Woodland Walking

The dogs and I are thoroughly enjoying what's likely to be our longest stay at the lake cottage all summer. No, we haven't deserted the Chap entirely. He's away...in another country, in fact.

We received a welcome spell of rain and cool, damp weather. Yesterday the high was only in the low 60's and I ran round the house closing windows. Today we're in the 70's and it's brighter and the windows and doors are open again.

Last night, quite late, the dogs raced around the sitting room and bedroom, frantically barking, sniffing the air. I thought I heard something moving about outdoors but assumed it was a raccoon or small critter.

This morning, on our first walk of the day, we found compelling evidence that our visitor was a deer.



Also on the walk, we noticed this very colourful fungus growing in the hollow of a tree.



My culinary blogging friend says it's a "chicken mushroom" and when cooked tastes like--well, you guessed it.



This is my favourite tree. Because it has a face. Eyes, nose, mouth, ears--or antlers, as my visiting friend said, a couple of weeks ago.



I'm accomplishing very little of substance these days, but it doesn't matter: I don't really need to. Sometimes I do light research and lots of musing about the next book. Mostly I'm pleasure reading, knitting, playing mandolin, cooking meals with fresh fruits and veg and eating them at non-traditional times of day. Watching way too much Home & Garden Television, especially when it was raining.