Morel Mushroom Madness - a May Day Treat

They call basketball March Madness  - well just let the warm weather hit at the beginning of spring and round here in Indiana, it’s Morel Mushroom Madness.  Walk into a store, a bar, or get a few locals gathered at a garage sale and they start talking Morel Mushrooms – how much so & so got, where they found them (they lie about that part), how big they are etc…I never knew folks could talk so much about a mere mushroom.  But a morchella mushroom, is not an average mushroom, oh no, a morel mushroom can only be obtained during a certain time of year.  And to date, they can Not be cultivated successfully; (plus they cannot be mistaken for something that will cause an agonizing death) so they are highly prized and fervently sought after.  Those in the know (and with the Eye) guard their secret mushroom haunts and hunting abilities.

This would be considered the Morel Motherload –

I could only dream about stumbling across something like this!

Many of the people who stopped by for the garage sale (after spying the beautiful wooded setting) asked if we had been out hunting for morels.  “Not yet, but as soon as this sale is over it’s the 1^st thing on our agenda.”  Steve headed out 1^st while we were still manning the sale and came back with two.  They were Huge!  I was so excited, I couldn’t wait to get out there and start hunting.  After the sale we decided to check in the opposite direction, and cover the front part of the woods first.  We searched & searched to no avail.  So we headed back to the area where he found the first two and Bingo I found my 1^st morel.

And not too far away another one!

After that my luck ran dry and I resorted to photographing other types of fungus.

Do you see him sitting in that log?  This is it up-close.  Like some deformed figure.

While watching this cute little snail truck across this log, 

 This little guy was much easier to shoot than that bubblebee

 Steve scored three more!

I would have been happy with my two shrooms, but my friends graciously sent me home with the whole lot.

The biggest was 6” including the stem, about 4” for just the head.  7 mushrooms total -  more than enough to get my morel mushroom fix.

So are you a Morel Mushroom Hunter?

Leave me a comment & tell us how you fared.

I heard it was a bumper crop this year!

  

 Ciao!

Double Aulos Flute Antique Picture Music History Lesson

One would think that living with a Music Theorist would very interesting.  I suppose if your a music theorist as well, then that statement would be true.  However I’m not and It’s not very interesting.  I normally shake my head along with a glazed over look, as he explains why the 5th harmonic of undulating vibration doesn’t calibrate well leading into the 4th octave or something like that.  Really takes all the fun out mindlessly bopping around to Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.   Not that he would ever listen to such mundane non-polysyllabic nonsense.  However I have found a use for him, my husband that is, besides cooking dinner and washing the dishes (I know, Eat your heart out Ladies) he’s excellent at spotting and identifying weird old instruments.  Like the ancient Double Aulos (I always just called it a Pan flute, from the Greek mythical goat-man creature) reed instrument used by the Greeks and Romans, that he spotted in this old antique picture we ran across at a garage sale this weekend. 

Later when I asked a bit more about the instrument he went upstairs and came back with the Concise History of Music book and laid it on my desk, and said “Read this”.  Yeah right, like that’s going to happen, I would like to, but then again not really, because then he would actually expect me to talk to him about music theory and that would just mean I’d have to read more books!  Then he would want me to take piano lesson, learn how to Actually sing and join the choir.  Truly, it would be just one big ugly mess.  Think I’ll stick with junking and Hopefully let him impart his musical knowledge Only as Needed.

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Kentucky Derby Day Vintage Hat Pins

Today was actually our 1st weekend out Junking this year!
Yeah, a little late, but last week we had our own sale.  Trying to move out our own stash from last year.  What a chore!  Full week of shuffling...urgh!

So It's the first of May and even though it ended up as a rain day, it was an awesome day because we ended up at Jim Mailloux sale.  They use to have this shop call the Flower Mill.  And as with all us out of biz retailers, we still have our inventory... and boy do they have the have some neat antiques!  I had heard about their private sales for years but had never been to one.  The timing couldn't have been better, as they had the exact items I was looking for... and I didn't even know it until Stan took one of my items and said "Hey wouldn't this work?"  Oh Yeah, Darling!  Gosh darn it, I knew I kept him around for a reason.

Think Jim got a big kick out of him sitting in their basement guarding my stash from absolutely no one. ~ lol  ~ but Jim did reassure him that they already had a cat fight earlier that day.  So we're thinking he sympathized, I mean understood.

So what was my awesome find?  Oh you already know...Vintage Hat Pins on Kentucky Derby Day!  Hooray, Hooray for the First of May!

What started out as 6, blossomed into 24!  But their so cool Darling!  Pretty Please?!  Remember it was your Awesome Idea...~Lol

Froggy went a courting and he did ride - Umhum!

Ha, Ha, I love my new froggies!  What kind of cool things can we do with these?  Originally shower curtain hooks, but I'm thinking they should be cut loose from their noose and glued to something!  A vase, a hat or picnic basket.  Other cool card finds from the day's excursion, was the Golden Shred & Golly Picnic series postcard from the Robert Opie Collection in Glouccester.