A Heart of Dough

I know we have a world of opinion (and one or two facts) at our fingertips wherever we go, but sometimes you have to ask yourself "why?".

We know what they are, and what you do with them, but why?

And how do you ask for one without resorting to just pointing?

It's Raining

We were woken up this morning by the most terrific clap of thunder.

The power then proceeded to go out (and come back on again) multiple times in rapid succession. I've never experienced anything like it before, with the power going off for up to a minute then coming back on again. In the 10 minutes leading up to 07:00h I'd say the lights went off about 30 times. It may be that now the house is lit exclusively by LED we'll never experience a brownout again: in the increasingly digital binary world lights will either be on or off.

Guess where we are

I don't know how much rain we'll end up getting, but we'll take anything, even though it's so dry at the moment there's the danger of fires. I think we'll accept that risk.

Autun at a Distance

It's only when you photograph Autun from a distance and crop out the obviously "modern" 16th century Burgundian roof of the military school that you realise how médiéval the place looks.

These photos were taken right weeks apart: we just happened to be driving through Autun for a second time when I took the top photo. We'll have to go back, there's plenty more to see.

WMM Hotels

When we were in Germany in June I booked us one night in a WMM Hotel near Eisenach. It appealled because I was looking for somewhere with a kitchen, and at a good price.

The business's method was new to me, and it didn't totally make sense at first. You book a room online, then on the day of your stay you'll receive an email asking you to check in. You'll need a photo of your ID to do so, but it's a simple process. You'll then get a second email with your room number and a big green button in it. When you arrive at the hotel you press the button to unlock the door. Don't press it before you arrive at the door to your room.

Ain't technology wonderful.

On our more recent trip to Germany we stayed in 3 WMM hotels, and they were all clean, comfortable, and well equipped. Rooms include a desk, a television and WiFi, as well as a mini kitchen. They're incredibly quiet even though they're inevitably in industrial areas or near the Autoroute - or both. The rooms are built as modules in Mindelheim and Illertissen, then assembled on site.

We like them. You know what you're getting, and although they're not exactly picturesque the rooms themselves are comfortable, and the bathrooms way bigger then you would find in most other budget hotels.

Back to Work

Yesterday I actually worked at what I consider to be my main job, for the first time in three and a half years.

It wasn't the longest days work I've ever done, but it was still a long day: picking clients up at 9:00am and getting home at 7:00pm, driving 170km in the process. Claudette was misbehaving slightly: her gear shift still needs fine tuning, but I managed the day without embarassing myself, and the clients left happy.

One of the reasons the gear shift has been thrown out of whack is that I put a new sort of battery in. It's a smaller physical size, but it's actually much more modern and more reliable. Unfortunately, we didn't realise that moving the battery forward as we had done meant that the battery leads interfered with the gear change rods. Oops!

She still isn't perfectly dependable shifting from first to second, which can be embarrassing. I'll have to get in touch with the guru to find out what the solution is.

Panthercap or Franchet's Amanita?

These two Amanita species are quite difficult to tell apart. Thanks to amanitamozart on iNaturalist I was given a few clues to help.

The main clue is that the flaky remains of the veil on the cap are subtley different. On Franchet's Amanita they are pale grey with a yellowish tinge. They are also less bobbly ie flatter, more attached and less projecting. The flakes on a Panthercap are pure white and more three dimensional, a bit like pearl sugar.

 

Franchet's Amanita Amanita franchetii (Fr. Amanite à voile jaune).

Franchet's Amanite is covered in a sulphur yellow veil and volva when young, and the scales on the cap, the 'skirt' around the upper stem and the 'sack' at the bottom of the stem are the remnants of that. With age these parts fade to dirty yellow. 

Panthercap Amanita pantherina (Fr. Amanite panthère).

Panthercaps have a lightly striated cap margin and a series of 'beaded' rings around the volva. The stem ring is plain, not striated, and not yellow edged. The cap is 4 - 15 cm across, initially hemispherical, then convex and finally flat, maybe even a bit depressed in the centre. When it's damp the cap surface will be viscous, if the weather is dry it will be satiny. The brown colour will lighten at the edge as the mushroom ages.

Panthercap.

The 'snowflake' like 'warts' on the cap will wash off quite easily in rain. The gills are pure white and quite tightly packed. The spores are also white. The white stem is 5 - 15 cm tall and 1 - 2 cm thick. And the flesh is white and does not react to being bruised. The mushroom doesn't smell of anything in particular.

Panthercap.

Both species grow in small groups in deciduous forest on calcareous soil, in association with oak, chestnut and hornbeam as well as other trees and sometimes conifers if the soil is flinty.

Panthercap.

Panthercap.

 

 

Panthercap. The volva ('sack' at the base of the stem, which most Amanita spp have in some form) is typical for this particular species.

As you can see by the number of photos I have, Franchet's Amanita is rare, whereas Panthercap is abundant in the Touraine. Both species are toxic, and can lead to convulsions, violent vomiting and psychodelic experiences but not believed to be normally fatal. Both species can be mistaken for the edible Blusher Amanita rubscens (Fr. Amanite rougissante), but it stains red when bruised.