Ever since I bought Gary Lincoff ’s National Audubon Society Field Guide to Mushrooms, I’ve been looking for an opportunity to meet him. I got my chance last night.
Lincoff was a guest speaker of the Bedford, NY Audubon Society. These area naturalists are dedicated to documenting biodiversity in the Hudson Valley. Members are interested in birds, mammals, insects, plants, and fungi. The room was packed.
It’s one thing to be knowledgeable. It’s another to be a talented speaker. Lincoff has the timing of a stand-up comic and the skill of a lead-singer. He knows his mushrooms so well that he can weave basic ID information, like where it grows, spore print color, and season into personal anecdotes, plays on words and recipes.
He has traveled the world. I nearly rolled off my chair as he described his trek to Kilimanjaro. “Why bother going to the summit? No mushrooms grow above the tree line.”
Anyone who can remain passionate and joyous during a 30-year study of fungi - or any aspect of nature - has my deepest respect. Lincoff blows me away, because he makes it look so simple.
Of course I brought my field guide for him to sign. This was better than going to a book signing. He wrote a note and a drawing along with his signature in two places. I’m still on cloud nine.
As a writer and a naturalist, I strive for perfection. I know what can be and am often impatient with my own progress. I’m feeling woods deprived. With all the nature classes and courses I’ve been taking, I haven’t camped out this year. Yikes!
I’m also way behind in taking care of this blog. I have to fix all the internal links. Apologies to readers who try to find what I am referencing in stories I wrote more than a year ago. When I switched software, some information did not follow.
The older I get, the less I want to sit tethered to my laptop indoors. I wish my laptop could function despite humidity, campfire smoke, temperature changes and plant fibers.
Meanwhile, I hope it rains, so I can discover the mushrooms featured in Gary Lincoff’s lecture.
[...] again, I am in awe of Gary Lincoff and deeply grateful he shared Michael Kuo’s MushroomExpert.com website. Michael [...]
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