Interior Design

Peekaboo (part 12)

Two is company, three a crowd, but with four...
Two is company, three a crowd, but with four…

It’s a party of four now that I have added these two spiffy stools. With them I can now kick back solo or gather more than two friends for evening cocktails. After long hours of trolling online for something other than the usual outdoor furniture choices, it was a happy moment when I found the Lebello website. The stools’ woven wicker appearance is the perfect compliment to my vintage metal rocking chairs. And because the wicker is made from HDPE (High Density Polyethylene synthetic fibers) the stools can withstand all the weather extremes that Texas can throw at the them. Which brings me back around to my original point… if they’re so easy to clean, let’s party and have a few accidents.

The smaller one is called the Marshmellow, and since it was in stock, it shipped immediately. I had to wait two months for the delivery of the larger ottoman, Mega Spinball, since it was a custom order.

Landscape & Gardening

Alien Form Number 2

Don’t worry. It’s only a creepy and massive lump of mushroom.
Don’t worry. It’s only a creepy and massive lump of mushroom.

Known as “dog turd mushroom”, this mass has been growing for several months in a gravelly portion of my garden and has just now decided to uproot itself and relocate. Last year I remember seeing one in the alley under my trash cans. It took months to break down, and at the time I thought it had been tossed there as a joke. So when I tripped over this new bit of nastiness, I felt it was time to put my google skills to work.

By the way, this isn’t the first time an alien form has invaded my garden. It’s funny how both incidents were named after dog accidents.

Officially this lump of ugly is known as Pisolithus tinctorius or Pisolithus arrhizus. Despite its repulsive appearance, this mushroom happens to be beneficial. As a mycorrhizal fungus, gardeners and foresters use it to assist young plant and tree growth. Since I have no plans to sell or donate it to a local nursery, it’s been tossed under my oak tree in the shade garden, where hopefully it will do some good.