Fluff Season

Late spring. The lilacs are fading, turning brown and losing their lovely scent. Time for fluff to take over. At first glance, the cottonwood fluff looks like snow. It is so light that each tiny breeze provides a distraction for the winged seeds to follow. Unimpressed by gravity, they seem to fall sideways rather than down.

Driving along the beach yesterday, I opened the windows wide to catch the wonderful scents of the season. Fluff drifted in and out of the moving car. The road left the beach and passed a pond where a heron waited knee deep in patient stillness, undistracted by fluff flying slowly past his head to land and float on the pond around him.

Back at home, I looked at the deck where we've put the patio furniture, ready for outdoor sitting. Fluff drifted lazily across the pebbled glass table top, adorned cobwebs in the corner of the porch.

Soon the fluff will be everywhere. On the porches and lawns, it will drift along and pile up in small clumps where it hits obstacles. It will accumulate between the doors and windows and their screens, and sneak inside when one or the other is opened. Each time we look through a window, it will be drifting lazily by.

In our area, the arrival of fluff season is a sure sign that spring is already waning. Fluff is a harbinger of lazy summer heat.