Unchanged for 450 million years, and in spite of its strange appearance, completely harmless. I have great affection for them because as a child they covered the beach and were an endless source of magic and curiousity. Like other crabs, they moult, leaving behind a complete shell of themselves. I held this moulted shell up to the light.
Toronto Island is actually a couple of islands, a twenty minute ferry ride off the city. It's a magic place and sometime I should take photos of things that are not plants on the island.
Taking a ferry somewhere is generally a good thing. Except in high seas when they pull out the plywood and put it over the windows, as happens in New Brunswick.
I don't want to fill up my blog with my plant photos, but this fungus is so unreal, I need to put it here. It is growing in High Park, Toronto, on a decaying black oak stump. I think it looks very unCanadian, being so flashy and tropical. They say you can eat it. Tastes like chicken. Like everything.
except the bottom photo is from my friend Dane's tree. It is being destroyed by sapsuckers. This is the pattern they leave on the branch. I always thought they were okay until Dane showed me. tree killers.
Sphagnum moss builds up in bogs for years, centuries, forming layers of peat underground. Peat burns slowly and with a log of smoke. Peat fires are very hard to put out because the fire travels underground. Hoping for big rain in Russia.
