Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head....dammit

I'm going to start my blog post with my typical snide remark about the weather: Mother Nature is turning into a one trick pony. All we have here is rain. And when it is not raining, it is overcast and damp. Damp. Since when is  being damp ever a good thing? Damp laundry? A damp basement? A damp dog? No, no and no. Well, what to do but make the best of it? 

Last Saturday Lilly and I went out in the rain. But on Sunday, instead of riding Lilly, Brandon and I went walking out in the wilderness of Hawley State Forest about 10 miles away.

 There is some really beautiful natural stone around here. It's shist. Here's a fabulous example in the creek bed we were walking through.

Another striking example! Those black lines you see in the rock are hornblende crystals. Those little brown spots are garnets! Really amazing. Locally, this stone's common name is "Crowsfoot"  because those black lines looks like crow footprints.

 These day, everyone wants granite for countertops. However, I think shist is just as nice, if not nicer.

This is a crowsfoot sink which Brandon made for our bathroom. 

But I digress! Back to the forest.

The first trailside attraction was this totally awesome beehive furnace. 

There is no mortar at all holding this together!

So lately, I have been really interested in chaga. Chaga is a type of fungus (Inonotus obliquus) that infects a tree (usually a birch variety) and creates this large charred looking, hard blob on the side of the tree. You can harvest the chaga and make it into tea which is extremely rich in antioxidants. So our hike was becoming a chaga expedition. There's Brandon headed up a tree toward a clump of chaga! But where is that foot going?

Brandon never drinks the chaga tea. He just likes locating and retrieving it.   The tea tastes rich and roasty. Mmmmm!

 I could not help but notice that all of the trails we were on would have been perfect for horseback riding. They were wide and beautiful and seemed to go on forever. I am sure horses are welcome there. In fact, I saw hoofprints!

Do not let these pictures fool you. It was raining the whole time we were out there. We did see a mother bear with one baby. But I missed the photo op. Rats.

There's another chaga. It was popping up everywhere. There was so much in fact, that Brandon could not carry it all. So he decided to MacGyver a chaga bag....

...out of his jacket.

Loading the chaga in.

And voila! There you have a chaga-toting sack that would make Santa proud.

Back at home, a delivery of wall stone. Hmmm. I wonder what this could mean for the kitchen reno! I am worried.

 These guys are called Mica Caps (Coprinus micaceus). With all te rain, they popped out in a big hump at the base of one of the maple trees in our back yard.

I love how they just bust out of the soil in a big hump.

 Even though they are kind of weeeeird, they are pretty and unique in their own mushroomy way.

So even in the rain, we are managing to have some fun. But we aren't the only ones, check out Getty:
Click here to see Getty frolicking in the mist!

And finally, I am concluding with a beautiful video Bill made on the one sunny morning we have had: Click here to see a video that will make your heart grow!

This weekend: more rain predicted! BOO HISS!!!