These are some pretty sad pictures I know. Anyway, I'm located in north Alabama at ~ 1,250' elevation. Located in my yard a few feet from a very small cherry tree were two of these purple items. I'm assuming some sort of fungi. They were dusty once I ran over them with the lawnmower. Date (on pictures) was 2011-Sep-29. Temperature range mid 80's during day & mid 60's during night. No rain during previous week.