Our Big Backyard

Today's nature challenge invites us to use many descriptive words to tell about the things we encountered.  On this sunny, cold, clear Autumn day we heard the crunching of fallen leaves beneath our feet as we explored the wooded area behind our house.  "Squelch-splosh" could be heard as well, since we've just had a fair amount of rainfall.  The animals seemed to be content, making joyful noises; 'moo'-ing, 'chip'-ing, 'cock-a-doodle-doo'-ing, 'cluck'-ing, 'ruff'-ing and 'meow'-ing, each taking its turn to add to the conversation.

While Jessie focused on small crepe myrtle seeds and red round holly berries, Jake was noticing how round his black, fuzzy cow has gotten.  Madison and I were fascinated with Oyster mushrooms growing on a fallen tree beside the playhouse.  This fan-shaped, smooth, creamy colored fungus has such beautiful gills on the underside.  She informed me that soft, squishy mushrooms always appear after rains.  We looked in our handbook and discovered that this specific type, Pleurotus ostreatus, grows on dead wood or damaged tree trunks.  We were able to get some good photos.  

 What a blessing our big backyard is!!

"Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better."

                                                                                      ~~Albert Einstein