August is Purple Mushroom Month

Abundant rainfall this summer has produced Basidiums of amazing size and color.

What we see as mushrooms are the "fruiting bodies" of the funnygus - Basidiomycota.

Underground the Basidiomycota are mycelium that run over large areas.

The "Hen of the Woods" mushroom tastes like chicken.

The "Old Man of the Woods" mushroom Strobilomyces Strobilaceus.

"...old men have grey beards, that their faces are wrinkled, their eyes purging thick amber or plum tree gun, and they have a plentiful lack of wit..."

Hamlet

These botanists exhibit Mycophobia.

Zinnias and Zabulons

What's on my mind?

Went out to sketch the Zinnias and found a zillion Zabulons!

Zabulon Skippers and Zinnias in ink and watercolor wash.

#DannyGregoryQuotes #3DaysinParsippany #WhereTheLadyGotHerGaga

It was November 3rd 

and with her Dia de Muertos face paint

 which she applied after watching a 

Theodore Bradley video, 

looking a bit the worse for wear 

after having it on for 3 days 

because she couldn't find her makeup remover, 

Stefani stepped off of the bus from NYC 

which was costing her quite a bit of cash 

whereas if she had been a resident of Parsippany

 she could have just rode to the music studio

 on the free transit system but oh no, 

she just didn't want to relocate to New Jersey

 so therefore had to put out the coins

for a daily bus ride during which 

she did look a bit odd that day 

wearing the skeleton suit which had been 

appropriate attire the day before 

though she hadn't time to change, 

anyway it was much better than wearing 

just slabs of meat which might have been 

a bit of a problem what with the 

local coyotes and black bears 

that roamed Highway 287 that autumn 

and as she walked across the parking lot 

to the studio there was a small crowd 

which had gathered around the storm drain 

to smoke and flip their cigarette butts down into 

and with no exception 

everyone that watched her pass by 

opened their mouths and spouted "gag-gag" 

though I think they were actually trying 

to say something besides 

that which was later shortened to "gaga".

For more fun in Parsippany:

#TheTreeCity

#ParsippanyPastelMountains

#eclipse Helios Eclipses: Zones of Totality and Partiality

The Great Helios Eclipse of August 21, 2017.

Sketched at the North Museum from a Lunar Moth specimen, a Moon Snail shell, and a cut Sunflower which also substituted for a Sunflower Sea Star with ink and watercolor.

In the Zone or Path of Totality, a large Lunar Moth, Actius luna, named for the Greek word luna for "moon", lands on but having no mouth parts does not feed on, a Sunflower, Helianthus, named for the Greek work helios meaning "sun" and anthus meaning "flower" and blocks the entire center of the bloom which is actually many smaller florets that can number up to two thousand each of which may make a seed so that only the sterile ray flowers ringing the edge all with one large brightly colored petal which make up the corona can be seen. 

A Partial Helios Eclipse during which a Moon Snail or Naticidae from the Italian, natica referring to a part of the anatomy I shall call "buttocks" moves across the face of a species of Sunflower Sea Star or Pycnopodia helianthoides, from the Greek helios for "sun" but does not entirely block the view of the rays or arms of the sea star is a very short event since Moon Snails though voracious predators themselves feeding on clams, crabs, and in a cannibalistic way on other snails by drilling holes and releasing acid and sucking out the their prey's innards quickly fall prey to Sunflower Sea Stars.