12 years

In 2022, this is one of my favourite photos of the shaggy inkcap Coprinus comatus. It was the first mushroom I was introduced to as a child. It's become my favourite mushroom for life, and so are the jelly ear Auricularia auricula-judae and field blewits Lepista personata. The jelly ear fruit body is absolutely hilarious, I love it. The field blewits gave me my first ever lavish haul. A wonderful autumn memory from the airport field in 1998. Mushrooms have been with me all my life and I'm grateful to have spent 12 years working with them. I started the blog in October 2010 and it has over 2000 posts on all kinds of topics. I have taught courses, run a club for six years, led tours, worked as a mushroom inspector in the market and published hundreds of beautiful photos. I really gave it my all. I proved to myself that I can work hard and with determination. This is a very valuable experience. I'm grateful to the people who have helped me in my work, in my mission, because I take the dissemination of knowledge about nature seriously. There are things I don't give in to, and don't take it to heart that I'm belligerent on these issues. Nature is the foundation of our lives. This is a fact, an eternal truth. And the mushrooms are fascinating. I love mushrooms. But the world is changing. I have to move and leave Hungary. I still have "dreams", plans that want to come true. They are as constructive as my blog was. I love to give, to share the joy, the wonder of life. Yes, as weird as I am, I have an ancient good in me. When I started writing the blog, I felt the same insecurity. I didn't know what it would become. I was hopeful, a tiny bit of joy and excitement was bouncing around inside me. I was 32 at the time and will turn 45 next February. I wonder if I'll have the same amount of time to create something good and look back over the years in the same way at the end of the next phase of my life.
Some of my photos from this year.