couple recent things from work

At my job we are lucky enough to have a small patch of woods out back where we often see deer, frogs, turtles, foxes, and many species of birds (barn and tree swallows, cardinals, robins, grackles, house and gold finches, red-winged blackbirds, mourning doves, crows, red-tailed and red-shouldered hawks, song, house, white-throated, and fox sparrows, pileated, downy, and red-bellied woodpeckers, flickers, mallards, bluebirds, Canada geese, blue jays, black and turkey vultures… for those interested). One of my coworkers swears up and down that he saw a mountain lion once. the first picture is from yesterday, when I took out some trash and noticed a deer and her baby (the baby is hiding in the brush). Stopping to watch them, I realized that the near-impenetrable wall of humidity had almost completely broken, and the clouds were seconds away from releasing rain. There was a cool breeze, and for the first time in weeks I felt like I could move my limbs without breaking a sweat and feeling like I was swimming in molasses. It took my breath away.

the photo below is a pleated inkcap mushroom. I noticed it growing in a patch of mud where we put broken or otherwise unused wooden pallets. Beauty is everywhere if you keep your eyes open 

Deer family from a few days ago.