What's even better than finding a cool mushroom? Finding someone who shares your joy.

One day when I was feeling sad, I took a walk and found exactly what I needed to feel happy again — someone taking pictures of a mushroom.

That was cool.

Because while I usually seek solitude in the woods, a sneaker wave of loneliness had me craving human interaction. And like a raft floating by just when I needed it, a fellow mushroom lover was the perfect person to pull me out of my depression.

I first saw him the day before, yet hadn’t been curious enough to investigate why he was hunched over a camera in the woods. But when I saw him again the next day with a tripod set up under the same trees, I felt compelled to approach.

 
“Are you filming?” I asked, figuring only making something like a stop-action movie would require him to spend so much time in one spot.

“I’m taking pictures of this mushroom,” he said, explaining that he thought it might be a new species of cortinarius. And not satisfied with the pictures he took the day before, he came back to take more.

That began one of the best conversations I’ve ever had with a stranger; no awkward small talk, just me asking tons of questions about the mushroom that he patiently answered.

“What makes it different — it’s more purpley?”

“Yes, it’s more purpley,” he said with a laugh. “That’s a perfectly good way to tell them apart.”

To verify whether the “more purpley” mushroom was indeed a new species, he planned to send some of it off to a lab, and I smiled thinking of someone having the lucky job of testing mushroom DNA.

I also smiled afterward realizing that he could easily be my son, thinking how cool it would be if I had been able to have a child and they became such a smart, kind person who loved mushrooms as much as I did.

But coolest of all was how that mushroom had helped both of us: Because the young man was also sad, having recently left his rural hometown to attend college in a concrete jungle where he, like me, was feeling cut off from the things he loved.

“It’s awful,” he said of his new city. “I hate it.”

So maybe that mushroom was indeed a new species, created to make us smile. As if somehow us mushroom lovers had tapped into the underground web that connects fungus in the forest. And sensing our sadness, nearby mushrooms had sent someone to help.

That was very cool.

The photo above is actually of my friend Nathan, who also loves finding mushrooms and taking their pictures, but I did take video of the young man and me talking about the mushroom he found:

My Grandmother’s Journals: June, 1998

My grandmother, left, and lifelong friend Mina, center.

For decades, my grandmother kept a diary of her days, writing down when she woke up, what she ate, what movie she went to see and what she watched on TV before bed.

 

That was cool.  

Because they are just about my favorite things to read these days, both entertaining and comforting. I love escaping into her routine: tea and Corn Flakes for breakfast, watching tennis after yard work, fast food for lunch, catching a movie after mailing off a letter to one of her friends, then doing a crossword puzzle while Siskel & Ebert advise which movie to see next.

From 1984 until she turned 91 in 2006, she lived alone in a mobile home park in Santa Cruz, Calif., but I never saw her as lonely. She had many friends she kept in touch with over phone calls and letters, and was especially close with her lifelong friend Mina (pictured above), whom she met while both were orphans being raised at a Masonic home in Covina, Calif.

So while she was a devoted correspondent, otherwise she was an extremely independent, frugal and persnickety woman whom I never knew to live with another person or even a pet after raising my mother by herself in Los Angeles in the 1940s and 50s. (I wrote more about my grandmother’s life in this post.) 

Her mobile home was close to the famous surfing spot Pleasure Point, and nearly every day she walked there to watch the ocean and anyone surfing on it.   

 

So when she died at 97 in 2013, I took her ashes to those waves with one of her friends, and we each dropped some ashes at the sand.

 

In June of 1998, she was 82-years-old, adjusting to the “heat” of summer on the Central Coast, watching tennis and trying to get her VCR repaired so she could record her shows!

May entries.

 

Monday, June 1, 1998

Up 6 a.m. Breakfast, etc.

Left about 8:30, Carla drive me down hill.

87 miles to GG Bridge, stopped at BK.

Gas at Sebastopol. 168 miles, 33.6 mpg.

No hang-ups til Hwy 1, cutting trees.

To Longs for BP.

Mail: Letter from Prudy.

Elliott left pansy in hanging pot.

Bed early.

Tuesday, June 2, 1998

Up 7. Tea, etc. Walked on cliff.

Called Burger King.

Tennis: Hingis vs. Williams

Called BK again, then drove there. No go.

Worked in patio.

Mail arrived, Mina sent books. Two packages.

Called TCI, no info. Did not call back.

Bed after Mystery, To Die For, on Ch. 22. BBC.

Wednesday, June 3, 1998

Awake 6:45. Tea, etc.

Called Mina, 25 mins. Little mother cat disappeared.

To TCI, paid 1 year: $324.40.

To library, got book. “The Lost World of the Kalahari.”

To show, “The Horse Whisperer.” Over 2 hours. Beautiful photography.

Home, Justine left message, called back. 

She to Costco, saw cordless phone for 69.99. Will put money in.

 

Thursday, June 4, 1998

Not great sleep. Awake 4, up 6:15.

Tea, etc. Watered lawn. 

Longs: BP, Corn Flakes, tuna.

Bank, deposited $75 in Justine's acct.

Ate at Kmart.

Mail: Two packages from Carla; flashlight and immerser.

Hot. Bed 8ish.

Friday, June 5, 1998

Rested til 7. Tea, etc. Sunny.

Wrapped Carla and Mina’s packages.

Watched tennis a bit, wrote Carla.

Sent $261 check to H. (J: $75 fone, $35 mirror, $30 cat, $21 vase.)

To post office: 2.31 to Carla, 1.24 to Mina.

Drug Emporium: BP, emery boards + TV Guide.

Lunch at Kmart. 

Home, ironed shirts, read some papers.

TV: Frank Sinatra on A&E.

Saturday, June 6, 1998

Up 7. Tea, etc.

To Wherehouse. Love at the BBC, released 1994. CD single 6.95, complete 31. 4 sides?

Longs: More Corn Flakes, donut.

Home, tennis. Commentator Chris Evert; her voice so much more musical than Tracy Austin's.

TV: News, Bravo: “House of Games.”

Sunday, June 7, 1998

Awake 7. Tennis.

Showered, cut hair.

To show, “Wild Man Blues,” Woody Allen. I enjoyed. Not the greatest musicians or singers, some funny happenings.

Ate here.

Cloudy in am, sunny in pm.

TV: X-Files, Siskel & Ebert, 60 Mins.

Bed 8ish.  No sleep til 12. Took melatonin.

 

Monday, June 8, 1998

Awake 4 a.m., rested til 8. Slept??

Up 8, tea. Vacuumed til 10.

Out, paper. Coffee at McDonald's 42 cents now for seniors. New coffee.

Got gasoline, sandwich at KFC.

Mail: Package from Paris, sent 5/17. 

Warm afternoon.

TV: A&E Bio Andy Warhol. Some pix I have not seen.

Jim Lehrer interview with Jacques Cherac. Talked English!

Bed 8. No sleep til 12.

 

Tuesday, June 9, 1998

Awake 7, rested til 9. Tea, etc.

Wrote letter to Joan and Sally.

To post office, mailed 100 to Pioneer for H. [My sister’s birthday.]

To Kmart, chicken san for lunch, got Dinty Moore.

Mail: Book from Mina.

TV: A&E, Tennessee Williams; Inspector Jack Frost.

Mina called; poster arrived OK, but carton broken. Found mother cat’s body, put in garbage Dumpster.

Wednesday, June 10, 1998

Check tax, due 6/15.

Up 9, tea. 

Got BP two places. Coffee, donut.

No mail.

Worked on sorting books.

Tried VCR, no go.

TV: Swan Lake, Matthew Bourne, as I saw it in 1991.

Thursday, June 11, 1998

Awake 7:30. Tea, etc. Ready by 10.

To Logo’s with 12 books, returned with 5 of them. Bought 6 of Sue Grafton to send to Mina.

Coffee and donut, had a headache.

Home to bed, aspirin and chicken soup.

Read some, rested. Better.

TV: News, A&E Truman Capote.

Read Kalahari until after midnight.

Slept fair. Cold in night.

Friday, June 12, 1998

Awake 6:30. Cold, needed heat.

Tea, etc. Packaged books for Mina: Grafton A, B, D, E, F, G.

Drug Emporium got cookies. BP 143.

To post office, books 1.24, 1.74. Got stamps.

To McDonald’s, got coffee.

To show, “Truman.” Well-constructed. Ed Harris was Christof.

Home after Lucky’s.

Mail: Bill from Visa was $426.29! 

Wrote Mina.

Saturday, June 13, 1998

Cold, overcast. Up 8. Tea, etc.

Cleaned floor of bath and kitchen, also drain boards of both.

To show, “Six days, seven nights.” Harrison Ford, Anne Heche. Believable, both good.

Ate Wendy’s.

Warm, sun out.

Home after stop at bank to get $200.

Snack later.

Read paper. Crossword.

Finished “Lost World of  the Kalahari.”

Sunday, June 14, 1998

Awake 7. Usual.

Some gardening.

To cliff. Sunny, surf good.

Donut/coffee. Home.

Shower, hair, etc. Two hours.

Watched “St. Louis Blues,” life of W.C. Handy with Nat King Cole. Not great. Stiff, but he tried.

TV: Siskel & Ebert, two thumbs up for “6 days/7 nights.” 60 Minutes a rerun.

Read paper, watered inside plants.

Monday, June 15, 1998

Awake 7, up 9. 

Watered lawn. Some weeds.

Drug Emporium, BP.

To library, returned two books.

Hot today. Stayed in out of heat, read paper. Worked on books, filing.

Wrote Prudy, cleaned out basket.

Called Justine, not in. She called, left message. I called back, talked long.

Tuesday, June 16, 1998

Slept good. Up 8. Usual tea, etc.

Wrote Carla.

To Kmart, looked for small bags of redwood, fertilizer.

Ate chicken sandwich, read paper.

To OSH, bought contact paper, donkey tail.

To TV repair for advice on VCR plugs.

Home, news. Worked on getting VCR out, made it. Re-hooked cable to TV.

TV: Silent Witness 6-8, Frasier at 9.

News, papers.

Wednesday, June 17, 1998

Awake 7:30, tea, etc.  Ready by 10!

Albertsons for milk, Drug Emporium for BP, TV Guide.

Home, got VCR to S.C. Repair. $115 to repair!

Dinner at Live Oak. Sat with Paul, Lois, Annabelle and Ginny.

Home 4:45. Moved Van Gogh to dining area, Hours of Berry to bedroom.

TV: News, Frasier, PBS, “American Masters.”

Thursday, June 18, 1998

Awake 7, up 9. Tired, watched TV late.

Could not hang the Berrys Hours, nail won't go in.

Drug Emporium: Newspaper, got pen & pencils, Scotch tape.

To Longs, got “C” for corpse, two Van der Post paperbacks.

TV: Geraldo, news, Diagnosis Murder.

 

Friday, June 19, 1998

Awake 7, ate 7:30. 

Yard work, trimmed west side.

Thrifty, got pix.

Bank, checked balance.

Home, message VCR ready.

Got "Hours" (Berry) out of frame to put on wall.

Wrote Justine.

To TV repair, mailed letter to J.

To Kmart, got Scotts for Ellie, redwood for me.

Lunch here. Golf, U.S. Open.

TV: Frasier, “Original Sin.”

Fair sleep. 

Saturday, June 20, 1998

Awake 7:15. Yard work, edged some.

Kmart, breakfast.

Paid bill at Mervyn’s.

Home, watched golf and tennis. Bjorn Borg vs. J. Conners. Conners won 2/3 sets.

TV: America's Most Wanted, because Maria Williams was to be mentioned. Very limited.

 

Sunday, June 21, 1998

Awake 7:30. Called Mina, talked long. 

She up, thought she might mourn cat’s death. Her daughters came to breakfast yesterday.

Showered, hair. Drug Emporium for BP, Longs for pix.

Wrote to Sandra, mailed.

TV: Golf, tennis. Connors v. McEnroe.

TV: Life of Ozzie and Harriet Nelson, “A Fish Called Wanda.”

Monday, June 22, 1998

Awake 7, usual. Changed sheets.

To library, various checks. Opossum for Mina, museums in SF & Oakland.

Coffee/donut on Ocean. Girl spilled her money.

Home, typed info on museums.

Called manager re lawns.

Mail: Second package from Paris, both torn and in plastic bags!

Called Justine and Mina, left messages. Neither called back.

TV: News, Frasier old, Cybill old.

 

Tuesday, June 23, 1998

Slept heavy. Awake 7:30, usual.

Watered plants, ready 9:30.

To Goodyear, oil change. Need two tires.

To mall, coffee at McDonald’s.

Looked for sleeveless beige sweater, none at Ross.

Home, rested. No mail. 

Live Oak for dinner. Sat with Vivian, Olive, Pat and Roy?

TV: Inspector Morse, part of "Appointment with Death," Poirot. 

 

Wednesday, June 24, 1998

Awake 7:30. Usual.

To laundromat, home.

To Sears for tires. Goodrich on sale, $166.28 for four with “road hazard.”

To donut/coffee. Woman had tire explode on freeway.

Got aspirin with rain check. 200 for 84 cents.

Home, cleaned under bathroom sink. Spilled soap.

To show, “The Perfect Murder.” Tense, good.

TV: News, Frasier rerun.

Thursday, June 25, 1998

Watered lawn, sprayed for cats.

To Drug Emporium. BP 147. Got TV Guide, candy!

Looked for vest in Penney’s, Mervyn’s, Sears after coffee.

Ate here, too much.

Wrote Mimi and card to McCoys. To post office.

Lawn cut, swept some.

 

Friday, June 26, 1998

Longs, sale on vitamins. Got calcium, garlic. TP.

To Goodwill for vests. $4.30 for two, one ecru, one white.

To bench to read papers. Woman fainting. Had been to Italy.

Man, 84, seven siblings, father of two, girl & boy.

Was in Long Beach in 1937 on Saratoga.

To bank for balance.

Home, watered. Fertilized lawn. Watered again.

Ran part of Stargate.

 

Saturday, June 27, 1998

Awake 7:30. Usual.

Fertilized outside plants.

Took some books to Washroom, woman there reads mysteries.

Drug Emporium, BP, crackers.

To post office, mailed package to Mina.

To show, "Fireworks." Mixed feelings. Talked to man seeing "Fury."

Home, ate here.

Read papers, did crossword.

Finished Stargate. 

Sunday, June 28, 1998

Up 8:30, usual.

Finally did crossword.

Wimbledon, Agassi lost. Sampras won.

Fog until 1:30. Read parts of English Patient.

Some TV: Siskel & Ebert, liked Clooney pix.

Monday, June 29, 1998

7:30, tea, etc.

Got paper.

Wimbledon, Serena W. fell, hurt leg. Retired. Venus won.

To library, looked at New Yorker and NY Times.

Home, 5:30 news.

Washed car and watered lawn in back.

TV: Discovery, City of the Dead: Alexandria.

Tuesday, June 30, 1998

Tennis: Sampras won, Hingis and Venus won.

Worked on changing witner to summer in storage boxes.

Called cable, August is free.

Called Justine, she to call back: Yes or No.

Wrote checks: Rent, DMV, also Medicare. No Money for Doctors on Duty.

To Longs, took pix  of checks.

July entries.