I remember these as a kid, we called them puffballs. I’m not sure where my little kid's mind heard this, but I believed that if I picked the puffball, made a wish, and blew all the little white things high into the sky and my wish would come true. I assumed these were little white fairies. The trick was to blow all of the fairies off the stem in one blow. Walking to and from school I’d be on the lookout for the fairy stuffed puff balls
Some of my wishes did come true. As a child I never took the time to look closely at this fairy puffball, what did these fairies look like.
Just recently I was on a hike in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and came across a gathering of these fairy puff balls. I noticed that these puffballs were three times the size of the ones I found as a kid in the suburbs.
I took the time to say hello and took a closer look. Wow, I was overwhelmed by the intricacies of nature. They do look like fairies, attached by their toes to what looks like a button of a launch pad and their white delicate tufts of hair on their heads.
Overwhelmed by wonder I stood there in admiration. Who or what created this?
Any botany class will tell you these are seeds and they are designed to be light and fairy-like so they can move far and wide.
Brilliant.
Fairies or seeds, is there a difference? I was fascinated by these lovely creatures of nature as a kid, and I am in awe of them as an adult.
Taking a breath, I made a wish and blew as hard as I could, and sent the fairies to tend to my wishes. and to help these beauties to live to bloom another day.
Grow on dear ones, grow on.