This morning I had a pleasant surprise when I walked in the park.  Near the Prospect Street entrance, a dark-red object on a log caught my attention.  After taking a close look, it turned out to be a mushroom.  The morphology was unique and interesting.  I took mages from multiple angles.  Some looked like a smiling human face with lower-row teeth exposed.  Some reminded me of boxer gloves.  Some were like swimming jellyfish.  Maybe because I skipped breakfast and got hungry, staring at the object for a few seconds, I felt being presented a beef steak.

When I went home and looked up Claudia's Peterson Field Guide to Mushrooms, lo and behold, it not only matched a fungus called beefsteak polypore, but also looked even more illustrative than the picture in the book.  The scientific name is Fistulina hepatica, with the latter word meaning "liver-like".  Truly meaty!

I am thankful to my Heavenly Boss.  After my retirement from a discovery research career, He assigned me to a wonderful Brightwood Park which is filled with unlimited treasures.  I still enjoy plenty of fun in discovery, but am free from the stress of work.

Also included are the pictures of a daddy downy woodpecker teaching his son to find food on trees, and of a squadron of ghost pipes reporting to duty.

​Brightwood Park is like a movie theater.  It keeps playing the same popular movies for a period of time.  Meanwhile, new films are also presented everyday.  One will never get tired or bored by coming to this place, even multiple times a day.  Here are a few examples to illustrate my point.

Early this morning, right before entering the meadow area, on the left side of the trail I saw a new spider web,  The host was dressed in green and yellow, presenting its beautiful work like the night sky of Hollywood or the aurora of the northern land

Like a gentleman getting ready for taking studio shots, a blue heron stood at the pond junction area quietly, with a sober facial expression and occasional change of posture.

A contrast scene was at the Demonstration Garden.  A party was going on with several pollinator species.  I was lucky and surprised to see a special guest, a young dragonfly.  

After stopping by the party place briefly, I took a walk on the two-bridge trail, and recorded my encounter with beautiful birds and flowering plants.  On my way back to the parking lot, a deer appeared on the far side of the small pond, seemingly enjoying treading in the water and having fun like the ducks.

​It was a perfect summer day today, particularly in Brightwood Park.  Being propelled by the gentle breeze and perfect temperature, every living creature arriving in this cheerful community seemed to feel an impulse to sing and dance.  No one was in any rush to get on the next step of business.  

At sunrise the spiders presented the first performance with their webs, one of the webs even had a heart-shaped decoration at the very center.  As I was watching and recording, when I tilted my cell phone, I encountered some unexpected special light effects.

Mushrooms, ghost pipes, and trees played a beautiful prelude.  The stage light then swept to the Demonstration Garden.  Pollinators danced joyfully, either in singles or in concert, on a crown-like platform sponsored by purple coneflowers.  Thanks to Rob and the friends who built the garden two years ago.