Shaggymane Season

Day 359: I'd gone out of the house at a dead lope, hurrying to get down to the pharmacy before they ran out of vaccines again, and other than grabbing a "perhaps bag" and sticking it in a day-pack, did not really consider what else I might need. Halfway to Eatonville, I said, "Oh, dang. I think there's a 'shroom knife in here someplace," and there was, tucked in the console. It wasn't until I got out of the car at the trailhead and started up the hill that I realized I didn't have a hat. I never go out without a hat, and the problem was that I was walking into the sun and it was blinding me. I got up to my Shaggymane patch, looked in all the usual places, didn't see anything, and then continued on up the hill to check a second site. There was nothing there either, so I turned around and started down. Now that I was facing away from the sun, I saw what I hadn't seen before: a nice cluster of a dozen or so 'shrooms just begging to be cream-of-shaggy soup. I'd gone right past them! The biggest one had begun to turn to ink, so I left it, and there were quite a few end-of-thumb sized caps poking up through the grass, too small to pick. If the rain doesn't ruin them, there'll be another batch of soup next week.