dreaming

I woke up this morning after some awesome mushroom dreams.

As a wedding gift, our friends, Kate and Neil, gave us two incredible pillow cases. They screen printed original artwork of each of us asleep and dreaming. Adam is dreaming about Tess, and Tess is dreaming about mushrooms!
Their gift has been surprisingly accurate (though I, of course, also dream about Adam).
I'll share a few bits from my latest mushroom dream (in case you are wondering what a mushroom dream is like...):
I was at my grandma's old house in Merced, California. I went outside through the screen door onto a porch and saw golden fields of hay/wheat. Some migrant workers passed on the road. Slowly, I started to find more and more mushrooms. Eventually, I was in a suburban neighborhood (Beacon Hill) I recognized from my childhood in Laguna Niguel, California. It was dark/night and the roads were actually water - like a still lake at night. I was traveling around by canoe finding TONS of mushrooms. I could paddle up to the river banks in front of the houses and see the mushrooms growing off stumps, and logs and in the soil. I distinctly remember a huge cluster of Letioporus "Chicken of the Woods." It was flat and fan-like at the base of a tree. I remember being very happy and excited because I was finding so many mushrooms I liked! After I had scoped out the area, I was going to paddle back around to gather the ones I wanted into my canoe. Everything was dark, quiet, and still like night time and there were other people there. There were a few other girls looking for mushrooms, but I didn't know them. I remember my dad was in this dream, but I can't remember in what way; I think near the end of the dream.
I woke up, made a salad for mine and Adam's lunch, rode the bus to work, and then had the most inspiring day. I was very busy, and had lists and lists of things I had to do before the end of the day. With my mind racing, as it does when you are busy, I came up with wonderful art and sewing projects. Like I said, my mind was racing, and I kept imagining all these things I was making, how beautiful they were, how they were a satisfying, artful combination of fungi, natural dyeing, and stitch witchery.
I look forward to actualizing these visions someday soon...

Oh! and later that day I actually did find some mushrooms! On my way home, I found Agaricus augustus - The Prince. It has a distinct, sweet almond scent and flavor. The stipes (stems) are often fairly deep in the soil; the cap has small scales and stains yellow; the veil is heavy and there are chunky scales along the stipe. I found it under true Cedars (Cedrus sp.), a "textbook" location. Last year I made a sweet mushroom dessert, this year...I'm still deciding what to do. I think I'll eat a few in scrambled eggs and slice and dry the others for later.