This evening Wren asked me why we gave him such a boring name. He said wanted "a cool name" instead.
"We called you Wren because we though it
was a cool name" I told him. "What is a cool name you would like?" I wondered.
"Oh, you know, like TIGER or VAMPIRE. I like Wren. So, instead of (names changed for publicity purposes) Wren Victor Smith I would be Wren Vampire Tiger."
"Oh" I said. I mean, what is there to say.
"Yeah, or Wren Vampire Smith."
"Well, you can change it when you get older if you like."
"Okay," he said "and where are my mushrooms? I want to eat more of our mushrooms before my Otter Pop."
Wren has developed a great appreciation for foraged mushrooms as the season of all things fungal comes into the Northwest. Last weekend we collected 3 lbs of chanterelles on Vashon and I bought another 7 lbs at the store where they were on sale for $3.99 a lb!!! I have never seen them that price before. I wish I had bought more but I have to cook and preserve these first. People here call them 'shanties'.
I have also enjoyed a snack of coprinus micaceus (Shiny cap) for the first time. I identified them in the forest but didn't know they were edible and collected them later in our neighborhood on a rotted buried log.
 |
| I ate these for a snack on my pasta tonight. Wren said "they taste like water" |
I also ate mixed boletes (birch bolete and suillus luteus slippery Jack) from the neighbors yard. All utterly delicious.
 |
| Mixed Vashon chanterelles and boletes from the neighborhood |
