Mushroom picking...and other stuff.

I was invited to go mushroom picking with one of my young friends (and top dance student) on Friday. He is a chef/cook (don't know the exact title) at one of the restaurants at The Dunes Golf Resort. I've tasted his cooking on more than one occasion and I can honestly say that he is inspired! He collects the mushrooms for home consumption.

Maarten is also very tall with long legs and lots of energy...which means he can walk really fast! We walked about 6 miles, WAY faster than I have walked in years! And with me wearing boots that weigh in at 2.5 pounds apiece, there is no wonder at all why I have a deep blister on the bottom of one foot. It was an awesome experience though! I don't remember ever having walked through a wooded area with my eyes constantly on the ground before. There were thousands of mushrooms, some were very large, yet not many were edible.

We took two 5-gallon buckets and for the first half of the trip, we only found enough to half-fill one bucket. We harvested Porticini(s), Hedgehogs, Chantels , Coral, lobsters and I think there was another one that I can't remember right now. I know that we found a place where there was some Chicken-of-the-woods growing on the side of a dead log, but it had passed it's prime some days before and so was inedible. I had only heard of two of the mushrooms before.

The highlights of the trip for me were Maarten--he's an awesome young man--because I take such delight in who he presents himself to be, he triggers a lot of laughter in me. He is very quiet and usually serious, so when he smiles or opens up, it is a gift he grants. I found myself wanting to find some very big or rare mushrooms just to see him smile. He did find a very big porticini and he just beamed. It was fun to watch. :-)

Another highlight was the cliffs overlooking the ocean. I'll try to attach a couple pictures. He showed me a very beautiful area of a very beautiful coastline. I phrased it that way because all of the Oregon coast is beautiful, but this part stood out as being especially lovely. The was a tree that looked as though it was growing out of a bunch of leaves caught in the crook of a branch in another tree.

I had to keep calling him over to identify this or that mushroom. Finally, just 2 miles from the car, I found myself in an odd place in the woods with Maarten on the other side of the trail. I saw a bunch of mushrooms that looked like they might be edible so I called him over. I remember saying to him that I hoped they would be worth the walk for him. It turned out that that area of the woods had a HUGE amount of Chantels. We filled both buckets to overflowing. It was so fun to watch his enthusiasm! I was charged just because of the energy radiating off of him.

But then was the rest of the walk back to the car. WOW! I was very tired by the times we made it back to the car, but I still had a lesson to teach. He drove me home and, after changing, I raced over to teach a dance lesson. My legs were so tired I could barely walk. But, it was a fun lesson.

The Dharma lesson that stood out for me was the fact that we find what we look for. I don't remember having ever noticed all the thousands of mushrooms all over the forest. I have noticed many times that when I look for trouble, I find it. When I look for good, I find it. When I look for ways to make money, I find them. And when I look for how little I have, I find it.

It's getting close to the time for me to head south. The rainy season is starting here in the Northwest. My leave date is the 20th, but I have no real idea yet where I will go or for how long. With the camper/trailer, though, it is likely to be an easier trip in some ways. It will likely cost a but more as the trailer costs down on my mileage and I've been told the extra weight really eats up the back tire. I'm hoping some money will arrive from somewhere before I go. (IE, I find unexpected work, a donation comes in, a festival happens.) At present, it is looking like I may be leaving with less than $100 to my name. Still haven't figured out how to get the Universe to manifest dental work....

 That's it for now. I'm quite tired. I'll most likely update more often once I'm back on the road again.