Europe!

I'm nailing down the vague details for a trip to Europe.  Well, they are less and less vague. I'm going to buy a ticket tomorrow after I talk with Ethan.

The basic plan is that I'll fly in to Barcelona March 13-15, meet up with Ethan and we will rent a car. He'll already be there. I'll spend two weeks in Spain, climbing wherever the conditions are good. We've discussed Oleana, Santa Linya and Margolef.  I don't really care - I just want to climb, and I'm sure that all of those crags are amazing.

Then I'll fly to Kos from Barcelona and spend two weeks in Kalymnos by myself. I'm kind of psyched to go on a climbing trip by myself again - it's been a while. Sometimes it's nice not to have to negotiate with other people about when/what/etc. Especially because I tend to go along with other people to make things easier.

I wish I could stay longer. I'm happy with two weeks in Spain, but I think Kalymnos deserves more time. I have been wanting to go for a long time, but what pushed me over the edge was Stanley, who is super encouraging and sent me amazing photos. I think a direct quote is "you WILL be psyched." Thanks dude. Then I got in touch with another girl who has gone by herself twice and was very enthusiastic. Plus Matt, Steph, Denise and Rick have all been and say it's amazing. Steph practically wrote me a novel with tons of info. Awesomeness.

Check out the description of the room I might rent:

" it is on the 2nd floor, it is a self contained studio with a kitchen containing oven and fridge, separate bathroom and double bed. there is a private balcony overlooking direct ocean views and the beautiful island of telendos. "

Doesn't sound like it sucks, does it?  OhboyohboyohBOY!! The last time I went on a climbing trip by myself was after college when I went to Australia, New Zealand and Thailand.  I don't count going on US climbing trips by myself...it's not the same challenge.

Two songs I'm liking now...

I love Engrish

I read the most AMAZING paragraph today.

"I am sailing, I am sailing; home again, cross the sea; I am sailing, stormy water; to be near you, to be free." Not only does the unparalleled musical royalty Rod Stewart convey to me vividly what the necessary prerequisite for a triumphant voyage is, but he also utilizes his touching lyrics to indirectly outline my voyage towards transcendence and verity. In retrospect of my past twenty-two years’ voyage, it primordially initiated since I was in childhood when I spent lots of time in a beautiful costal city, Tsingtao. From then on, I found myself get fascinated with the oceanic wonderland which was replete with plentiful intriguing mysteries such as horizontally walking crabs and palatable clams. Whereas as time went by, I amazedly noticed that there were fewer and fewer crabs sashaying on the beach and my favorite seafood clam was not as delicious as before. I gradually realized the seawater pollution did not only destroy the habitat of marine creatures, but also my fancy fairy maritime world. Henceforward, the aspiration of regaining my childhood goodliness had deeply rooted in my heart. Therefore, I opted for Aquaculture as my major in Ocean University of China, of which Aquaculture ranks first in China.

Words cannot convey my love for this paragraph. Every sentence is perfection.  Really it's impressive for an ESL college student. Their English is WAY better than my Chinese.

Prickly pears

Since Jailhouse is a soggy pile and I was bored out of my skull Sunday, I convinced Kurt to go and pick prickly pears with me. They are ripe in the arboretum right now...I love California. Then we went over to my house and dealt with the spines and got our drink on.  We made jelly and syrup. Then we drank cacts margaritas with the syrup.  Holy shit they are GOOD! This may be in part because Kurt used to make margaritas for a living. Dude knows what he is doing. Here are some photos:

Kurt did most of the dirty work, but it's only because he's tall...and has thick leather gloves.

Dealing with them is a pain in the ass, but the results are worth it, especially if you share the work with someone else. Jesus my kitchen looks messy...

score.

Finally: paydirt.  I woke up early and was at Salt Point State Park by 8:30am.  This is where I took my mushrooms class a couple of years ago, and where JK told me to look for edibles.  He was right. I was back at the car by 12:15 driving home with pounds and pounds of hedgehogs (Hydnum umbilicatum), black trumpets and yellow feet.  Here is a photo of the cleaned booty:

Note my shitty electric stove, but the very nice food processor.

Here are some photos:

Waxy cap (Hygrocybe flavescens)

 Yellow feet - (Craterellus tubaeformis) - edible.

 black trumpets (Craterellus cornucopioides) - hard to see in some areas, but these stood out.

Western red dye (Dermocybe phoenicea) - not edible, but people use it to dye yarn.

candy caps and elfin saddles from last week

Fun at the dentist.

I've been super busy in the last week, running around like an idiot.  So what else is new.

Anyway, Monday I drove up to Chico with Lauren and Kurt to go to the Northern California Botanical Symposium.  It was nice to go to a different kind of conference than a fish conference.  Plant people are way more serious than fish people. I'm convinced that most fish people just like to get wasted and go fishing - the conferences reflect this.  Plant people can get into the nitty gritty of taxonomy and watching pollinators, which requires a well-padded ass for sitting down a lot.  I'm not sure what my point is with that, other than I observed that plant people are different than fish people.

For dinner there was a nice banquet (plant people are apparently better-funded than fish people), and then in honor of my 31st birthday we went to the Sierra Nevada Brewery and got their tasting flight - 16 beers in 2oz glasses. I'd already had a few glasses of wine, so I was quite jolly.  They gave me a free brownie.

Somehow we ended staying up until 1, and Kurt gave us both back rubs in his underwear.  Somehow it seemed appropriate at the time. It was like a slumber party!

Tuesday we drove back and I crashed for a few hours before waking up at 3:10 for my 3:10 science writing class. I've never ridden my bike to campus faster.  It was impressive, if I do say so.

But on to the title of this blog post: today I went to the dentist to have a cavity filled.  I was all prepped to go after having my lower left jaw numbed when the dentist said "Mandi, I numbed the wrong side of your mouth."  I think I said "oh my god."

Then I said "can I have free gas?"

She said "That's the least I can do."

So then I had the other side of my mouth numbed and got free nitrous oxide.  I wanted to add another drug to my life list, and if it's free, why not?  She also gave me a Starbucks gift card. I was a little pissed though.  At least it wasn't an amputation.

Thanks for all of the lovely birthday wishes - it was a good one.

Mt. Tam mushrooms

So I was a lazy rock climber today and drove out to the coast to look for mushrooms instead.  I didn't feel like suffering at Jailhouse again for 2 pitches in sub 40 degree weather.  So shoot me.  Instead I drove out to the coast and looked for mushrooms.  It gave me plenty of time to ponder what a nerd I am - right before my 31st birthday. Ugh. Here are some photos and descriptions of the things that I found. Mushrooms Demystified (MD) offered some information.

Dyer's polypore (Phaeolus schweinitzii), otherwise known as Red-brown Butt Rot (I'm not kidding). MD: "it is prized by dye-makers for the rich and varied hues it imparts to yarn." When I start growing goats and making yarn, I'll use this to dye it.

These funky little puffballs were pretty cool. I'm not sure which species they are.

I don't know what these are and it annoys me. Maybe they are Corinarias? They don't have that cobwebby stuff on the stipe though. I really don't know.

Black witches' butter (Exidia glandulosa). According to Mushrooms Demystified, "This sinister-looking black jelly fungus can be confused with little else."

Hericium ramosum or H. abietis. It is edible, and supposedly delicious, but I let it be. I'd seen photos of this before; it was much tinier and more delicate than I was expecting.

Emetic russula. Possibly R. sivicola. This is the name given to a group of mushrooms. MD: "pleasing to the eyes of all, to the tongues of some, but to the stomachs of none." Ostensibly it is also collected in the Himalayas to add spice to curries (MD p. 98)

Yellow-veiled amanita (Amanita franchetii), I think.

Several of the slippery jack/bolete ilk.

Not sure, but they are pretty.

I don't know what these are, but I think they are different kinds of russulas.

Sulfur tufts

 Yellow coral mushrooms (Ramaria sp.) Maybe this?

salmon coral (Ramaria sp.) Ramaria stricta? or Ramaria violaceibrunnea?

Western Amethyst Laccaria (Laccaria amethysteo-occidentalis) - at least that's what I think.

California agaric - (Agaricus californicus). This was my first successful key from MD.

Matustake? (Tricholoma magnivelare) This is my first matsutake (if it is)...worth big bucks when young. Unfortunately this is definitely not a youngster.

 Fluted black elfin saddle (Helvella lacunosa). I brought a bunch of these back home with the intention of eating them. We'll see if I get around to it.

 I found some sun!  This made it all worth it. I got sunburned from being in the sun for a few hours.  That shows you how grim it's been in California lately.

Banana slugs like mushrooms too. 

Eastern Coast Range/Berryessa mushrooms

I found a bunch of mushrooms Saturday. I drove west on 128 towards and a little past Lake Berryessa. Many of them I didn't know, which was kind of cool and kind of annoying/overwhelming. Mushroom IDs are hard. Here are some photos:

 I don't know what these are,

 or these tiny orange blobs,

 or this thing...

update: just keyed this out, and I'm pretty sure it's a Vulgar milkcap (Lactarius argillaceifolius var. megacarpus)

 But I do know this is a blewit!

 And these are yellow-stainers (Agaricus xanthodermus). They are very handsome, and poisonous. I found a big patch on the Jailhouse approach on Friday. This is in reverse order, how I investigated these guys.

 Some kind of milk caps, either yellow-staining or a red-hot, or something else.

 Ramaria ssp.

 Witches butter. I never get tired of this stuff. Tremella aurantia

Fairy fingers (Clavarai vermicularis)