Dress by Mon Vignon, ca 1869-70 France
Many of you have probably seen this dress but I wanted to add an interesting little fact about it that you may not know.
What color would you say the fabric is? Purple? Actually, it’s mauve as it was meant to look. The first synthetic dye, mauveine, was discovered by accident in 1856 when an 18-year-old student was trying to find a cure for malaria. Being the first of its kind, there were problems with the dye that caused the color to fade relatively quickly. This is why our modern idea of the color mauve is sort of a faded grayish-purple. Examples that have faded little do exist, though, as seen here.
![graveyarddirt: Bolete Lesson #2, by Ms. Graveyard Dirt
Whoa, whoa, whoa! Where the fuck are you going? Class ain’t done; sit the fuck back down. Your ass is dismissed when I say it’s dis-f’ing-missed (unless you’re looking for a hardcore dose of corporeal punishment all Victorian schoolhouse-style).
One more thing: remember how I said The most prolific of the bunch [boletes] can usually be found beneath pines. A whole host of boletes love long-needled conifers, but you got to get those f’ers young because they tend to be the ones that get slimy quickly. in Bolete Lesson #1? They are a family called Suillus in the larger order Boletales.
They’re still boletes, they’re still edible but their distinguishing feature - the weirdly sticky-but-not-sticky and slimy-but-not-slimy textured cap - should be peeled off during the cleaning process. While not poisonous the cap does contain a mild purgative that can affect people with super sensitive stomachs. Don’t let that put you off harvesting them - especially Suillus luteus (aka slippery Jack & sticky bun); picture above - they’re beautifully fruity with a teasing hint of earthy sweetness.
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