In The Pink
Street Art For Three Photography Challenges
There are so many fun challenges at the moment that we bloggers are spoilt for choice. I used to go by the rule one post, one challenge, but the times they are a-changin’ and I’m going to follow the trend by hopping on several. First, I’m sharing two kinda cuties for Becky’s PastSquares – a tiger tyre planter with strawberries from Darwen and a robin from Manchester’s Northern Quarter. Continue reading “Street Art For Three Photography Challenges”
Two Types of Fly Agaric Toadstools
I’ve been wistfully liking other bloggers’ pictures of the type of toadstool you see in fairy tale illustrations (orangey-red fly agarics with white spots) while wishing my woodland searches had uncovered one.
The woods are rich in fungi: pale, greyish, beige, brown, pinkish, purplish and black ones growing singly, clustered in their hundreds along fallen logs or running the whole height of dying trees. I’d seen alarmingly slimy ones, shiny ones, pert ones, shelf types, toadstools like pontefract cakes and a lot that looked like small potatoes but any flashes of orange or red had turned out to be berries cast down from trees.
At one point I discovered the brown form of fly agaric toadstool pictured above. You can’t take my word for this as I am no expert, but I suspect it may be the deadly poisonous Amanita pantherina, the panther cap or false blusher. Another possibility is the similar-looking blusher, Amanita rubescens, named because the white flesh turns pink where bruised. An interesting find, but not half as exciting to me as seeing a red one. Continue reading “Two Types of Fly Agaric Toadstools”
Wordless Wednesday: Heart-shaped Leaf
Liatris (Blazing Star)
Liatris is one of many showy American natives that British gardeners have taken to their hearts. Fluffy, rose-pink flowers open from button-like buds that circle a slender tower of narrow, lance-shaped leaves.
Where groups of liatris corms are planted naturalistically, the flower plumes are dramatic, reaching up and out like grounded fireworks. Continue reading “Liatris (Blazing Star)”
Darwen’s Carnegie Library at Dusk and a Cloud
My sister and I grew up in a family were books were valued. A fair amount of what came our way as spending money was converted to paperback books and we topped up what we could afford with regular trips to the local library.
Over the years I fell out of the habit of using Darwen Library, but one good thing to come out of the last eighteen months is that I have been making good use of the service, which is far better than I remembered. Online reservations make the catalogue of our local group of libraries easy to access and members can read a broad range of magazines online and listen to audiobooks.
I’ve really appreciated the kindness and thoughtfulness of the staff and volunteers at Darwen Library throughout the pandemic and feel sure they have been a lifeline for many. Continue reading “Darwen’s Carnegie Library at Dusk and a Cloud”
Susan Rushton 