Jelly fungus, Assekonk

I was, praise be, well enough to spend the day working with the always-splendid sixth-grade biology students of Wheeler Middle School and their amazing teacher, Kristi Williams. This year's program is to, every month, walk the same route through the woods and fields that border the Assekonk Swamp and keep careful notes about what has changed and what remains the same, and this close reading of the natural world means that we're always likely to find something new and intriguing. An example of Jelly Fungus jiggling on a rotting limb was definitely the hit of the four classes I brought outdoors, and I wish I had permission to post pictures of the kids reacting to this bit of natural weirdness, the texture of which is like nothing any of the crew had ever witnessed. Suffice it to say that they were repulsed and entranced in equal measure, and I think they'll remember this curious fungus for a long time—even if the Latin name, which I think is Exidia recisa, has changed numerous times, something all too common with mushrooms these molecular taxonomy days.