So I know that this blog is supposed to be all about all things urban, and it hasn’t been lately. I went to France with my sister to visit my father. He’s not well, so he spent a lot of time sleeping. During his afternoon naps, my sister and I went out on photo safaris. And just for the record…although I live in one of the biggest cities, I am a nature lover. We go up to the Berkshires to visit my husband’s family and I soak in as much nature as I can while I’m there. 

So while my father was resting and the relentless French hunters were in the woods shooting, my sister and I walked in the woods (wearing bright colors thank you very much) and took photos. We were absolutely amazed at the diversity of mushrooms. 

We ran into a man who was mushroom hunting. He was an elegant older gentleman with a white handlebar mustache. I couldn’t have made up a more perfect French mushroom hunter if I tried. Okay, I guess I would have given him a basket instead of a plastic shopping bag, but I doubt I would have thought of the mustache. I spoke with him in my halting French and asked him what he was looking for. He had two different types of mushrooms that we never did see ourselves. One was a charcoal gray mushroom and one was called sanguine, or something like that with blood (sang) at the beginning of the word. That was very descriptive, because where the mushroom was broken, red liquid seeped out of it. It left very believable blood drops on the sides of his bag.

Below are a few of the mushrooms we saw. The tiny yellow ones that look like the ends of a pencil eraser are called bird’s nests. When the spores are ready the tops come off and you see tiny little puff balls inside the nest that resemble eggs. Absolutely tiny and amazing!

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