Field Notes for September 2026

Welcome back to Field Notes!

September 1, 2026

OTHG Hike to Brickyard Cove. Mari, Gaymond and I kicked off September with a hike at the McLaughlin Eastshore State Park, which is operated by the East Bay Regional Park District. According to signage, the Park was created "from a patchwork of landfills and abused salt marshes" and is now a place that "nurtures native plants, wildlife, and the spirit of all who visit here".  We met up with the Over-the-Hills Gang at Brickyard Cove near Berkeley, California for the hike, led by Anthony Fisher. 

Brickyard Cove staging area

Berkeley Meadow Habitat Restoration

We walked through the Berkeley Meadow Habitat Restoration area. It is fenced on both sides for protection. From what we could see, the areas is rebounding really well. Land as well as people need restorative break!

View across the San Pablo Bay

View of San Pablo Bay with Mount Tam in the distance (photo by Mari)

Cookie break at the half-way point

Past the restoration area, we followed the shoreline and enjoyed the views of the bay. We had our usual cookie break at the half-way point (ginger cookies and several kinds of Girl Scout cookies). Gaymond, Mari and I finished up the hike at the nearby Thai Table in Berkeley over delicious food and great conversation. Check the website for information about upcoming hikes with this wonderful group.

Intrepid hikers at Brickyard Cove (photo by Gaymond)

Delicious Thai food to restore our strength

September 3, 2026

Fabulous Views from Brickyard Cove. I usually report on the flora and fauna that we see on our Over-the-Hills Gang hikes, but this time I want to call out all the great views we saw!

From this spot we could see the Port of Oakland as well as San Francisco across the Bay

 

From another place we could see the Marina Bay area where we hiked last time

From yet another location we could see Albany Hill and the USPS Distribution Center

September 6, 2026  🌞

Heat Wave! We are in the midst of a heat wave here in the Bay Area. I realize the temperature is nothing compared to other places in the country, but we're use to lovely, cool, marine temperatures most of the time. Our family has been living out on our covered patio, gathered around the patio table with the sun shades down. Ice cold watermelon and fruity popsicles help!

 

September 9, 2026 🧁

Happy Birthday to Bobo the Husky! Bobo turns six today, but had an appointment with the vet to update his vaccines. Bobo was a trooper and enjoyed the car ride, a walk around the block, hanging out in the air conditioned facility, and drinking lots of water. Don't worry, we plan to make him a hamburger "cake" for a real celebration later!

Thirsty Bobo makes himself at home

Later: Bobo's hamburger "cake" frosted with mashed sweet potato,
and decorated with milk bones and blueberries

September 12, 2026  🆒⛅ 

Back to Normal. Thankfully, we're back to our cooler weather here in the Bay Area. The temperature sometimes spikes at midday, but then cools off nicely in the late afternoon. This is our Mediterranean climate at work. We get our hot weather in September and October, while parts of the rest of the country are starting to cool off. I can feel fall around the edges though! 

September 16, 2026

OTHG Hike to Hayward Shoreline. Yesterday Mari and I joined the Over-the-Hills Gang hike to Hayward Shoreline Regional Park, led by Anthony Fisher. (Gaymond is on a bus tour of some of the favorite National Parks). The group met at the Grant Avenue entrance and parking lot, and headed north to join up with the San Francisco Bay Trail along the shoreline.

Heading north on the Bay Trail

Exploring along the trail

We hiked through the wetlands and along the shoreline, and enjoyed views of the bay. I'm slowly piecing together the patchwork of shoreline parks that we've been visiting, to gain a broader picture of the vast San Francisco Bay environment. Each park has its unique view, as well as shared views from a slightly different vantage point. We are so fortunate here in the bay area to have access to protected areas by the bay for wildlife and recreation.

Hiking through the wetlands

Cookie break at the half-way point

We had our usual cookie break at the half-way point (ginger and lemon cookies). Mari and I finished up the hike at the nearby Minami Sushi in San Leandro over delicious bento boxes and great conversation. Check the website for information about upcoming hikes with this wonderful group.

Intrepid hikers at Hayward Shoreline (photo by Mari)

September 19, 2026

Fauna and Whale Bones at Hayward Shoreline. We saw so many interesting things on our OTHG hike at Hayward Shoreline Regional Park. The wetlands area is a perfect place for bird watching, and we saw American coots, egrets, herons, seagulls, sandpipers, stilts, and hawks. Fall migration has started, so we'll see many more birds over the next several months. We also saw some California horn snails (Cerithidea californica) on the mudflats, and learned that local indigenous people would eat the snails as a quick snack, by breaking off the tip and sucking out the snail (Sushi style)!

Egret in the salt marsh

Shore birds feeding as the tide comes in

California horn snails on the mudflats

We also saw the skeletal remains of a whale. Several vertebrae and rib bones had washed up on the beach. A quick look online revealed that in May 2026 a 12 meter adult male gray whale had washed up on the San Leandro shoreline, just north of the Hayward Shoreline Regional Park near the Bay Trail. Hated to see that a whale had died, but it was so interesting to see its remains!

Remains of a gray whale

Bridge over the rising tide

September 22, 2026 🍂

Fall Equinox. Today is the first day of fall! Time to pull out a fall-themed puzzle and shift gears for the new season.

Time to shift to a few more inside hobbies!

September 26, 2026

Cooking with Mushrooms - Domestic Porcini Mushrooms. I purchased dried domestic porcini mushrooms from Far West Fungi on our summer outing to the Ferry Building (see Field Notes for August 2026, the August 11 entry). I rehydrated the mushrooms, and used them to make a savory puff pastry tart for lunch. Toppings included sautéed onions and porcini mushrooms, grated asiago cheese, thyme, and salt and pepper to taste (almost a "mushroom pizza")!

Dried porcini mushroom pieces

Rehydrated mushrooms

Porcini mushrooms (Boletus edulis) are also known as penny bun, cep, or king bolete. The species grows in deciduous and coniferous forests throughout Europe and North America. Far West Fungi air-dries a portion of its fresh organic and wild foraged mushrooms (from the Redwood forests of the Northern California coast), in their commercial kitchen.

Porcini mushroom tart

This was my first experience eating boletus mushrooms. They have a wonderful, rich woodsy flavor, which adds so much to the mushroom tart. The tart would also be good served as an hors d'oeuvre or appetizer for the upcoming holidays!

September 30, 2026 🌞🍂

Landscape Maintenance. End of summer cleanup, and kick off to fall. We're finally in our summer season here in the San Francisco Bay Area and we've had a series of heat spells. That typically means a high of low 80s during the day, but cooling off to low 50s at night. This is the time of year to monitor fire risk and fire activity. I continued to spend time cutting back shrubs, grasses, and dead wood, in response to the Fire Prevention inspection in July. I've also been monitoring plants for heat distress and providing extra water as needed.

✘ Weed the garden paths and beds (ongoing task). Remove the spent annuals and cut back dead foliage. Trim up iris, ivy, goldenrod, heucheras, Clarkia, California hedgenettle, maple, succulents and California buckwheat. Note: the ivy had a growth spurt, so cutting it back is keeping me busy!

✘ Sweep debris from surfaces throughout the yard (patios, steps, and walkways).

✘ Clean up leaves, berries, and drupes. Assess for potential dye sources. Sweep up any fallen oak leaves from the street and add to the leaf duff under the trees. Note: haven't gathered up the oak leaves from the street yet, but made good progress on leaves, berries, and drupes. Several potential dye sources include goldenrod, fennel, and California poppy. Some of the leaves, berries, and drupes might be lovely in fall eco-dying projects, such as the maple leaves, juniper berries and red-flowering currants.

✘ Continue cleaning up the streetside easement around the property for weeds and trash. Inventory and document the beautiful native plants in this area. Add mulch or wood chips as needed. Note: I've barely made a dent, but I'm working my way around the perimeter. Job security.

🚫 Schedule aesthetic pruning for the big oak tree, and any shrubs that are getting too tall for us to tackle. Optionally schedule a professional fall landscape clean up, and arrange for new plants to be planted in time for winter rains. Note: we had the oak tree pruned last fall, and it will probably be good for another five years. The rest of the trees and shrubs look good for now.

Field Notes for August 2026

Welcome back to Field Notes!

August 1, 2026

Bobo Chronicles: Outing to Dracena Quarry Park. Bobo the Husky loves to explore new places. Mari gave me a tip about nearby Dracena Quarry Park. Rick, Bobo, and I visited this neighborhood park, which is nestled in a small canyon under a stand of redwood trees. We enjoyed a stroll in the deep shade, and a drink of cool water on one of the park benches. Small parks are one of the many things that I enjoy about living in the East Bay. Thanks, Mari!

Taking a breather under the redwoods

August 3, 2026

Look at This Slime Mold! My brother Dave sent me a picture of this glorious lemon-yellow slime mold. He was walking on North Douglas Island, near Juneau, Alaska, and checking out the beaver ponds. I haven't identified it. Could it be a Fuligo species? If so, Wikipedia provides this information:

Fuligo is a widespread genus of plasmodial slime mold in the family Physaraceae. These organisms are protozoans rather than fungi, but for historical reasons are sometimes treated as part of mycology.

Possibly, Fuligo septica, (also known as the dog vomit slime mold or scrambled egg slime). Fascinating!

Lemon-yellow slime mold - species unknown (photo by Dave Harris)

August 6, 2026

Happy Birthday to Rick! My wonderful husband just turned another year older. I think he is aghast at this bigger number, but he is just as hilarious, interesting, capable and cute as ever!

 

Contemplating the meaning of life

August 9, 2026

Field Trip to the Ferry Building.  Mari, Gaymond and I skipped the Over-the-Hills Gang hike this week and went rouge! It was such a beautiful day that we decided to take the ferry from Jack London Square to the Ferry Building instead. It's always great to get out on the water. We had some great views of the Port of Oakland, the container cranes, the underside of the Bay Bridge, and a whole variety of ships and crafts out on the water. Once we docked, we explored the Ferry Building and the Farmer's Market, and scoped out eateries for lunch.

Marine area along the Embarcadero

Farmer's Market outside the Ferry Building

We walked along the Embarcadero for a ways and explored some of the piers. There has been a lot of development since I last visited the area. I almost had a feeling that I was walking along some of the waterways in Europe!

Exploring the piers along the Embarcadero

Picture postcard on the waterfront (photo by Mari)

We returned to the Ferry Building and made our purchases at the Farmer's Market and Ferry Terminal, and ate outside in the sun (dim sum and empanadas). I picked up some empanadas to take home for the guys and Bobo the Husky, and we took the 1:05 ferry home. What a wonderful experience!

Intrepid explorers along the Embarcadero (photo by Gaymond)

August 11, 2026

Visit to Far West Fungi in the Ferry Building. While at the Ferry Building, I made a point of stopping in at Far West Fungi. They have an amazing selection of seasonal fresh mushrooms, bulk dehydrated mushrooms, and smaller packages of dried mushrooms. They also sell fun fungi-related merchandise, such as mugs, dish towels, and mushroom-growing kits.

I purchased packages of dehydrated Wood Ear, Porcini, and Morel mushrooms for some future cooking projects. Stay tuned!

Far West Fungi at the Ferry Building (#34)

Dehydrated mushrooms for sale

Fresh Wood Ear mushrooms on sale

August 15, 2026

Summer Read. I've been working through my summer reading list, and just finished "Garden of Lamentations" by Deborah Crombie (William Morrow, 2017). This is the seventeenth novel in the Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James series set in London. In this one, a crime takes place in one of its gated neighborhood gardens. Crombie  provides "A Short History of London Squares" in the back matter, which is all about the "network of enclosed garden squares winding through the city (of London) like interconnected necklaces of green".  Illustrator Laura Maestro provides the endpaper map for the story, which is charming and adds dimension to the mystery. Together they make the story all the more engaging (see both the book and map here)!

August 19, 2026

Happy Birthday to Aunt Char! My wonderful aunt is turning (a bigger number) and we plan to celebrate at her open house tomorrow. I really enjoyed spending time with her and my mom in Juneau, Alaska this year (in both winter and summer), and love going places with her here in the Bay Area (or wherever we travel). I'm grateful that she lives nearby and has such a wonderful outlook on life. My cousins will be here for the birthday bash (Jen from Idaho and Chris from Arizona), so that will be the icing on the cake!

Two sisters in the garden of life (summer 2026)

August 22, 2026

OTHG Hike to Marina Bay. Mari, Gaymond and I met up with the Over-the-Hills Gang hike at the Marina Bay in Richmond for the latest 55+ group hike. Marina Bay is located in the Richmond Inner Harbor, the former location of the World War II-era Kaiser Shipyards. We hiked the area a year ago, and enjoyed great views of the bay, wildlife in Meeker Slough, and proximity to multiple destinations (Marina Bay Park, Marina Bay Yacht Harbor and Yacht Club, the Rosie the Riveter Memorial, and a residential community along the shore). 

You Are Here - with so many great options nearby!

Maria Bay Park

Looking across Marina Bay to the Richmond Ferry Terminal

The sky was overcast and the temperature chilly, but we still had great views in all directions. The slough is a popular spot for birds to gather, so we had a chance to see pelicans, herons, ducks, geese, and more.

Surf break with Oakland in the background

Meeker Slough with Albany Hill in the distance

Cookie break at the half-way point

Anthony Fisher led our bay-side hike, and provided information about flora and fauna and delicious cookies at the half-way point. Mari, Gaymond, and I finished the hike with delicious food and conversation at the nearby Anh Restaurant & Bar. These hikes are so much fun - the pace is perfect and the company is excellent. Check the website to learn more about upcoming events offered by the East Bay Regional Park District.

Intrepid hikers at Marina Bay (photo by Mari)

Delicious lunch served family style - noodles and oxtail soup

August 24, 2026

Flora and Fauna at Marina Bay. While at Marina Bay, we saw lots of heron, ducks, Canadian geese, and lots of gulls and shore birds. We also say a Black Oystercatcher by the shore.

Duck, duck, duck, goose crossing

Family of ducks

Black Oystercatcher (photo by Mari)

August 28, 2026

Cooking with Mushrooms - Wood Ear. I purchased dehydrated Wood Ear mushrooms from Far West Fungi on our trip to the Ferry Building (see the August 11 entry above), and added them to a buckwheat noodle and dashi soup bowl. Wood Ear (Auricularia auricula-judae) are called jelly fungus because of their texture, but others are somewhat rubbery and gelatinous. The species grows throughout Europe and North America and is cultivated in China and East Asia. Far West Fungi grows them at their facility in Moss Landing, California.

Dehydrated Wood Ear Mushrooms

This was my first experience with Wood Ears, and I was struck with how much the reconstituted mushrooms resembled ears! They have a wonderful, crunchy texture, but not much flavor (they are typically incorporated in hot-and-sour soup, or used as a main ingredient in salads with a strong dressing). They were a little bland in my soup bowl, but did have an interesting crunch.

The rehydrated Wood Ears resemble ears

The soup was really bland, but the Wood Ear texture was very interesting

August 30, 2026 🌞

Landscape Maintenance. I spent a lot of time in the landscape cutting back our many grass clumps in response to the Fire Prevention inspection in July. The inspector felt the long, dry grasses could pose a fire risk. This gave me the opportunity to learn how to trim the grasses, and we are now back in compliance and fire safe. In between trimming up grasses, our family has been enjoying lots of outdoor living. We can be found out on the patio most afternoons, whether in the midst of a heat spell, or on cool, foggy days. Here are few other maintenance tasks for August:

✘ Weed the garden paths and beds (ongoing task). Note: as part of the grass clump clean up, I removed quite a few grasses that were starting to encroach on the paths. This widened the paths back to their original dimensions.

✘ Sweep debris from surfaces throughout the yard. 

✘ Clean up the stone walkway from the street to the house. Remove the weeds that pop up between the pavers, and that sneak into the planting beds and nearby cracks in the street (some people recommend spraying with vinegar to desiccate the leaves, although it may not kill the roots). Cut back the ground covers that spill over onto the pavers, and the grasses that spill over the path.

✘ Likewise, clean up the streetside, easement area for weeds and trash. There are some beautiful native plants in this area; prune or thin as needed to show them to their advantage. Add mulch or wood chips as needed. Note: I pulled a number of tall dandelion weeds from this area, but overall it looks like a lovely tapestry of plants.

🚫 Arrange for a pruning estimate to trim the oak. Note: we had the oak tree pruned last fall, and it still looks good – no branches overhanging the house or traffic. It will probably be good for another five years unless something changes. The rest of the trees and shrubs look good for now.