The OTHER Oak Flat

The "no name" iris.....Innominata....specific to this location, is quite bold.In other years the flowers have been more abundant, but the meadow is still a lovely place at any time.

Els and Veva looking good in the wilderness.

Master story teller Walt Schroeder, holds the floor at lunch. He has written a book on the Rogue Indian Wars. The Forest Service wants to "decommission this deck overlooking the Illinois River. Walt has volunteered to get up a crew of workers if the FS will provide the $2,000 worth of materials needed. Many of the trails in the area are opened after the winter, and maintained by volunteers rounded up by Walt.

The group began to hang back as we neared the rock pile that Walt and Fred mentioned usually sported a rattlesnake if the day was at all warm.

The sun just had not started soon enough on this Saturday to give us such a thrill.

div>The Illinois is a testimony to our wet spring this year.

The OAKS of Oak Flat...............

Calypso Lily Day

The recent rains have kept Limpy Creek alive and well. This was Sande's first trip around the trail. It looks like it might not be her last......

If there is a better way to spend a day in late April-- than roaming the woods with dear friends....we don't know what it is.

Seminal Olympic Swim Team Forms

So, after years of being ON the water, the pleasure of being IN the water, is returned to us by the pool at the YMCA. An hour of water exercises are little price to pay for the time after that---- in the lanes creating movement of all sorts from the depths of the soul. How many ways there are to move from point A to point B!

The emotional comfort of returning to the womb is unequaled. After weeks now of sleep deprivation and weilding a 410 shot gun in the dark of night and meeting new friends who happen to be wearing badges and guns.......................the water is giving wonderful respite.

All That the Rain Promises, and More......

Stout Grove in the redwoods after four days of heavy rain had many wonders to behold. This shaft of light in the deep woods was a real invitation to "come hither."

These certainly get your attention on the forest floor!

This Ramaria sp. gets to be quite large.

The lobster mushroom, Hypomyces lactifluorum, is really a Russula or Lactarius mushroom taken over by an opportunist.

There was a huge area just covered with these. They are some form of club fungi?

Witches' Hat, Hygrocybe conica, is a petite colorful specimen of the waxy caps.

Mushroom hunting,

Tall people

Are no good at it.

Yayu

Indian Shaker Church

The Tolowa Shakers believe in establishing a one on one contact with the Great I AM. One of the ways they do this is by the use of individual handbells.

Touched by the Tolowa-- Part One

We met part of the future. She was sleeping in a handmade basket her father had slept in 26 years before. Basketry is one of the tribal arts still being practiced today. Mary, the woman who made this basket, is gone now. The baby's uncle is putting the finishing touches on her very own...and quite a bit larger ...basket. he is wrapping the edges with spruce root.

The baby is two months old and her father remarked to us, that she does not "miss many meals." The basket maker is Loren Bammleyn. He combines teaching at Crescent City High School with being an active member of this very living indigenous group.

The grandfather in this family has built a special dance house on his property. On the Winter Solstice, December 21st, the father of the baby will dance in the World Renewal Ceremony. We knew about the Karuk doing this in August on the Klamath River. When we went to boatthe Klamath one year, we found the river "closed" for five days. What better reason to dance than to renew the world. Now we know the Tolowa will be dancing to renew the world on the Smith River and we are invited to join them. There are worlds existing within worlds if we have the eyes to see them. So many ways to be human..............

Touched by the Tolowa--Part Two

The Indian Shaker Church of Washington at Smith River

This sure looks like my Jerusalem Sage.....but it is orange and not yellow????

The road seems to run right into the ocean at Kellog beach.
Every wave brings new possibilites for agate hunters. The shell fragments that have been polished by the surf are each little works of art. The shapes of the stones are as intriguing as the colors and patterns they sport.

The weather was superb. Imagine almost 80 degrees in November! Kellog beach offers agates to those willing to search. The first woman we met leaving the beach showed us a huge agate. She said she had walked south for 45 minutes and all she got was the huge one and these few. The next gal we talked to kept only one of the ones she had found, and gave me the rest of them. How is it we keep meeting these "citizens of the universe?"

Write a Letter

A REAL letter...on REAL letter paper. The archival kind of paper you can only find in a junk store. Eaton deckle edged powder blue translucent loveliness caught my eye and imagination yesterday.

From a time before email was even a word in our common language, a coupon included in the virgin package let me know that for 10 cents I could receive a 32 page booklet on letter writing. I am to include my zone number ---- IF I have one. My dime is going in the mail today with the first of my letters.

When I get a letter, sometimes I brew a pot of coffee and savor the writing in my very favorite most comfy chair. Now let's see who else would enjoy getting mail???????????

Winchuck Water

Such a charming little coastal stream the Winchuck is! It has a life in miniature when compared to the Illinois, or Chetco, or Rogue.

Left home without my mushroom ID book! This was the most wonderful color....glowed from the inside out it seemed.

This road to Peavine Ridge quickly becomes a dark tunnel through a thick coastal redwood rain forest. Other than having a few pot holes....the road is good. Els and Karen found a good bunch of chantrelles up here near the Redwood trailhead a couple days ago.

Sunday Sunshine

The Illinois River Canyon was a good place to be today.

You needed to pay attention to the road surface as well as the riveting scenery.

Pearsol Peak had the first of this season's snow.