Fall’s Glory

I can’t get enough of leaves! These, from my favorite maple tree.  This year I have my own sapling from one of its seeds,  so maybe one year these multi-colored wonders will fall in my own yard!

And always, the Big-leaf Maples are a wonder…esp. in a dark fir and cedar wood where they fall with such a splash of color…

Our trails this week took us to this very cool bridge…

…in the middle of a very green wood with its lush moss carpeting……and a HOST of mushrooms (and toadstools?)  These tiny blue ones were the bluest I’ve ever seen (sorry for the blur; it was a dark woods)
… and they come in purple too!

Now here’s one happy host!

But these are the prize ones that keep people foraging and later feasting! 
Chanterelles.  Very tasty.

And this little fellow came along for the ride home with the chanterelles…

But now we’ve left the wet and wonderful mushroom coast, leaving behind the rainy gray for sunny blue skies and mountains dappled in gold with the first frosting of snow on their heights. Awesome.

--LS