Jill Doughtie

These mushrooms were growing in the mulch.

The mulch was spread thin over a part of the driveway we don’t usually pull into.

When it rained, they collected water like little cups.

These mushrooms were growing in the compost.

They have serrated edges, like they were cut with pinking shears.

The oldest ones have loose, ragged, stringy dark edges. It makes them look especially poisonous to me.

This was my first shot at Mark Bittman’s Almost No Work Whole Grain Bread.  I rolled it in chopped up walnuts, fennel seeds, anise seeds, black caraway seeds, poppy seeds, sunflower seeds and coarse salt before I baked it. I liked the texture of the bread, but it tasted a little salty. Eventually I figured out that I like it with only teaspoon of salt in the main recipe, and I like to add a tablespoon of honey.

Look at this giant clover. It’s growing by our hot water heater. I put my foot in the picture for scale.

It’s as wide across as the palm on my hand. At first I thought it might be Psoralea orbicularis, a California native clover, but its leaves look different. The stems for each of the three leaf segments of Psoralea orbicularis are longer. Does anyone know what this could be?

All of the pictures in this post are by Gavin.

Two Saturdays ago, we went to learn how to shoot bows and arrows in the Arroyo Seco, near the Rose Bowl. The Rose Bowl is surrounded by park spaces and wild-ish spaces. Native oaks grow all around it.  Just past the grass in this picture is a concrete channel for the river that flows through this area.

The Pasadena Roving Archers give lessons to newbies. And they lend out bows and arrows. Here I am waiting to learn. I have a quiver strapped to my jeans pocket.

We practiced shooting paper targets fastened to straw bales.

And we enjoyed the clean, cold early Saturday morning air.

These mushrooms are growing on a log near the north side of the house. They popped up in the rainy weather.