Snaketongue Truffleclub

It's almost Thanksgiving, and it's definitely fall here (or is it winter?) It's been a couple weeks now since the larch trees high on the mountains started to turn yellow, and the snow on the big mountains is now not a dusting, but a full-blown blanket. I'm loving the colours of the trees-yellow, orange, red. We had our first snow in town the other day, and as I was walking home from my sister-in-law's place 2 minutes down the road, the snow turned sideways. I was drenched by the time I walked in the door, but isn't that the best? I quickly made a fire to warm me up. Aaah.

This week in wildlife news:

1. Jordan's parents were here for a few days, and one morning while we were drinking coffee, Jordan's dad called me over to the window. 'Look at this,' he said. 'Turkeys.' I laughed. 'Oh, yeah!' I replied, 'There's the gang!' There were 17 of them. Watch out guys-it's Thanksgiving this weekend, you know.

2. I had a dream that Jordan was teaching me to ride a motorcycle, only it wasn't a motorcycle-it was a huge Cadillac-and I pulled over near the forest to practice parking. A big black bear appeared, and started chasing me. I was back in the driver's seat in a jiffy, but I couldn't get the door closed. The bear turned into a snarling dog and I decided my only defense was to snarl and scream louder than him. I closed my eyes in case he was going to attack me. This is a good strategy in a dream, I've noticed! When I opened my eyes again, the bear/dog was gone, and Jordan was looking at me, annoyed, wanting to get on with the driving lesson.

While Jordan's parents were here, we celebrated Jordan's birthday (which he shares with our now 5-year-old niece Anna). The whole family came over to our house for homemade burgers and caesar salad (I made a really really really garlicky dressing) and fries and carrot cake. And wine. I gave Jordie a handmade knife (not handmade by me) that I bought from the JB Fletcher store in Ainsworth (we went to the Ktunaxa Grill beside the hot springs for lunch with the family-divine), and a couple books about foraging for mushrooms and other herbs and berries. I promptly borrowed everything and went out mushroom hunting the next day.

A side note on the JB Fletcher store-this building was originally owned by a guy named Henry Giegerich (a pioneering merchant in the area), and JB Fletcher worked for him, eventually buying him out. Apparently old JB worked 6 to 7 days a week his whole life at this store, and never wanted to close on holidays, in case 'someone needed a loaf of bread.' The store closed after he died in 1973, and re-opened in the late 1980's as a museum (currently undergoing a restoration). It has all its original shelving, fixtures, floors, cases, complete with old cereal ads, canned goods, cash register and medicine bottles.

Also for the twin birthdays, we drove up to Meadow Creek (about a half an hour drive up to the top of Kootenay Lake), and went to the Lardeau Valley Community Club. For something ridiculously reasonable, like 40 dollars or so, you can rent out the entire community centre for 4 hours. It has a full kitchen (with an industrial grill-I really wanted to make burgers because it reminded me of when I worked at McDonald's), a huge gym with loooooads of extremely flat basketballs (but they have a pump, so no worries, it was so fun!), and a bowling alley. Yeah, that's right. A bowling alley. Apparently, this old (1950's?) bowling alley was going to be demolished somewhere in Saskatchewan, but instead, some renegade citizens literally picked up the lanes, plopped them on a trailer, and hauled them out here. It's like stepping back into the 50's. Even the paper score cards were legitimately printed like 60 years ago. It was wild. You could even go back behind the scenes, where all the action happens, and see what goes on with the machinery when bowling pins are knocked down. I won't ruin it for you in case you ever get the chance to see for yourself.

On the wall there is 'Lardeau Lew' with his huge list of bowling rules. My fave: 'Leave the razzing and teasing off the lanes." I forget what else there was, but look how many rules there are! Oh yeah, another one was something like, 'Settle your own conflicts whenever you can, but if you can't, then call the building manager.'

Last but not least this week, foraging. I've been going out mushroom hunting since I 'borrowed' Jordie's birthday presents. Lobster mushrooms are at the top of my list, mostly because they're bright orange, look completely different from any other mushroom, and therefore you can be fairly sure you're not eating a deathcap or something. We found some woolly chanterelle mushrooms (dense little numbers with a funnel-shaped top), and then did a little research to find out that eating them is 'not recommended.' Hmph. Oh well. It's so fun to look for them anyways!

I've also been collecting rosehips, which grow everywhere in abundance here. I never knew that rosehips were just the fruit of a rose plant that hasn't been cut back to produce more flowers! They apparently have a ton of vitamin C in them, and are quite tasty (kind of tart), and related to the apple. Really! I'm going to make some muffins with mine. Oregon grapes and blackcurrants and red currants also grow all over the place here! Oh, and blackberries. In October. Even though it snowed last week, plump, huge blackberries are growing in my yard. I made muffins with them.

Well, that's all for now. Oh wait, I forgot about funny mushroom/fungus names!

1. Puffball

2. Fried chicken mushroom

3. Chicken of the woods

4. Dog stinkhorn

5. Octopus stinkhorn

6. Dog stinkhorn

7. Toothed jelly

8. Cramp balls

9. Powdery piggyback

10. Drumstick truffleclub

11. Snaketongue truffleclub

12. Elbowpatch crust

13. Hairy nuts disco (look it up)

14. Scurfy Twiglet

15. Fingered Candlesnuff