I work very hard to be a good vine parent.

I plant them in good soil.  I put them in the proper amount of light.

I feed them. I water them. I support them.

I guide their growth.

But I cannot grow for them.

The reason I love vines is their optimism.

They reach up and out and grow with faith.

I envy that.

But sometimes they take a wrong turn.

They grow in the wrong direction.  Somewhere the sun can’t find them.

I try to guide them back.  But sometimes it can’t be done. They are too high, too far gone.

This creeping fig has grown around and around under this stoneshroom cap.

At first it was cute. I let things progress.

But now it is too late to change its path.

It is clinging to it and will have to be ripped off to get out unless…

I remove the cap and let it cling to this old wrong turn as it reaches up unhindered.

My daughter is a vine.

God bless us both.

MAMA FLOW

 

Mushrooms are the flowers of the Fungi kingdom.

I think they are beautiful.

I had to rush outside with my camera this afternoon and get these photos

before mean Mr. Flower mowed them down.

No worries, they will be back.

The part above ground is for reproduction, just like the flowers of plants.

I expect to see another lovely crop after the next good rain.

Some mushrooms like this oak conk do not look like mushrooms. This looks bread.

Most of these mushrooms have gills

and stalks with a club foot.

Some of them have pores under their caps instead of gills.

Like this blob-shaped, one with a yellow stalk.

Its cross-section has different layers.

These tiny groups look like bird’s nests. Rain washes the spores out to spread.

These two look like potatoes.

This one is gray like a stone.

Some caps are like funnels instead of parasols.

I love to find little buttons just emerging from their veils.

I enjoy finding mounds of mushrooms, too.

The red-capped ones are my favorite.

I like mushrooms so much that I make my own out of concrete.

This lizard uses this one for his lookout post.

FLOWER loves Fungi

 

 

I have shared part of this story before.

I am retelling it now because of the mama deer and twin fawns

that were photographed by my neighbor’s critter cam.

When I was a science teacher, I was required to take workshops and classes to renew my teaching license every five years.

One of the workshops that I took was called Project Wild.

It was full of activities to help students understand nature and ecology.

The teachers played some of the games to get familiar with them.

The game that I remember most was a survival game.

Each participant drew a card with the name of the animal they would play

along with the types and amounts of food it would require to survive.

I was a mama bear with twins. My list of requirements was long.

All the “resource” cards were tossed in the middle of our big circle outside on the lawn.

A clock was started and we all had to quickly forage for the right kinds and amounts of foods.

When the clock stopped. We all counted our cards.

The “winners” had gotten enough food and water to survive.

The “losers” died.

I LOST.

My bear family didn’t survive. I felt guilt and sorrow.

There were not enough resources and too much competition.

I wonder if all the winners remember that game as much as the losers do?

I had done my best and failed, not just for me, but for my twins, also.

That mama deer ate every daylily bud and bloom. She ate every hosta leaf in my yard.

They will all grow back next season, but those fawns needed food NOW to live.

Maybe if everyone played games like that, and lost, we would all have more empathy.

I have gladly sacrificed my flora for those two fauna.

FLOW