After the rain

The rain, or maybe the sheer bulk, caused the stem of this rose to break, so I picked it and brought it inside. Then I found something to place next to it to give you a sense of the scale. In case the sugar shaker doesn't help you visualize, the bloom must be 6 or 7 inches across.

But the rose was far from the most remarkable thing in my yard.
I found this growing in front.

This totally wicked looking mushroom. I poked the stem to make sure it wasn't just somebody goofing on me. Then I washed my the crap out my hands, alerted my spouse and grabbed the camera. It is about 4 inches high, and, adding to the strangeness, there were flies buzzing around it. We went a little nuts and built a small protective enclosure for it. My internet mushroom research suggests that it is a stinkhorn or phallus hadriani.