CONKS

Have you heard of these? Do I dare tell you and infect you with the obsession. You will get strange looks and odd questions when you begin your hunt. Don't say I didn't warn you.
Anyways......

can you spot the first one?

the inspiration from the blog "for the love of a house". can you spot the conks? just a side note: if you haven't seen this blog you should definitely check it out. it follows the renovations of a farmhouse by 2 very creative and inspirational people. the photos alone make you want to read the entire thing. which i did in a spare moment.

alright enough teasing. conks are "bracket fungi" growing on the sides of large trees. they are hard to touch and essentially odourless after they sit in the sun for 2 days. when you begin your search and you tell people you are looking for fungi, the faces and odd silence are quite amusing. i had to whip out my trusty blackberry and show the blog picture from above.

this is the collection I amassed traipsing through the woods up north. Trevor and I went on many bike rides slowly, trying to spot these guys. He got pretty good at it but seeing as he is deathly allergic to poison ivy the actual "traipsing" went to me. now before i get hate mail, all of the conks I was able to find were actually on dead tree stumps and did not disturb nature of the trees.

1 little guy peeking out from behind a piece of african bronze (a collection for another day)

the large conks on display on the fireplace mantel. they add to the nature inspiration in the living room. paintings by Edward Spera from left to right "Young Bandhavgarh", "Mischief", "Waiting for Dark".

the details looking at them are gorgeous. my mom even swiped some of the collection for her house. the conk fever is catching. i saved many of them for fall, winter decorating. those conks will be slipping in everywhere.

So do you have the fever?

Have a good day.

Meg