the pineaway

inocybe impexa

summer has been quiet so far, and rather cool, apart from a pulse of heat that took me from my woolly socks one day into newly bought sandals the next. that didn't last long, and i'm not sorry, but the constant chilliness and grey skies has really curbed growth in the garden, as well as the woods. on the other hand, the watering can has had a good rest... and i've been able to dabble with a bit of running. (hard to keep a pace when there are so many interesting things to stop and look at on the road...)

turdus iliacus

the only things disturbing the peace have been the construction of that damned bike lane in front of the house and the redwings nesting in the eaves. the latter make an awful racket every time i walk outside, and make dashes at me. they have their young scattered about the garden, i can spy them getting fed from the kitchen window sometimes. the blackbirds' children are much more grown up already, running around on their own.

lepus europaeus

a while ago there was a brown hare munching on the dandedion in the middle of the yard in broad daylight. i wonder if it is the same one i saw sleeping on the same spot one morning a few years ago. i can't help but feel like it's my late cat visiting, he was similarly alert all the time and loved to eat grass like it was going out of style..

cheliver cancroides

the joys of living in an old house is that you are never alone... this pseudoscorpion is harmless, to humans anyway, and actually very welcome because it preys on possible pests. it's very small, the stripes on the wallpaper are only 5 mm wide. i only noticed the delicate pattern after taking this photo.

fuligo septica var. candida

there's been lots of slime molds in the forest but not much else, until a few days ago. first i found some agaricus in a spruce field, in finnish i would say kuusiherkkusieni, but the exact species kind of eludes me. these didn't have the aniseed-y scent that is commonly associated with them, and they didn't bruise yellow either. i also found at least three different latin names online and in books, so i'll just leave it open. i ate them, though, and they were delicious. i did use due caution, though!

these do slightly resemble the deadly amanita virosa, the destroying angel, but the gills and specifically the spores mark them apart. amanitas have white spores, so the gills stay snow white, whereas the above mushrooms clearly show staining, starting from pale pink and turning to purplish brown/grey. amanita virosa smells like raw potato, these didn't smell of anything but mushrooms, but the agaricus essettei/silvicola/abruptibulbus generally have a sweet scent much like aniseed and/or almond.

(it could also be that i couldn't detect the scent, because this summer i wasn't able to smell apple blossoms, either. perhaps i have lost part of my olfactory system, if that is possible.)

yesterday i took a longer walk and some tiny chanterelles and boletes had popped up. i made a creamy sauce and ate way too much on one go, all of it in fact, with quinoa. today i had fairy-ring mushrooms from the yard in miso soup with rice vermicelli for lunch. maybe not mushrooms for dinner, just for once...

here is basu baageli last night in his new, crocheted pod on the sofa. he is fast becoming fond of it, as he tends to find something tasty inside every evening, come couch time. as i'm typing this post, i keep tippy-toeing over there to check on him. he climbed out of the cage on his own, which he doesn't usually do in the middle of the day, and wanted me to lift him on the sofa (old age has caught up with him) and he is sleeping there now. completely new behaviour so i'm a little alert. i made a ramp from some pillows so he can get down on his own. last night he slept by my side under the blanket all through american idol. usually he wants to go back in his 'room' a lot sooner, once the treats are all gone and he has tolerated my pawing long enough...

the reason why i'm not on said sofa at the moment is that my little laptop finally got burned out after about nine years of heavy use. can't really complain, but i almost lost a year and a half worth of photos with it. luckily i was able to start in in some kind of 'safe' mode with limited features and fish those files out. turns out i had saved my 2014 in pictures onto the external hard drive, but then somehow also deleted it. phew. and so now i am typing on what seems to be a huge keyboard, in my dad's study, on his computer.

i peeped in, and basu is sleeping in his petrol blue pod like a baby. i would love to share that with you, but don't want to wake him by showing a camera up his face. he gets plenty of that, and frankly would do with a lot less if you ask him. he seems to be dreaming, because his front paws are twitching slightly, so let's leave him in his slumber. he is probably eating something tasty there, according to the bliss face...