The Mushroom Foray

At Mama's birthday we decided to go into the forest the following sunday to go on a mushroom foray. My Papa was an ardent mushroom picker but we never dared to go till now. 

It was a cold but nice sunday afternoon and we found quite a lot of mushrooms without even having to venture far off our car. It is really interesting to see how the forest can turn you into that child again that accompanied Papa on some of his forays. And Mama and Timo also seemed no less excited when they found a new specimen ("Look what I have found!")!

Our excitement was a little diminished when we had to throw some of our booty away in the end because we were not certain about the species. But we found some very nice boletes and we prepared a delicious meal with them (Couscous, aubergines, courgettes, onions, soy cream)!

And by the way: Yes, we're still alive!

The forest, its smells and the whole atmosphere - I really only realized how much I had longed to re-experience all this when I was there again. A lot of memories came back to me - real experiences mixed with what my own childish perception has turned them into - of enchanted forests, a blond little girl jumping with a cry of joy on what she referred to as "Puff-Puff Mushrooms"*, forest cabins - some creepy, some inviting - and Papa asking in a whisper "Shall we try whether the huntsman's at home?" or his explanation after our knock remained unanswered that surely, he's out hunting - "Maybe next time we're lucky!".

We certainly won't let 11 years pass until the forest will have us again!

Against my husband's bold claim, I was the lucky finder of this storybook-mushroom!

* The inside of a certain kind of mushroom eventually turns into dust and stepping on them lets them "explode" in a funny *puff* noise. It turns out that the name I made up as a child was not far from the truth - or at any rate not far from the english name for it: "Puffball".