Autumn wins you best by this its mute appeal to sympathy for its decay.
Robert Browning
A long day spent delving deep into the woods leads one to the discovery of the otherworldly and alienesque.
Flora, fauna, fungi. . .
There is both life and death . . .
And there is beauty, even in decay. . .
These images are of the myriad species of shelf or bracket fungi (polypores).
These woody growths are telltale signs of the decline and eventual death of a hardwood tree.
They have been used throughout the centuries for both the making of jewelry, medicines as well as sustenance—
(all images are shelf fungi (polypores) / Troup Co, Georgia / Julie Cook / 2014)
cookiecrumbstoliveby 