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PUFFBALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

growing on soil, on the cultivated lawn along eastern parkway. there were planted deciduous street trees maybe 6 feet away. there were 2 fruiting bodies 1-2 feet from each other. one fruiting body was the size and shape of my fist, the other a tiny bit smaller. they were loosely attached to the soil; I even suspect maybe they were dug up and put back. they felt leathery, tough. no apparent smell, even after I sliced it open. the insides were soft and reminded me of brie.

this is a very tentative ID, but this species definitely seems like the best match of the ones I looked through... https://www.mushroomexpert.com/mycenastrum_corium.html
the ecology seems to fit; the size and shape of the fruiting body; the way the thick skin, about 2mm thick, breaks and cracks

anyways while I was sniffing and slicing open and admiring this gorgeous puffball, a stranger came up to me and asked me what it was. I said that it was a puffball, a kind of mushroom. he started asking me more questions about what makes them grow. I said that I'm pretty sure that these were stealing nutrients from the nearby trees - but I also explained mycorrhizal relationships to him, just to cover my bases. it was a nice convo. i hope my ID is right so that i wouldn't have been lying about it being a saprotroph.