autumn meanderings

Whilst on our autumn walk on the Marsh Trail at Sandy Neck, we ventured across the dunes (on trails of course) and found some fabulous mushrooms. I haven’t yet taken the time to look them up, so I’ll edit this once I do. If anyone wants to just tell me what they are, please feel free! 🙂

I love finding mushrooms on the Cape, our soil is basically mostly sand, so they’re not as common as other places. Often by the time I see them, they’ve been a meal for some animal or other who are obviously even more delighted by them than I am. Because I’m a photographer, I don’t just want to find them, I want to take their portrait too!

When I was in photography school I came home one rainy weekend for a visit with my mum. She asked if I wanted to go for a walk to find and photograph mushrooms. I think I said no, I was a teenager, it was pouring, sounded like a terrible idea, lol, but we bundled up in our wellies and raincoats and off we went. My mum’s job was to hold the umbrella and keep the camera dry (self-appointed) and we spent a few hours having the most amazing time. Searching, and finding, mushrooms under trees, by stone walls, under leaves, it was such a fun day, we looked back on it with such fondness until that day many, many years later I had to remember it for her. And I did. I told her the story often, and now there’s just me to remember it, probably why I love finding mushrooms so. Keeps her close to me. People always say it’s the ordinary that’s extraordinary, and it is so true. A simple day in the woods with my mum decades ago, literally is a highlight in the movie reel of my life.

There is always magic to be found in nature.

What have you found lately?