Hunting Pixie Cups

No time today for a hike. Tomorrow my plan is to go hunting pixie cups. With all this rain we've had, they should be easy to spot at my usual lucky spot. I haven't been down there in ages, it seems. Pixie cups shrivel to little white specks when it is dry but when they get wet they swell up so much and are so easy to spot. Below is a picture I found on the internet. Hopefully I will be posting some of my findings tomorrow. and they will be nice and plump like these!

So Dry!

It's been dry here in South Central PA. Very dry. We got about an inch of rain in July. The ground is cracked. I haven't mowed the lawn in weeks. I grabbed my bag and spatula and headed for the woods. We got a bit of rain on Monday and that helped perk things up but the ferns are dying off and there's very little underbrush left alive. In areas, where the underbrush is gone, the cushion mosses are getting too much sun and they are bleaching out. I decided to head way back in the woods where it's more dense. I wanted to explore new areas where I haven't been in a long time. I found an old logging road. The road has grown over with grasses. There are huge ledges of rock. peeking out of the earth. They are covered with sheet moss. Some of the nicest I've seen in a while. Huge sheets. I took one sheet about 12 x12 and bagged it. I walked back about 2 miles and came to an open area. It was too sunny for moss so I decided to turn around. As I was heading back I spied an area of cushion moss beneath a tree and found a fabulous piece that looks like a patchwork. It's a deep green rock moss with small cushion mosses throughout and a section of liverwort embedded. Just beautiful!
I headed home with my finds. Tomorrow I will head to the area where I found all the pixie cups and hopefully find another piece. There was plenty last time I was there. I hate to take more than I need so I always leave some. That's the law of the land. Never clear an area of plants!