Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Karel

This photo was taken five days ago, on 6 August 2016, when I went on a mushroom foray at Rod Handfield's acreage. Though this was a fungi day (well, morning), we also came across a few wildflower species, too. I found the whole day physically and mentally exhausting (a mix of stress and excitement). It was a great day, too, thanks to friend, Sandy! She very kindly picked me up around 8:15 am and we drove SW of the city and SW of Millarville to Rod Handfield's acreage. For a number of years, this has been one of my favourite places to explore, as Rod's forest tends to be full of all sorts of beautiful treasures. It is one of the two best places that I know for mushrooms, the other being Brown-Lowery Provincial Park. This year has turned out to be great for fungi, thanks to all the endless, torrential rain we have been getting the last few weeks, and are still getting, apart from the scattering of sunny days. This year has so far had such weird weather - a very mild, dry winter, a spring that was as dry and hot as a summer, and now a wet, thundery summer. We were expecting this year to not be good for mushrooms. We met up with a group of other interested people, most of whom we didn't know, and we searched the land for fungi. Right at the start, I was telling Sandy that on the last visit there (or one of the last), maybe four years ago (17 August 2010, so six years ago - how time flies!), we had seen a beautiful Amanita muscaria / Fly agaric mushroom growing just a few feet from the start of the hike. Sure enough, there were several growing in exactly the same spot on Saturday, which was so exciting. Later in the walk, we saw two other patches of absolute beauties of this hallucinogenic, poisonous species. The rain was spitting during our walk, and the forest was so dark, but amazingly, some of my photos came out well enough. Thanks so much, Karel (holding a beautiful Bolete mushroom to make into soup or sauce), for organizing and leading this trip and for sharing your knowledge with us! I have to admit that I always find a walk like this rather frustrating. It doesn't work too well when you have people who are photographers and people who are interested in picking mushrooms to eat : ) The latter tend to always be ahead and by the time you catch up to them, you can't see what has already quickly been picked and of course it is usually difficult or impossible to get a photo. This was private land and some of us know the owner, Rod Handfield. In places like the national or provincial parks, one is not allowed to remove anything from the area - but some people still do. You see people with large baskets full of picked mushrooms for cooking! This is especially an east European 'thing'. They have grown up with this tradition and seem to know which fungi are edible or not. Some poisonous mushrooms can look very similar to edible ones, which is why the warning is to never, ever eat any kind of fungus unless you are an expert! As our local Naturalist always says: "All fungi are edible, some only once!" Sandy and I left the group around lunchtime, to go looking at vehicles at one of the dealerships. In the last year and a half, I have had to put far too much money into repairs for my poor old 17+ year old car and finally, I knew that I had no choice but to replace it. The muffler and catalytic converter died about a week ago and instead of spending a fortune on repair (estimate was $4,999), I decided I would rather put that money towards a new vehicle. I had been thinking about replacing it the last few years, but now, enough is enough! Update re: car. Yay, I finally did it! Three days ago, friend Sandy and I returned to the dealership just after lunchtime. I had to drive my old car there so that they could do an appraisal on it and tell me how much I would get for a trade-in. Before I went, I was feeling more confused and uncertain about which car I would decide on. The few that the dealership had were not a colour I would want to drive or else they didn't have the right things installed. I was so relieved when I was told that I could order one to my liking and that the waiting period would be 2-3 weeks. Longer than I would have liked, but bearable (though I know I will be climbing the walls by the time my new car arrives!). The very patient, non-pushy salesman said why not take my old car home and use it just very locally till then. So, thankfully, I still have a (very noisy!) vehicle with which to go and get groceries, which was my main concern. No birding or mushroom trips, though, which will not be easy to bear. Having said that, I need to add that I know I am very fortunate that I am in a position to be able to replace my vehicle - feel very grateful and lucky. Thank you, again, Sandy, for helping me through this highly stressful (to me) ordeal!! It made an enormous difference .... THE difference.

Friend, Karel, calls himself a Herper. “Herpetology (from Greek "herpien" meaning "to creep") is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, and caecilians (gymnophiona)) and reptiles (includingsnakes, lizards, amphisbaenids, turtles, terrapins, tortoises, crocodilians, and the tuataras).” From Wikipedia. Unfortunately, in Alberta, we have only one species of lizard and about four or five kinds of snake, so Karel has turned his attention to wildflowers, fungi, etc. He leads one of our botany outings each week (though I have missed most of them this season) and, if we are lucky enough to have had enough rain for enough mushrooms to grow, may lead a fungi walk or two. This photo of Karel was taken yesterday, 3 June 2016, when a few regulars were invited to visit the Square Butte Ranch, SW of Calgary, to do a Bio-blitz. Karel is holding a little Wood Frog; always a fun find on any trip. The day started very early for us, having to be at the meeting place for 7:00 am, so my alarms were set for 4:30 am. The sun was shining all day and the temperature was around 24C or 25C. Our leader creates a highly detailed list of all the plants, birds, insects, fungi, lichen, mosses that were seen during the few hours we were there. Can’t forget to include wildlife seen – one Red Squirrel : ) This list is also sent to the person who invited us there as well as to the participants. This was a new place for us to explore, though over the years, we had been to several other acreages not too far away. We strolled over grassy meadows with ponds, and through forest covered in deep, soft mosses. Everywhere was a carpet of Dandelions in bloom and in seed. For me, the highlight of the day was when a Morel mushroom was spotted! I so rarely see these and I have been hoping recently that someone would find one somewhere. A few bird species were seen, including a Belted Kingfisher which landed at the top of a very tall coniferous tree, looking rather out of place so high up. “In the 1990’s, developers started transforming 480 acres of rangeland in the Foothills of the Rockies into a recreational ranch property operated as a bare land condominium. Architectural guidelines ensured that all buildings were designed in a rustic, western style featuring log and timber structures with large front porches, wrap around decks and hitching posts. The vision was one of owners being able to enjoy the fun and excitement of a western ranch living without the headaches.” www.squarebutteranches.com/