's post for ABC Wednesday we saw the dejected and rejected Monsieur Cardinal as Madam decided to distance herself   from him.  As Jane speculated, she was indeed disappointed in the dandy-like color of his coat and felt distinctly drab in comparison.  And as Roger guessed, this soap opera was not done.

This week we find our dandy at the bar drinking with a more conservative dresser determined to get advice, I am assuming, on dressing for success with his deranged (his words not mine) mate.   His  emotions have run the gamut from depression to delight to demanding to know if there was more to her desertion than she had admitted.  Did she suspect that he had a dalliance going with another?  What other delusion might she be suffering from?  Was there relationship doomed?  Did he really call her a dimwit? 

Stay tuned for more delicious gossip next week on As the Cardinals Fly.

Fly on over to ABC Wednesday to detect what the other inmates are up to when blogging on D!