another day another mushroom...

 ended up out at eagle river nature center today with the dogs.  these mushrooms are from other hikes, but i did get my fill of mushrooms today.  i go from mushrooms to fall to moose rut.  then there will be snow somewhere in there...and ice for sure.  but today it's mushrooms.

 it was a bit depressing today as it sometimes can be.  i texted several people and ended up walking alone.  seems pretty rare that people text me with the invites.  that is just how it seems to work.  there are the inviters and the invitee's.  i'm an inviter.  sadly, that in no way means that others will turn around and think to invite you out another time.  not sure if that is a reflection on my weak social skills, undesirable personality traits or just a reflection on being forgettable in general.  after awhile of never getting any return invites i generally get tired of asking certain people and stop.  who wants a one sided friendship.

 doesn't always help either when you see an obviously planned party that you were totally not invited to even though you know pretty much everyone at the party.  overall, i really don't care that much, but still, there is that kid in you that hates being left out and forgotten.  then i remind my sad self that if you weren't wanted someplace then it is what it is and the real friends in your life will be the ones that do want you around. i like facebook but there are those times when the party pictures are posted and you get to see from several different pages how so  not invited you were.  so it is written and so it is forgotten.  thankfully, i have a pretty quick rebound for stuff.  

 rio again decided to join us on the walk so we went out to eagle river nature center.  hadn't been there for a bit and a change is always good. i do want to try and squeeze in some good hikes and i may just have to leave rio behind for a few.  the weather was again great  so i had no issues today walking very slow. took pictures and just enjoyed it all.   there was a little kid out there with a white stick...guessing she was blind or close to it.  she was petting rio, the blind dog.  always kinda sweet when that happens.

 the road going out to the nature center is all torn up.  took a bit of extra time getting out there.

 lots of folks still made that trek out there.  traffic and road work have been the theme for me these days off.  i can't seem to escape it.

 hit the pet smart after the walk. the dogs always enjoy that.  there was a family there with some very excited kids.  they were adopting a kitten that day.  they had a few cute kittens there.  they were shopping and telling everyone about their kitten.  i had to go check out their new friend.  so fun!!

 rio is snoring behind me.  she's been pretty tired since we got back . she keeps trucking though.  i'm always amazed at her.  i never dreampt she'd be walking this far and this well after this many years.  i figured she'd be a couch dog.  she absolutely refuses to be left at home this summer.

 was able to sneak out on her tonight and hit the grocers.  had a coupon for $20 off if i spent  a certain amount.  that worked.  i even got an additional coupon for another $10 off if i spend another $50.  seems like you can't walk out of any store without spending at least that so i'm good.

 didn't take any black and whites today.  so unlike me when i'm in the photo mood.  oh well.

 liked that this lichen or fungi has pink edges. how cool is that.

 flowers and fungi.

 doesn't take much to peak my interest.

 syria is looking more and more like they used chemical weapons on their own people.  nice.  that region is a constant mess.

 can't really listen to too much news from the middle east.  baffling...there seems to be no way to fix any of it.  i feel badly for the normal people just trying to live their lives over there. how is it possible with such constant mayhem.

 tomorrow the plumber comes. hopefully i can get stuff fixed.  will be nice...hopefully not too spendy.

 may get him to check the toilet.  haven't been able to figure out where this one thing goes and it's changed how the toilet works.  hmm.

 this mushroom was melting.  they do eventually kinda disentegrate back into the ground.

 psychodelic.

 new mushrooms are cropping up all over to replace those that die off.

 i put these berries in the mushroom to add to the colour and look.  came out cool i thought.

 well, such an exciting life i live.  i am happy it's simple and though i crave the companionship of other humans, mixing with them can get messy and complicated.  it's not without it's issues.

off to bed.  not sure what my plan is post plumber. guess it depends on how poor i'm feeling and how long it takes.  haha.  good night.