Walks in the forest can be dark, around here. The trees are very tall, and they occupy the sky. Down below, little surprises are hiding.

The golden little “manos arriba!” mushroom, above, is probably a coral mushroom being born… on an old tree stump covered with moss. It was hard to miss, sunlight was caressing it in the middle of dark cedar and fir shade.

And this tiny white one (sorry, don’t know its name) was the one I saw because I had to bend down to tie a loose lace. There it was, next to the trail, a delicate and practically glowing treasure. Maybe 2 centimeters tall…

And then I turn my gaze up, and admire how tall the trees are around here. I am reminded of Terry Pratchett’s observation about the “race for the light”…

“There are no medium-sized trees in the deep forest. There are only the towering ones, whose canopy spreads across the sky.  Below, in the gloom, there’s light for nothing but mosses and ferns.  But when a giant falls, leaving a little space … then there’s a race — between the trees on either side, who want to spread out, and the seedlings below, who race to grow up.  Sometimes, you can make your own space.”
– Terry Pratchett, Small Gods