The Great Morel Mushroom Hunt

You might remember a couple of posts ago I was trying to figure out if the mushrooms on my lawn were safe to eat.
I contacted the Utah Mushroom Society and got an identification of the mushrooms (the mushrooms were poisonous...) and then learned that the UMS was planning on going on a mushroom hunting field trip on June 4th.

I saved the date on my calendar immediately.
Set the alarm last night...got up and prepared for a day hunting mushrooms in the wild.
Jumped in my car at 8:59 AM, and floored it to get to the group meeting site at 9:00 sharp.
(Good thing the meeting point was at the park and ride lot two blocks from my house....)

Now I was thinking the group would be five, six, maybe seven folks, dressed in ball caps and carrying guidebooks and such. 

I wasn't sure I would be able to identify them in the park and ride lot.

Would you believe there were 35+ people who were all set to go mushroom hunting this morning?

At 9:05 we were getting the low down on the day's activities.

We were going to go morel hunting at....

(Can you guess?)

MILL CREEK CANYON!

Yes, the very same Mill Creek Canyon that is less than 5 minutes from my house.

The one that I have photographed in fall and winter, while snowshoeing and cross country skiing.

That Mill Creek Canyon!

We were instructed to drive up to the Terraces.  I had often taken pictures at that turn off in the canyon, but hadn't realized that the road leads up and up and up into the hills.
Once several cars had arrived, the mushroom hunters took to the trails carrying their mushroom hunting baskets.
Or in my case, two paper bags (one for eating mushrooms, one for poison mushrooms)
One girl didn't think to bring a basket or a bag; she improvised by using her ball cap instead.

The group trudged along a muddy trail just above Mill Creek.  I noticed the interesting orange colored fungus and flagged one of the more seasoned members to ask what it was called.
Thankfully the lady with the dog in the first picture was a newbie like me, and was also interested in learning about this orange colored thing.
 I didn't feel too bad that I had asked when the seasoned mushroom hunter told us that it was called a Snowbank Orange Peel, and that they were very common in the area.
That is what is so fun about blissful ignorance: I thought the little fungus was just cool.


Another member opened her guidebook and showed us the page about the Snowbank Orange Peel Fungus.
According to the guide book, seeing a Snowbank Orange Peel Fungus is a sure sign that spring is here!

I should add here that the seasoned mushroom hunters reeled off the Latin names of each mushroom we found during the day.  They sure sounded smart.  I am happy for now just knowing the common name!


Soon we newbies were coached on mushroom hunting protocol.
You spade up a mushroom with a bit of dirt, in order to have environmental information about the species.
(I say: First you take a picture of the mushroom, then you dig it up.)
The fact that a mushroom has hair like roots tells you that the mushroom is poisonous. 
It may be kept to be studied, but should not touch any mushroom that are being gathered for eating.
Whew!  Glad I just happened to grab two paper bags to take with me.


So I am still enchanted with the Snowbank Orange Peel Fungus.  I am told there is another fungus that looks just like it, but it has three white egg shape forms inside the cup.  How cute would that be?  Something to be on the lookout for.

And then it HAPPENED!
A teenager with the group called out: "Dad, there are morels down here!"
With that news, several of us left to skid down below the path we were walking, hustling to get to where the morel was found.
Why I hurried I have no idea. It isn't like a mushroom is going to run away or anything.
Isn't it a beauty?


The more I looked, the more I saw.
And let me tell you...it is not easy to see morels in the wild. They totally blend into the pine needle strewn environment.
As I would kneel down to harvest one, I would then notice another and another.
It was very easy to accidentally step on one while attempting to harvest another.


Of course I was also wild flower spotting.


And another morel.
The teen (Alex) mentioned that a pound of dried morels sell for about $200.  His dad said no, $250.
But then again, a dried morel weighs almost nothing so that weigh represents an awful lot of morels.

Then there were the LBM: :Little Brown Mushrooms.
The experts were given a chance to have a look at those things.
I was told that something like 5% of mushrooms are eatable and taste good, 5% are deadly, and the rest either aren't tasty enough to bother with or if eaten would make you wish you could die.
An unidentified LBM is something to study, not to eat.


There was plenty of interesting things to look at when not spotting mushrooms.
I had never seen a pine cone quite like this one before.

I really wanted to know about any and all fungi that I encountered.

Experts says: Don't eat.
The experts just like finding interesting mushrooms, being able to eat them is not the prime motivator for a mushroom hunting trip.  I totally understand that, but if it could be eaten, I would want to know.
The expert get a much bigger thrill out of being able to correctly identify each mushroom that they encounter.


Oh oh...roots again.


Just love those orange peel fungi!


Aaaaggghhhhh!   Too many fun activities all in one day.




Seriously...doesn't this look exactly like someone peeled and orange and walked away?


The expert assessing more mushrooms.


Morels proudly displayed by one successful hunter.


Then there was this stumper.
Our expert went: "What in the world...?"
Apparently there are very few blue mushrooms.


The experts eventually assigned a nice sounding Latin name to the fungus.
I remember hearings something like "blue stain.." but missed the rest.
Darn it!


Another guy had harvested these gigantic fungi.
They were each about the size of a large soft ball. 
How could I have missed seeing something that looked like this?


The experts said they were Snowbank False Morels.
Several members mentioned that False Morels are even tastier than regular morels.
I will sure be on the look out for one of these the next time I am skulking around the woods in Mill Creek Canyon.

The group had sort of re-gathered in a picnic site around noon and everyone was putting out their "finds" for inspection.



The discussions were really interesting to listen to....what had been found, how could you tell what something was, how to cook it...


Various snack items were being munched and one woman had brought chocolate mushrooms too share.
They were absolutely delicious!

I admired the chocolate mushroom lady's hair pin.

Two dogs had been on the hunt with us. This dog was now feverishly digging by the picnic table.
What was he smelling?
Was it a truffle?
(We never did find out although his owner said the dog sometimes digs up voles.)

Most of the "show and tell" mushrooms were immediately sliced in half length-wise.
I learned that "safe" morels are hollow, while a dangerous type is filled with a cotton like substance.
Mushrooms were examined with jeweler loops; I just zoomed in with my camera to get a better look since I had no idea what I should be looking for anyway.


I did learn that proper mushroom identification includes spore examination.
The photo above is the inside of the morel cap.
It sparkled in the sunshine as if it had been finely misted with glitter.

Another thing to look for is gills, like this mushroom has.

I enjoyed taking close ups of the morel.  I was told there is a non-safe morel that has folds like a curtain instead of the kind of structure seen in my photo above.
(I shared my close up pictures with my oncology back ground nurse daughter Laura.
She said the pictures looked like cancer pictures to her.  Interesting.)

A close up cross section of a huge puff ball mushroom.
Looks like granite or marble doesn't it?



A bolete mushroom...safe to eat.
It had a very fat stem that got narrower at the top.
Wish I had spotted one of those to pick.


Shortly after noon I drove the five minutes back to home, eager to show off my harvest to Bernie.


That's a pretty good sized mushroom don't you think?

They needed to be carefully rinsed as soil can linger in the cap's many pockets.
I sliced each one open length wise just to be sure they were hollow and not cottony filled.


The suggested recipe: a bit of olive oil, a bit of soy sauce.  Like about a tablespoon of each.
A dash of garlic salt and sea salt.
Sautee until they become a bit translucent.
Oh boy...so delicious! Slightly chewier than the simpler store bought mushrooms.
Someone in the group told me he used to take a five gallon bucket and fill it to the brim with morels from the Unitas mountains.
He didn't say exactly where this harvest happened.
I did learn that morels are a springtime/early summer mushroom, at least here in Utah.
Guess what I will be doing in my spare time during the next few weeks.
Oh yeah...morel hunting, here I come!

Oh...and I saw this sweet little white violet shaped flower too.

Update on Bernie's foot

A "brief" update on Bernie's foot:

As you may recall, Bernie recently had a terrible bout with a foot ailment. He visited the doctor about his painful foot situation shortly after we returned from our disastrous San Diego vacation.

You may also recall the rather vague diagnoses that he received concerning his situation.   The doctor narrowed the problem down to being either celluitis, gout or a perhaps even a spider bite. 

Bernie was advised to wait and see if he would suffer another hurt filled episode, then at that time the doctor would take another look at the foot.

Well, Bernie had to fly to visit his corporate office in Greenville South Carolina this past Monday.   He flew home again on Wednesday evening; it was a long flight but he and his foot both came home in fine shape.

The Greenville office staff had heard about his foot problem and being gracious Southerners all, they felt that a "Get Well" gift was still in order.

When he walked in to his office back there, sitting on his desk was the gift bag pictured above.

Go ahead...guess what they gave him.

No, really...take your best shot.  What would you give someone in Bernie's situation?

There.  I was right.  I knew you would guess.

See what he got?

Keep scrolling....







I told you it would be a brief update!

As Bernie's wife, I just wanted to take a moment and thank the Greenville office staff for their thoughtful kindness to my beleaguered husband.

(And by staff, I mean you Tim by the way...and I have made Bernie promise to wear his own seersucker suit on his next visit to corporate.  Don't you listen to the folks that teased you about your classic taste in summer suiting.  Truth is, smart classy women totally dig men in seersucker suits.)

Thank you also for giving me such a timely underpants item to blog for my first post fifth blogging anniversary blog. 

And fear not...Bernie does NOT and will not have a twitter account for picture sharing usage. 

Tate:  Would women think I was even cuter if I wore a seersucker collar perhaps?

Me: Oh Tate...I think you are cute overload already, but I will check to see if I can find one for you anyway.

Traditional Fifth Anniversary Gift: Wood

 
The traditional gift for the fifth anniversary is wood.

Bernie neatly chained sawed some  wood for me.
After all...five whole years of blogging ought to be worth something, right?


There has been a lot of changes in my world during the past five years.

Some changes were big, others quite small.
For instance: five years ago...on June 1st 2006, I didn't have a peony bush and now I do.
(Truth be told, last year I didn't have a peony bush either...)


Five years ago I began to blog because a friend was blogging her life from Switzerland.

She encouraged me to give blogging a try too.
(Eventually Bernie and I got to go visit our transplanted Texan friend in her new European digs and I was able to blog the whole visit!)

Five years ago I began blogging because wanted a place where I could do writing "finger exercises", a place where I would practice my written communication skills daily.

I didn't even have a digital camera back then.
All images had to be formed via carefully selected words.
I had to use storytelling and re-counting situations for posting about my life on my blog.


With family in California and Utah, and me in Texas...I wanted a way to communicate without making them feel like they had to take the time to respond like they might if I just wrote them an email.

A blog post could be an easy way for them to tune in to my world for a moment if they wished to.
Some family members wanted to read my posts, others were too busy to bother.
Oh well.
(I also never had bleeding hearts in my garden five years ago....)

I had hoped to use the blog to engage in both light hearted and serious prose.

When it struck me to do so, I would research and react to whatever came my way.
(Because that's what librarian's tend to do anyway.)

And then there was the millinery part of the blog.

The blog would become a place to document millinery wonders that I found, and millinery creating attempts that I made.

By the way, I am still really interested in millinery.

If you are interested too, HERE and HERE are links to milliners in the UK that I really admire. Classic, classy wearable hats, headpieces and bridal pieces too.

Sigh. Makes me want to clear some time for some millinery work really soon.

(The lily of the valley: first time I've had that in my garden too. It just bloomed today!)

My blogging had to have a bottom line, a guideline if you will: Blog to please myself.

Sometimes that easy sounding guideline really wasn't easy at all.
It was tempting to peek at other blogs that had gathered a large audience and wonder if I should target subjects of interest to broader audience.

It was easy to feel hurt when I would labor to communicate something I felt strongly about, only to have only one or two comments, while a post about something unbelievably trivial would result in a string of comments.

I got the mind frame that friends and family had actually read what I had written, and was irked when they asked me about something I had just written about, like where I had gone on vacation.
More than once I have considered putting the old blog out to pasture and just enjoy taking pictures for my own pleasure instead of writing about what is going on.
Mostly I am over all that.


Five years down the road: What have I gained by this almost daily exercise in cyberspace?

I've gained a way to revisit special days and moments, like Fourth of July Parades, arriving in my great grandparent's home town in Germany, the farewells to pets and places.

I find I have forgotten a lot of details about days and events until I re-read what I wrote at the time.
Like how it was when it snowed on us on Memorial Day....in Switzerland. 
That's the kind of stuff that slips from one's memory too easily.

As a way to back up one's memory, blogging just can not be beat!

What I really really like though is all the interesting people I have come to know via blogdom.


Some blogging friendships moved from random blog comments, to email discussions, then phone calls and then even in person visits.

The Weather Channel map now has names and faces to go with their places. Funny how one can suddenly care about a storm in a place from which a blogging friend writes!

Just a couple of weeks ago I got a "do not publish" comment from a woman in Connecticut. She said she believed we were relatives after finding a post I did several years back about my paper clip inventing great grandfather Corneilus J. Brosnan.




In the comment, she included her email for me to contact her.

I wrote her an email...she wrote back:

I have been trying to locate information on my grandfather Tom Brosnan for years. He was born in Ireland and came to the US with his family.


My father always said his dad had a brother Cornelius who moved to Massachusetts. So while searching for my grandfather, I also searched for Cornelius. I found his baptismal record... and was thus able to get a baptismal certificate for my grandfather. I am so happy to have finally reached you!


Once I found the Brosnan info on your blog, I wasn't sure where to go...I tried the libraries in SLC, and then a friend suggested I try reaching you thru the Blog.....


Interestingly enough, I am also a Librarian (Archivist) I have a cat, I love to garden, and I collected stuffed mice....including a Christmas tree trimmed with mice!


I also know that there were Brosnans in Wallingford who were milliner. 

My family has wondered for years where my great grandfather was born in Ireland...thanks to this long lost cousin, I know have not only the town he was born in, but also the church he was baptised in!


And who would have imagined two women with a relative in common that was born in the early 1800's would have so many things in common!

So that is what comes of day by day blogging...you just never know when a new friend or long lost relative will land in one's life via blogdom.

(When I began blogging I had never seen a Lazuli Bunting before...)

My father-in-law dubbed my blog "Cats and Hats".

Yes, it is about that, and gardening and birds, traveling (oh so much lovely traveling!) and creating, family and friends, seasons and weather, politics and problems, work and play.
(Five years ago it was Tiggie and Tidbit that cuddled together like this...good Texas cats that they were. Now the two Utah born kittens snuggle and purr as I write.)


"The unexamined life is not worth living."

Or so says Socrates.
It really would be too much to say "the unblogged life is not worth living"...But I will say this: blogging really does make one much more aware of the stuff that makes up one's life.





A blog is a way of creating a window into one's world.

Others may stop by for a moment and enjoy seeing what I view or they may simply pass by without looking or even knowing the window exists.

For me...every time I use a blog post as a window into my world, I feel  more aware of my days and my world, and find I am more likely to celebrate and be thankful for all that life has given me.


(And as for the "Finger exercise" of blogging to improve my writing skills?  Oh gee...I confess my prose and sentence structures have actually become much worse.  I'm OK with that...I have promised myself  that I will go back and fix all that some day.  Yeah right....!)

So if you will humor me a bit on this, my fifth blogging anniversary: Will you leave a comment about when you first remember reading a post on my blog?
I'd like to have a tiny record of when through this blog we first met.
You will be writing on an electronic format, so we can say you are saving a tree by not using paper...and that tree wood that you save will be my Fifty Anniversary gift!

Chasing Rainbows

Blogger chasing a rainbow: I think I need sirens and flashing lights to get people out of my way so I can find a spot where I can pull off the road and get the shot.

After snow and rain and rain and more rain, the sun finally peeked through yesterday as I was on the freeway.  A few raindrops were still hitting my windshield so I knew a rainbow was bound to pop up somewhere.

I first saw the bow very low in the sky and arched across a solid white mountain to the side of the freeway. 
It was hard to resist taking a picture out my drivers side window, but since I was traveling at 65+ mph, I knew that would be a bad idea.
The next exit was taken, and I started looking for some place where I could park and get a good picture.   Sam's Club parking lot almost worked.
See what I mean about the rainbow being really low in the sky?



Back on the freeway, heading straight to the bow.  I could snap a picture while looking straight ahead. 
Now to figure out how to get up to the rainbow straddled mountain pass.

(Wondering if the folks in the office building are enjoying an unobstructed view.)


Getting closer to the canyon pass...


Found a place to pull over...and watched as the rainbow shrunk into just a tiny bit, then disappeared.

Yeah, I know the price of gas should make me skip going on a rainbow chase.

(My hometown La Jolla California was just cited as having the most expensive gas in the country at $5.13 a gallon by the way.  I totally don't understand how one small community could have gas costing more than another community.)

I actually was out chasing another kind of "rainbow":  heading to the mall in search of crop/capris/shorts for summer.   Personally, shopping for pants, bras and bathing suits that look good, fit well, and are comfortable...those items come under the heading of "Ugh".

There must be some deep seated psychological issues with me and shopping for those items.  Not only did I go rainbow chasing to avoid dressing room time, I also managed to get lost, not once, not twice, but three times after chasing the rainbow.

A mall visit requires heading south, then west, then south again.  Three freeway interchanges; that shouldn't be a big deal, right?
Don't ask me how I managed to go south, then west, then north, then west again, then overshot my turn off, then went east and north...

The usual fifteen minute drive stretched to almost an hour.  I drove past a cemetery and was really surprised to see every grave sporting a potted plant or flower arrangement, and groups of people sitting in lawn chairs with tarps and radios and picnic tables.

Families were pulling up and skads of kids raced out of the cars, women and men balanced huge potted flowers and bouquets, and this was at nearly five pm.  Guess they had waited for the rain to stop...I can get that...but somehow I don't think ALL those graves held people who had died in combat.

Since it was Memorial Day, I could understand braving the elements to decorate a veteran's grave.  Maybe I am just over thinking this, but I suspect that 99.5% of those graves held assorted non-military casualties.  So what was drive to go to the cemetery in the slushy rain, pitch a tarp and fold out lawn chairs for those families that I was seeing?

Anyhoo...I finally got to the mall, shopped in a dejected style (meaning I didn't like what I was seeing when I tried on the various styles of pants) and bought several "close enough" pairs.

By then it was well after 8 pm.  Just on a whim, I went to JC Penn-nay's (said with a french accent) too.

Tried on their brands of pants and Ta-DAH!!!  We have multiple winners! 

We also have 10 minutes until closing.  I was exhausted, so I just gathered all the pants/shorts/crops/capris/skimmers that fit nicely and plopped them down at the register.  Pulled out a credit card, and bought the whole lot.

Today it is sunny and warm.  The perfect kind of day for shorts/crop/capris wearing...and I will try all my purchases on again, narrow down the selection to a pair each of black, stone and white, plus one additional pair of white more dressy pants.

Then I will try to get back to the mall to return the rest.

Let's see if I can make the drive in 15 minutes this time without getting lost.

Or seeing any more rainbows.

Memorial Day...and what it isn't

Memorial Day Quiz: 
True or False:
Memorial Day became a National Holiday so everyone could have a day off from work so they can kick back and relax in the yard because it is almost summer?

Answer: False.

(And apparently God decided to send us snow this morning to make the point that the day isn't designed only to re-acquaint us with lounging in the back yard.  Can you believe we have SNOW???)



True or False:  Memorial Day was declared an National Holiday so everyone could go outside and grill up some meat and invite family and friends over for a barbecue.

Answer:  False.

Although having family and friends gather together on this day would be appropriate.  Again, around here, we will not be making eating outside a focus of our day because of mixed up weather systems.



True or False:

Memorial Day was created so we could all go to Mt. Olympus and meet Greek gods.

Answer:  False.

Our local Mt. Olympus has too much snow on it to climb today, and the Greek gods are false gods that foolish people worshipped long ago. 


True or False:

One should always keep an eye on the foothills because we might suddenly be attacked by some foreign invader coming down the trails to plunder and pillage one's town.

Answer: False

Thanks to the excellent work done by America's Armed Forces, there is no need to worry about foreign invaders coming over the hills to harm us.



So what is Memorial Day really all about?
Please come join me in my living room and let's talk about it.
Maybe like me, you are wondering about what this day has become.
Lately it all seems really mixed up, like snowfall on the last day of May.
I've heard folks say it is the day we remember our dead.
  
That's is partly right...originally the day was called Decoration Day, because it was to be the day people were to go to the cemetery to decorate graves and remember those who were lost during the sorrowful times when America was divided and fought a "civil" war.

The graves of those who fought on both sides of the conflict were decorated.  It was part of our nation's healing to do so. 

When other losses from other conflicts filled our soil with heroes, those graves were included on the Day of Decoration, which later became known as Memorial Day;  the day to remember those in the military who had fallen during war times.

(It isn't a day to specifically remember and honor our all Veterans, as much as popular culture seems to promote it as such. This past Sunday's comic strips had several such alternative definitions promoted. There really isn't a day that shouldn't be used honoring our Veterans; there is however another National Day, called Veteran's Day, in November, that is set aside specifically for doing that.) 


Today I won't be going to decorate any grave.  Instead I will spend time praying for the families who have had a dear one served our country and who then paid the ultimate price for my freedom.
I will be aware that any gatherings or outside activities done today can be done in safety due to a sacrifice.
The sacrifice for some families...do they feel comforted that much of America and lots of the world plays in freedom today because of their loved one's death?


In a rather mixed up way, I mourn the loss of anyone due to war while at the same moment I am aware how blessed I am that there is no grave of a fallen love one of my own to visit today.



In my heart of hearts though, every  Soldier, Sailor, Airman, Marine or Guard who died for my country became in an instant a loved ones of my own too.