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?"