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| Speckled specimen. |
I've always loved mushrooms and their shapes. They bring to mind fantastical fairy tales about leprechauns, those whimsical shapes that capture the artistic mind with a naturalist bent. I had a yellow polka dotted, painted wood cutout of a mushroom on my wall as a kid, decor that was sought to match the bright walls. I also loved the scene from Fantasia with the dancing oriental mushrooms. What kid didn't? The very first piece of art I did at Oneonta State (a SUNY school, enough said) was an Alice in Wonderland piece of psychedelia with a giant 'shroom that I put on our front door. It went with the giant tie dye tapestry we bought for about $15 (we haggled with the hippie who went door to door) that hung from the ceiling. We also took a tossed couch by the side of the dorm with no legs, put it on top of a tipped over bookcase, and covered it with a black and white cowhide I bought at a farm goods store in West Texas.
Me and my best friend
were the first people to get "written up" (cited for partying) on
campus, in the very same dorm her older brother was an R.A., and we're
chicks, so overnight we became infamous. Within a few days, the sorority
girls from Long Island, in their matching Champion sweats, slouchy
socks, and top knot ponytails, wrote nasty remarks about stoners on the
drawing, and then someone jacked it. In retaliation, we spray painted
cracks about them in hairspray on the mirrors in the common bathroom
(our commentary about their dependency on beauty products and their
cliched 80s hairdos), and then lit them on fire so they would be visible
in burnt scorch marks, a brilliant piece of impromptu performance art that was angry, hilarious, and true, which was our punk ethos at the time. We
made the scene, and the best guys around wanted to hang out and party
with us, which made us even bigger targets, but by then, we'd already surpassed the dorm in hijinks, so we were golden. 
It
kicked off one of the best, funnest, fruitful, and most stable parts of
my life, but more about that in the future.
Suffice to say, whenever I see a cute patch of them, I still think the
same thoughts: they're funny, sweet, cheerful, happy and also edible,
but please don't go foraging without an expert. The difference between
an edible one, a trip to Mars, or a slow, agonizingly painful death can
be a minute one, so don't do it. If you're interested in mycology like I
am, check out some resources on the subject, like this one: http://www.amazon.com/The-Pocket-Guide-Wild-Mushrooms/dp/1620877317/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1382549928&sr=8-2&keywords=Skyhorse+mushrooms.  |
| Mama and baby 'shroom. |
Live life, and prosper.
