The secluded site on Black Bass Lake is the best. The weather was fine. I ate a huge amount of peanut butter and nuts.
On the trails I left my binoculars behind and instead of seeing birds I began to notice all the fungus on the ground. Funny how one’s observations are predetermined by the tools one is equipped with. If I had brought a weed wrench I would have noticed lots of invasive buckthorn to pull. If I had brought a GPS unit I would have noticed the geologic features of the area.
The Tour de Fungus revealed reds, oranges, yellows and translucent whites. There was a turkey-tail fungus and a shelf fungus and a coral-like one. As an added treat I found a tiny common snapping turtle sunning itself on the park road.
I wish I could approach these strayings with the intellectual fearlessness of Newton. He found that algebra didn’t satisfy his insistent probings about the world, so he invented differential calculus to do what he needed to do!
I wish I could observe nature with the unbounded curiosity of Darwin. He observed and documented and toiled until he arrived at a theory that jarred his own conscience! But he published it (after much hesitation) because he had so thoroughly convinced himself of his own findings.
Do I have the courage to follow my curiosity wherever it may take me?
pseudoisaac 