oh alas.  how unfortunate to find myself with some silly intense crush on the very good pal of the eugene boy with whom i have the ambiguous visitation thing.  pal who ended up staying here over the weekend enroute to weird standby flight thing to mexico.  a most festive weekend it has been.  winter break.  drinking beer at a mystery party and holding our very own cocktail party.  charming.  feeling festive and all that.  mildly hung over breakfasts in little groups.  funny decor red roses mistletoe psychedelic jesus.  yahoo.  but. man how i would have liked to kiss our nice houseguest and trap him in my room.  but collective loyalty to mutual friend made it seem a bit too evil, impossible.  wondering if silly merriment cocktail partied standing much closer than usual rib poke kind of ways gave away any of my pent up smittenness.  ssssshh.  secret.

re-examining my slightly out of focus rainforest pictures (olympic national park), i find i am much less disappointed than i was in august. 

yes, i went to the fungus fair at the oakland museum of california.  an interesting mixture of dorky mycologists, old folk, and hippies.  and miscellany like me.  and i saw paul stamets speak and bought his book and was fairly convinced that mushrooms might very well save the world (antimicrobial and antiviral substances plus natural pesticides plus rather mystical capacity for hydrocarbon cleanup (wowee oyster mushrooom mycelia inoculated into soil polluted with motor oil cleaned it up no problem and grew all manner of perfectly edible oyster mushrooms) and waste filtration.  neato).

meanwhile.  i wonder if the solstice and growing day length will make me feel less sludgy wintry stay inside style. 

in any case. it is making me eat more.  and cook more.  indeed.  i bought some wild chanterelles (inspired by the fair of course) and sauteed them in garlic and olive oil: quite delectable.  when old and gray will i work the california lichen society table showing the young people how that unique combination of fungus and algae looks under the microscope?  well. i'll probably go mushroom hunting, careful not to put pressure on my low back when bending to pisk em.

that oregon boy sent me twelve bars of dagoba chocolate for my birthday.  eek. sizzle. 

but really i haven't much to say.  all just an excuse to post this photo.