another day, another day of rain

With the wind and the cold dismantling any wintering blooms, I have resorted to the hummingbird feeders for our tiniest of friends. I whip up a new batch o' nectar every three days and they have been consuming most of it. You just want to make sure to toss out the old mix and clean your feeders frequently so as to deter the parasites that can kill them. In the spring, the feeders come down as we have enough blooms to sustain a few. Hummingbirds are very territorial. It's fun to watch them as they protect their food. 

So many new batches of mushrooms popping up. The mr. a-go-go has identified these but I have forgotten what they are called. They are pretty small and very abundant. 

It's been so wet, the garden shelf has developed a wee city of lichen and moss. I am LOVING it. Why is moss so cute? I may even coo at it when I walk by. Shhh. 

Another day of rain, and me here in my new sweatpants, again. Hey, they keep me warm! I may need to hit up a thrift store for a sweatshirt or flannel soon. Let's bring back the 90s! I'm sure it will happen soon anyway. 
 

backyard mycology

 

I lied. I have not identified these visitors to the yard. All I know is they are cool, and in the yard, whoo-hoo! The orange one is about the size of a half dollar, the fuzzy bits on the tree are on the peach tree, which may mean it is doomed, and they are not fuzzy at all, but hard as the wood they are nesting in. Gulp! 

happy birthday, mamos!

 

It's my mother's birthday today. She would have been 79 years old! It's been twenty years since she died and I miss her every day. I can't believe it's been so long. I found this mushroom staking a claim right next to the driveway. My mother used to do pen and ink drawings that often featured small wonders such as mice, butterflies, and mushrooms. This one is for you mamos. I love you. 

mushroom forest in the backyard...

another wander amongst the oaks

It was morning and we decided it would be nice to go on a walk. Our first pick was to walk the Bluffs Trail at Montaña de Oro only when we got out of the car, the mama a-go-go got blown away. The wind was fierce and even I had a hard time attempting to stay upright. I laughed so hard, I began to wheeze. The mama a-go-go however, was not amused, and so back into the car we went, next stop, the Oaks Reserve where we would be protected by trees (as long as they do not blow over onto us) and where we might possibly spy some mushrooms.

Sure enough, barely into the reserve there were mushrooms left and right. It was still pretty windy but it wasn't hitting us and so we continued through amongst the greenery.

The Oaks Reserve is a favorite wander of ours. You begin walking under a few oaks and then the trail takes you across an ancient sand dune with lichen covered trees on either side of you before you head back into the Reserve. Even on hot summer days, the Reserve remains cool.

Stay on the trail to keep your self from wandering into poison oak, which is everywhere! The trail breaks off into a couple of different paths that loop back onto themselves, at times, paralleling the creek. If you go after a rain, there will be a lovely collection of mushrooms, but there will also be mud so be warned.

There weren't many birds this time around, maybe a woodpecker or two. The bees were out, a few beetles, and a rabbit, but other than that, it was just the three of us and the wind.

first wander of the year; critters, mushrooms, & tears

 

We've had a bout of rainy weather which means the mushrooms are out, so of course we hied off in search of them. we hit the jackpot up in Cambria at one of our favorite wanders on the Fiscalini Ranch reserve where there is potential to wander for miles.

We wandered for about two hours but did not cover much distance as I spent most of the time hunting out mushrooms to photograph. Along the way we met up with happy pups, excited kiddos, and all sorts of squelchy mud!

At one point, I wandered of the path a little to capture a particularly stunning yellow specimen, as I carefully stepped along the flooded grass, I noticed something was a little tiny bit off. The grass appeared to be popping up from the ground. It was unusual and interesting enough to cause me to pause. I watched to motion in the grass and suddenly realized it was spiders! Hundreds of not-too tiny black and grey jumping spiders all traveling willy-nilly in the same direction! I crouched down lower to the ground to see if I could identify the creepy crawlies. They moved far too quickly for me to get a good look and far-far too quickly for a picture...perhaps they were camera shy? I was floored with the awesomeness of it all. How serendipitous to be in this spot and see this migration! The number of arachnids made us wonder if there was a hatching in the area but their size appeared to be too large for wee spideys and too small for tarantula spiderlings. Whatever the reasons, I stood there with the goofiest grin on my face....the stunning yellow specimen now off limits as I was afraid to get all stompy on the critters. Really, this has to be one of the cooler things we have come across. So cool!

After an appropriate amount of time with me saying "look at them!" over and over again, we returned to the path and our wander. Not far up the pathway from the spiderlings, we encountered another large number of critters, this time, monarchs! Not in the hundreds, mind you, but enough that our vision was filled with their spotty bodies and bold orange wings.

I stood there with the ocean to my back, a glorious assortment of mushrooms captured in my camera, the memory of the spiders still lingering, and the stunning sight of monarchs in their mating dance not two feet in front of us and my heart swelled, my breath caught, and the tears, oh the tears! I beamed so much my eyes got all squinty. I turned to the mister, a smiling sobbing mess of a jek and he reached over squeezed my should and said "you're such a nincompoop", and with that, he gave me a hug and a kiss and we stood there, holding hands in this really lovely embrace of nature.

Fun with fungus

Card sets are now available! Phew! I'm planning a big post office trip tomorrow so if you pick up a set today I'll send them tomorrow! I'm quite pleased with them and I hope others will be also! Lookie, lookie: