Tag Archives: beautiful clouds

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The heat wave we had been experiencing broke yesterday. Last Saturday we had the highest temperature we've ever had in 17 years of living here - 96 degrees. We weren't sad to see the heat go. This morning's early sunrise was reflected off some beautiful clouds with the calm ocean underneath, as seen from our deck.

The Pacific Ocean has no whitecaps today and fishing boats are out. Salmon fishing has been great lately. I'll share a photo showing a beautiful salmon soon.

Tomorrow we celebrate the 4th of July, commemorating the birth of America. Here on the Mendonoma Coast, we will celebrate on Saturday the 6th with fireworks in Point Arena and a parade on Sunday.

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Rick and I found a nice string of Matsutakes yesterday. We have sandy soil and that's what this prized edible mushroom wants to grow in. Below are three of them peaking out from pine needles and next to Salal, a plant they are associated with. Tan-Oak, Douglas-Fir and wild Rhododendrons are also close by.

You must make sure of your identification of this aromatic mushroom. It's important to get the complete stem to make sure there is no volva, a cup-like structure, at the bottom. Just looking at these photos brings the unique fragrance of these mushrooms to me.

 The Matsutakes that grow in the Pacific Northwest are also called White Matsutakes. They do not turn brown like Matsutakes do in other parts of the world. Below is a photo of the first Bellybutton Hedgehog we've seen this season. It's just a baby but it will grow in the days to come.

And we had wild weather today. Below is a photo of the storms clouds we saw from our deck in Anchor Bay this morning.  I call these days "wait five minutes days" because it can be raining one moment and then brilliant sunshine the next.

My best to you today!

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The storm door is open and one storm after another is lined up. Today started out with rain but this afternoon there is brilliant sunshine. Cloud watching - and photographing - is a Coast tradition. Andrew Duhl was hiking on the Stornetta Public Lands recently and got this beautiful photo.

In between storms we have a chance to see Gray Whales migrating south. We also can discover what new mushrooms might have appeared. This morning Rick and I found a fresh string of Matsutakes and the first Bellybutton Hedgehog. It's just a baby and we'll let it grow. I will share photos of these tomorrow.

Thanks to Andrew for allowing me to share his photo with you here.

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The heat wave broke on Thursday with the return of cooling fog. But Tuesday night's sunset was special not because there was a green flash - there wasn't - but because of some beautiful clouds in the sky.

These were taken from our deck. To see such beauty is a privilege that we don't take for granted.

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Craig Tooley recently took this photo of beautiful clouds from the bluffs of The Sea Ranch. And the Pacific Ocean abides. Just lovely.

 Thanks to Craig for allowing me to share his photo here.  To see more of his work, here is a link to his web site: http://ruffimage.com/

And on a recent walk Rick and I could only look from afar at these Oyster Mushrooms at least twenty feet high on a Tanoak snag. We were wishing we were able to levitate so we could harvest some for our meal.