Autumnul shades

I love Autumn. Since we moved to England, it has really become a favourite season. There is such rapid change and shifts in colours and growth, and it influences my moods...I feel nostalgic and homely and...kind of grown up (which of course, I would deny at any other time of year). I have made bramble jam and quince cheese, I yearn to make bread and meals with beans. Most of all, I love the fungi.

Ever since I was little, I loved mushrooms, toadstools and fungi. I remember trying to grow them, once I learned about spores (very unsuccessful). I remember making spore prints from mushrooms, fixing them to the paper with hairspray. I haven't eaten many, but our recent trip to Italy reignited a passion for fungi, mainly due to fresh porcini.

Anyway, here are some pics from my recent fungi encounters whilst out and about in the local area:

OK, this is just moss - but ain't it pretty!