Galls/Forks

I've been finding lots of galls on the floor of the forest.  Obviously it's hatching time for these guys.  They must stay attached to the tree twigs all winter;  then in spring the larvae eat their way out (see the hole in 4814) and the gall itself detaches and falls to the ground.  A few of these had been opened so I could see the very feathery insides.  I've never seen a larva though.

And here are some more cutlery challenges:  three forks and a pusher, which assists the fork.  I had a pusher when I was very little.  It's one of the first things I can remember, sitting at a big table pushing food around with my pusher, like a miniature bulldozer.  It always seemed so sensible to give these to children;  but when my own children arrived, pushers were not to be found.  My own had passed through the rank of siblings, probably ending up thrown down a garbage disposal by one of the twins.  Years later I found one at a flea market and bought it.  But it was of very thin silver and too soft to be of much use.  But here it is on the left.

The other three are odd forks from our silverware drawer.  The one next to the pusher is a crab picking fork;  the splayed tine one is a lemon fork from one of my grandmothers;  and the last one is a fish fork in Danish Modern.  Someone actually gave us one of these, back in the days when I expected to be hosting elaborate dinner parties like my grandmother did, that involved all these different forks.