Tag Archives: Cece Case

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The weather hasn't been kind to mushrooms lately. It's been too warm and the humidity has been very low. That is drying up many of them. However Cece Case found a pristine Red-capped Butter Bolete, which she cooked up with onion and bacon. YUM!

Rick and I found two of these edible mushrooms in our forest but they were full of bugs. They don't fruit every year so it's a treat to see them. You can see a blue mark on the stem where Cece touched this mushroom. Staining blue is one of the identifiers of this mushroom.

Once again we have a sunny, low humidity day. While it is beautiful out, we need some rain.

Thanks to Cece for allowing me to share her photo with you here.

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Cece Case found this fungus several weeks ago. It's a Dyer's Polypore.

This fungus helps decompose dead wood. It's also prized by dyers of yarn, as it turns yarn yellow or orange when young like this one, or a rich brown when older.

Thanks to Cece for allowing me to share her photo with you here.

Today is a gorgeous day on the Mendonoma coast. Blue skies, with occasional white, puffy clouds, and a warm breeze. There have been some amazing whale sightings recently too. Over a dozen Humpback whales were seen yesterday.

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Sea Stars, formerly called Starfish, are back, recovered from the wasting disease that decimated their numbers. Cece Case recently photographed three Ochre Stars off Cooks Beach in Gualala.

Peter Fimrite, of the San Francisco Chronicle, wrote about their miraculous recovery. He wrote, "The colorful invertebrates have undergone a remarkable genetic adaptation that is protecting them from the deadly pathogen, a new study has found." You can read Peter's entire article at this link: https://www.sfchronicle.com/science/article/Starfish-on-California-coast-nearly-wiped-out-by-13018262.php

It truly is wonderful news. With the Sea Stars absence, Sea Urchins proliferated, decimating the kelp beds. This led to Abalones starving. It is hoped...and expected...that with the Stars recovery, the intertidal zone of the Pacific Ocean will be more in balance.

Thanks to Cece for allowing me to share her photo with you here.

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You can only see the caves at Cooks Beach, one at each end of the pocket beach, at a very low tide. Cece Case recently was able to photograph one.

Several years ago Peggy Berryhill photographed the same cave.

It certainly is beautiful! Cooks Beach has become a favorite spot for locals and visitors alike. To learn more about it, here is the link to the Redwood Coast Land Conservancy: http://www.rc-lc.org/Cooks-Beach.html

Thanks to Cece and Peggy for allowing me to share their photos with you  here.

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Cece Case and Eric Nordvold went for a hike at Bowling Ball Beach several weeks ago, and they found something interesting tossed up on the beach. Cece wrote, “Eric found a large fishing float with a Japanese name on it – Musashi. I read on the Internet that identical ones had been found in British Columbia and Washington state.

“The one in Washington had been traced to a Japanese oyster farming area that had been affected by the tsunami. I remember there was someone tracking tsunami debris, so please forward this to them.”

We haven't learned if this is tsunami debris. The California current brings items from halfway around the world to occasionally land on one of our beaches. One of the strangest items found was this intact light bulb, possibly tossed off a fishing boat. It was found by Gary Humfeld.

Just after a storm is the perfect time to search beaches for treasures from afar.

Thanks to Cece and Gary for allowing me to share their photos with you here.