Stasia and mushroom

When my granddaughter Stasia is in residence, most of my time is going to be spent on the trail. I love having the company, especially this eager fellow discoverer who delights in finding both the new and the old. Today's trek was to an ephemeral stream area we've long called the Noah-sized Waterfall, which is named in honor of my son, who also delighted in journeying there through our and our neighbor's woodlots. On our walk, we noticed that the forest floor was carpeted with mushrooms, the fruits of recent modest rains, and we both enjoyed looking at the varying fungal shapes and colors. Stasia helped me out in the color department, particularly the ones that came in shades of purple, something that my red-green colorblind eyes can't detect. In partial recompense, I helped her out with various mushroom characteristics, the main one of which was the difference between gills and pores. The mycologist-in-training found it exceptionally funny that even stout fungi are so fragile.