'Shrooms

 

With all that has happened in 2020, you can't tell me you haven't considered the possibility of the end times and of having to forage in the woods to survive. Could we, would we, eat this mushroom or that berry if there was no Kroger? My natural curiosity is balanced with a healthy distrust of my knowledge of edible mushrooms. I found this clump of mushrooms along my daily walks with my mom and her dogs. Aside from the fact that mom's male dog regularly waters the bush under which this mushroom now grows, my research confirmed that I will not be sampling it. 

The "Picture This" app identifies it at Tricholomataceae or the Pale-Spore Mushroom. Googling, it seems some of the mushrooms in this classification are edible but "one thing you have to watch out for is the possibility that other [toxic] species of mushrooms could be mixed in with a fairy ring". Nope, not eating mushrooms that might be dancing with toxic mushrooms in a fairy ring.

The toxic mushroom to avoid is clitocybe dialata. In a fairy ring. Who, pray tell, named this mushroom? Huh? Really? Nope. Apparently, botanists have a sense of humor.

Closer to home, I did find "hen-in-the-woods" (which sounds considerably safer and tamer) in, of all places, the woods. It is a maitake mushroom and eaten around the world - but I'll wait to take that chance in the end times. 

hen-in-the-woods

Source of quote

Stay Safe

When COVID-19 quarantine started, people, strangers even, started saying something to me when I was out, "Stay safe." Stay safe. I know they really mean, "Stay healthy," right? As a mother, I have had some "stay safe" moments: the first time your child drives away solo with a new license, when your adult baby takes off to another country, when...well you know, something new or challenging.

I guess I'm always thinking about my children and praying for their safety, but I don't worry each time they leave our/their house that forgetting to signal a turn or going for a jog could result in their death. I don't worry that they'll be shot sitting at the kitchen table eating a bowl of cereal. or while sleeping in their own damn bed I don't think every day, they could go out into that world and not come back all because of the color of their skin. I don't worry that they'll be falsely accused, detained, because of what they look like. We have that privilege.

Black Lives Matter - and before you say "All lives matter". Stop. Listen. I have challenges and heart stopping moments, too. I can talk and write about them another time. But we need to sit still and just absorb the message without answering back, hearing the pain, listening. It doesn't mean you condone violence or that you don't also have pain and need to be heard, but as long as you are talking, you aren't listening.

I am not going to white-splain what is going on - listen to the black voices. It isn't comfortable to hear the America they experience, but it is real. We don't need to "Make America Great Again". We need to make America Just. Listen, be still, and understand. Understand that Stay Safe carries more significance for our black and brown family, friends, and neighbors.