Hunting!

I foraged out in the forest for mushrooms today. I was on my own because the colleague who was going to come with got stuck working on this, the German Day of Reunification, which is a national holiday here. It was too beautiful out to sit inside, so I went to the forest on my own to see what I could find. I found a wide assortment of forest fungi, although none of it looked fit for human consumption. I picked some of the larger ones and stashed them in my rucksack to take home. Here is one of them:

It's smooth and pearly white like a Christmas ornament, although it has a hint of green on the cap. I dare not eat this thing... I'd probably be up vomiting all night long or something. This is what I get when I try to identify it – clearly not what I have here.

I bought a kilo of apples from a woman who was selling them out of her yard to make up for not finding any edible wild mushrooms. I've got plans to go mushroom hunting with friends this weekend, so I'm not too bummed that I didn't find anything today.

Last night when I couldn't sleep I sat up and watched videos documenting the larges spider species on the planet. They weren't really as large as I had imagined they might be, only getting up to about a dinner-plate in size. Where are the monkey eating spiders I heard tales of back in college? I guess people were just pulling my leg. This Australian Golden Orb Weaver spider eating a bird was as terrifying as I could find, and really I'm a little relieved that monkey eating spiders don't exist. At least, none that we know of...