Phallus fungus, Bell

With my granddaughter at her aunt's for a sleepover—always a favorite event in Stasia's life, and a big draw away from here, since my daughter has three teenage sons and Minecraft, that compelling video game—I had some time to hike. My route took me up the road and into the Bell Cedar Swamp refuge, and while there is no longer much to see, with the leaves gone, the dragonflies apparently calling it quits for the season, and very few birds in evidence, there were a few different kinds of mushrooms popping out of the still-soft ground. This one, growing in soil seasoned with copious amounts of sawdust, is one of my favorites... if I don't have potentially embarrassed kids and adults with me. The Phallus mushrooms—I'm not making the genus name up—are perfect replicas of the Real Male Thing, and on public walks, I've had especially sensitive teenage girls turn an unnatural shade of red at the sight of this shameless fungus. I'll leave any further commentary alone, save to say that these natural sex organs have the remarkable ability to emerge from hiding in very cold weather. Perhaps this is a metaphor for the human condition, perhaps not.