Hello, mushroom

I don’t remember when I picked up this log to split wood—three, four years ago? And all of a sudden this year it’s become home to a mushroom, for the first time.

If trees could talk…

Leaves turning yellow

I think autumn has arrived. Atlántida, Uruguay

Cactus getting weird

My backyard cacti are getting weird on me. This was a piece that broke off in a windstorm. I stuck in the ground and it’s been growing happily since. Now it’s apparently decided it needs Mickey Mouse ears.

Meanwhile, the original, now 12 feet high, has decided to grow—what the hell?

Well, they are mescaline cacti.

Maybe just enjoying a little of their own medicine?

Evening light

Couldn’t do the regular dog walk today, so took Mocha around the neighborhood. I especially appreciate the evening light and colors, which aren’t quite as rampant where we normally walk.

Tomatoes and mushrooms

First tomatoes ready to pick (6 December).

Between a small cactus and tarragon, a brief appearance of volunteer mushrooms.

Artichoke flowers

Artichoke flowers. I would rather have seen artichokes on sale, but since I’d never seen an artichoke flower before, this was a sort of compensation.

Casuarinas

Casuarinas are visually unimpressive trees used here for windbreaks. They look as though they should be like pine trees but, unlike pines, they will regrow if cut. However, only if not below a certain height….

Tree transplants

A little scrap of a shrub I dug up in the back yard and planted in the front several years ago has grown like crazy. I was thinking of cutting it back until it burst out in white flowers…

…which makes the bees very happy.

This year I found and transplanted another (foreground; previous in the background). We should have quite an entrance way in a few years!

After the fire, life returns

Not long after fire took out undergrowth and blacked the ground, and even with very little rain, green is returning. Wonderful to witness.