Showy Aster

A few of us were invited to return to one of our absolute favourite places - Rod Handfield's acreage, SW of the city. This is always such a treat, and Rod and his wife are always so welcoming. They have an amazing forest that is usually full of so many fungi species in August. However, we knew that this was not going to be the case on 6 August, as everywhere is bone dry. While in the forest, our leader said that normally, we would have seen 75+ species of fungus by then. Instead, we saw maybe three very small mushrooms that I didn't even bother to photograph, plus a little cluster of Oyster mushrooms that were growing from the end of a fallen log. I don't know if the situation is likely to change, even if we got a lot of rain in the next little while. We have had some rain the last couple of days, but most likely not enough to make any difference.

Our morning hike was still very enjoyable, of course, and in pleasant weather and with good friends. There was a bit of smoke haze, which has been with us most of the time for weeks now.

After the hike, seven of us went for lunch in the tiny strip mall in the hamlet of Priddis, on the way home. Friends had said how good the food is at Jane's Cafe, and we agreed. Made a lovely end to our botany morning.