A warm welcome to Connie Sobchak, who guest-blogged for us last year, and has agreed to become a regular photo of the week contributor. Here’s her first!

The run is a ritual that keeps me healthy but it is not just the physical activity that shapes my perspective.  The spaces I trek through heal me daily.  Gazing through a viewfinder and searching for the right light draws me into the present moment as well.  The other morning, as I scanned the undergrowth looking for any slight movement or any irregular shape in the somewhat linear tangle, these rounded profiles halted my morning run.  I scrambled down the bank and crouched to their level to take the shot, noting as I did, the red willows, the almost flowering currants and the startling yellow skunk cabbage flowers.  Once home, I searched the web to find that these fungi are likely Birch Polypore.  I’m glad I stopped to notice them.