Young mushroom

This mushroom popped up in a penstemon I bought at the Fullerton College plant sale a few weeks ago, and was planting yesterday.  The spore print is a little smeared -- the cap dried up and shrank to much less than a quarter of its original size during the time I was taking the print (overnight) -- but is clearly black in color.

Perhaps Coprinopsis friesii or one of the Parasola plicatilis group?

October sunrise

Black widow spider

We caught this in the house this morning. I had brought in some stonecrop that I haven't potted yet, and the spider had apparently been hiding inside it. It is the western black widow spider (Latrodectus hesperus), native to California and famous for its venomous bite.  This is a female; the males are brown and much smaller, in fact hardly resembling this at all.

It was a bit difficult to get a good photo, as the camera wanted to focus on the glass of the jam jar, not on the spider, but the top photo is what you would ordinarily see, and the bottom photo is of course the distinctive red-orange "hour glass" shape on its abdomen. 

More on black and brown widows from the UC Integrated Pest Management program and the Hastings Natural History Reservation.

Moon with cirrus clouds

A full moon with pink cirrus clouds at sunrise, around seven o'clock this morning.

October skies

The skies have been so gorgeous lately that I confess it's hard to resist.

October sky