An Hour's Worth of Moments

 We were lucky, yesterday morning, to have a break between the rain showers - timed perfectly while we tended to morning chores.

The usual Ginger choreography occurred... up to the barn just to make sure that we were, indeed, preparing her breakfast.

After, when satisfied that food was definitely on the way, she went back to her dining spot.

Happily... rewarded.

Meanwhile, the equines enjoyed some pasture time "sans" fly masks 

(skipped due to lower temperatures, heavy cloud cover, and impending rain) 

While they were busily grazing, we headed up to open chicken houses, change waters, pick peaches, and take the dogs for a woodsy walk.

The dogs are so much more energetic when the temperature is lower.  Forrest had a case of the "zoomies" and ended up soaking wet from running and leaping through the ferns in the woods.

There are still some blackberries ripening in the woods.

Hubbs and I noticed a proliferation of mushrooms - not many varieties, but still more than we had seen all summer.  These common toadstools came in all sizes and shapes...

Siblings....

Some with pointy caps...

Some with rounded caps.

And some with visitors!!

Speaking of snails (who love these damp conditions)... I happened upon this tiny fellow, carrying his house across a wet, rotting branch.

While I was close to the ground, I looked very closely at this stump with seemed to have a lot of little white growths on it.  Some were remnants of larger mushrooms that I assume were decimated by last night's heavy showers.  However, on closer inspection, I saw lots of tiny white growths.

Some were the tiniest of mushrooms... no bigger than the point of a pin...

And others that I thought were fungi, actually had legs!

The circumference of these little critters was no more than a silk strand of spiderweb!

There were, as usual, orange jelly fungi growing on old hemlock stumps.  What is even more interesting here, though, are the different mosses growing on the stump as well.

Having just finished Robin Wall Kimmerer's book Gathering Moss (which I thoroughly enjoyed) - I thought about some of the things that I learned from this book.  Did you know that mosses' leaves are only one cell thick?  They lack the outer cuticle that other plants have and so they soak water directly through their leaves.  Mosses have no root system.  Also... because they are only one cell thick and have no cuticle, they are greatly affected by air quality and will die when surrounded by air pollution.  This is similar to how the alveoli (air sacs) of our lungs work - for there is only one cell layer between our alveoli and our circulatory system - making us susceptible to poor air quality as well.

The more I learn about nature, both experiential and through reading, the more miraculous each and every tiny detail becomes.   Through learning, I grow to love this planet more and more each day.  Perhaps if every person took the time to know her better, they would dedicate themselves to fighting for her health.  There is no doubt that our own health is intimately tied to the health of our planet... we are but a small piece of this gigantic organism called planet Earth.

Yesterday morning, there was a flurry of activity around our hummingbird feeders.  10 or more tiny hummers were vying for places to feed.  Sadly, I could only get three of them in one photo at a time.

Lastly... a handful of cock's comb from the garden.  This is such a wonderful flower to dry and keep.  It retains its color beautifully.

As it dries, it sheds a ton of seeds which I will capture and save for next summer's crop.

The cycle of life... from seed to plant to flower and back to seed... and the world keeps on turning.  I am so grateful for having the opportunity to ride along!