The thing about the rain...

...is that it leaves the ground soggy and ripe for guys like these. You should see the carpet of them in the park across the street. I walked over during a break in the rain, camera in hand, praying for something at which to point my camera. I spotted a million little golden mushrooms poking up out of the grass and was about to walk toward them, when out of the corner of my eye I saw, what I first believed, was a stray piece of litter, or a lost softball, resting on one of the sloping hills. As I drew closer to it I realized it was a ginormous mushroom the size of my hand, standing alone...though a foot away a neighbor was beginning to push up from the soil in a very alien-like manner that left me with the creeps.
I know this picture does not accurately portray the reality of how huge he was. It was hard to give it context standing alone in the bland green grass against the backdrop of a bleh grey sky. I had to shoot from the hip from this one as I could not very well prostrate myself on the wet grass. (Totally came unprepared for finding a massive mushroom on the wet lawn.) I took a million pictures trying to get a good angle. And, once again, I was wishing for a macro lens.
I came home and tried to make it "more interesting." So there you go.

The thing about the rain, is that it pushes me to use my creative eye a bit. Maybe that ain't such a bad thing...


p.s. Oh, and you should have seen the little black slug munching away at the base of the mushroom--all sheltered from the drizzle and wind underneath his very own spiffy umbrella. Again, if I had that macro lens I would have gotten that shot for you. But alas, you'll have to use your own creative eye for that one.