Beach art

Jeff and I took a walk on this Oregon beach..looking for agates

  no agates..boo hoo

We did see some great sand art…

  Natures own GalleryRock Trio And solo

No agates…but wonderful purple and greens in the sand..

Jeffs Digiscoped pictures of a Life bird for us.

Red-necked Phalarope

We are now in Sacramento….getting great tours of the area by our friend Geno.

Today we toured downtown Sacramento..I took some photo and will post later..

Tomorrow we go Birding…

see ya later..

Bay Beaching

Howdee all,

A few days ago I went for a walk with a friend to the Bay which is front of the very nice housing development we were parked in.

Huge tree stumps, remnants of logging years ago, add sculptural quality to the beach. This old boat..May have been used for logging.. Anyone have any ideas?

I was in search of agates,,I found none..i did find pieces of glass and china from and old cannery that existed here many years ago..the upright wood pilings that you see are from the cannery.

Black turnstones hung out with us as we searched

It was supposed to have been low tide..but my friend said that the tide never did get low like normal..the storms were still brewing up waves into the bay..

And if you didn't watch your back..you could end up pretty wet. I didn't get wet in the video below..but it was a close call.

 

We will be in Sacramento shortly, we will be here for two weeks visiting our friend Geno who is going to whip us into shape with some hiking, birding and whatever else he thinks we need…humm I will be looking on the ground for shrooms too.

Matsutake Mania

 Matsutake:
from the depth of the pine forest,
the voice of the hawk.
--Koya

Howdee all,

Its Matsutake season here in Oregon,,Matsutake means Pine Mushroom. The mushrooms smell wonderfully of pine and have a spicy taste.

Check out this Link for recipes and more information.

“Matsutake have been used and revered by the Japanese people for more than just a seasonal delicacy. They also symbolize fertility, and by extension, good fortune and happiness. A gift of matsutake is considered special and is cherished by those who receive it. “

We have had great luck finding Matsis in our secret area….A nice hike near the sand dunes..We find Matsis here every year we are here..

So lets go find some…..

Pass the sand dunes……. Thru the woods

Make sure you look closely..do you see the white mushrooms?

Look closer….

I found three beautiful number one buttons here…

    Another Matsutake growing in sand…

We always seem to find them near Pine and in sandy soil.

A beautiful number one button…the number ones are the small buds before the caps open…they are most prized.

The mushrooms when they are opened are still very tasty but do not get the high price of the buttons…

When we were collecting yesterday we met a commercial picker…He had about twenty pounds of number one mushrooms. He packed each precious mushroom in its own plastic bag to protect the veil..it the veil breaks the value goes down.

At the present time he sells his number ones for 24 dollars a pound…we estimated he made over three hundred dollars yesterday.

We had our own little bounty…I estimate we picked around five pounds.

I am drying most of them, though freezing is the best method,I have limited freezer room…so drying was the best method for me.

  

 

Please remember you must know what you are doing when you pick mushrooms..

Your first bite..could be your last.

Perseverance and Persistence

  Howdee all.

Thats about how I feel setting up my new computer..

I work on it every day ..adding a few programs, changing a few settings, setting everything up as best as I can remember the settings on my crashed computer.

We took a drive to Newport, Oregon and when I saw these boats..it just about said it all as far as my Computer issues are going right now…

    Every thing is going smoothly..just takes time out of my day..and so not as much gets done..

because of the sight seeing… and my number one love here…

Picking mushrooms..

this one below is my prized beloved…Boletus Edulus aka Porcini..isn't it beautiful!

And tasty it is… my precious……

Oh do i have some mushroom photos for you…

but no time this morning..going off to Eugene..an hour drive from the coast..

We leave Florence on Sunday and head to Sacramento..

didn't We just get here…oh well…never enough time..

Oregon Coast drive..

Howdee all,

A few days ago we took a very nice day drive with friends along the Coast. We started in Florence and drove just south of Yachats to begin our driving tour.

The town you see is Yachats…home of the Yachats mushroom festival which Jeff and I always attend when visiting the area.

We then drove to a scenic overlook…

For awesome views of the coast and the road we just traveled. The view below is of Yachats… It was a very chilly, windy day…overcast most of the day

   Occasionally the sun would show.

We stopped at this scenic area on the way to Heceta head lighthouse.We found out they were filming a childrens  Wildlife series..here…

There is a bed below in the middle of everyone..the headboard has shells and fishing nets attached to it.. We walk up to the lighthouse And were lucky to be just in time for a tour The most distant building with red roof below was one of the lightkeepers homes.  There were several lightkeepers many years ago.

You can read about the lighthouse here..

They just received a grant to restore some of the old features back to the lighthouse.. The staircase is free standing… Another view of the light keepers home..now a bed and breakfast.   We continue our road trip…see the light house in the distance? Below us….hundreds of sea lions      And more views..Of the very scenic coastline And lighthouse..

My new computer seems to be running fine..

A slow process adding software, changing settings, importing data..

But so far I am really liking windows 7.

Hope to be Tweeting, facebooking and visiting blogs soon.