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Hugging trees is great. But hugging the elderly and those with handicaps is even better!

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[This is a batch of Chicken of the Woods mushroom with little, winged-insects upon it.  When I was out in the woods, photographing, I spotted this beauty from a quite a distance.  One then thought: “Of course, it’s such a treasure, that it will be surrounded by my arch-enemy… poison ivy!”  Upon approaching the Chicken of the Woods, I then observed that it was, indeed, surrounded by many patches of poison ivy.  I carefully took each step towards the Chicken of the Woods, with extreme caution and deliberation.  It was unreal; it was like walking through a puzzle (or working on a computer game)!  Patches of poison ivy where everywhere! When I finally got to my prize, there was (of course) a big, tall plant of poison ivy right in front of it.  I had to bend, with my camera, to get a decent shot. Getting out of the area was equally difficult; each step was a precarious, carefully calculated maneuver toward attaining freedom and safety!  When I finally got home, I washed up using a special anti-poison ivy cleaning soap.  I didn’t get any rashes!  Whew!]

Chicken of the Woods surrounded by my arch enemy… poison ivy. Photo by Thomas Peace 2014