Once home, chagrinned, I glanced at my insect-shield clothing lying unworn in its basket and my bug spray unsprayed on the mudroom windowsill. I had been tromping full-tilt through a New England forest in the height of tick season with no protection whatsoever.
Within minutes, I saw a bright orange flash in my left eye. There, maybe 20 feet away, deep in the ferns, the wavy scalloped shelves of chicken of the woods blazed in the morning sun.
Mushrooms are FASCINATING. AND BIZARRE. There are countless varieties that come in all colors (even blue and purple!), sci-fi shapes and perplexing consistencies (some are essentially slime).
