We’re into he early throes of spring now, grass and weeds starting to surge from rent rains, leaves taking shape on the branches of all the trees and shrubs.
One of the harbingers of real spring in the woods here is the blossoming of the shad bush or serviceberry. It’s what I call an occasional tree, pretty infrequent here. In fact there’s less than a dozen or so in our entire 40 acres. So few, I set out last week to mark them so I could track them throughout the year. Tied a strip of orange on a branch then moved on search for another break of fleecy white in the woods.
Two falls ago, after all the leaves had fallen from the trees and a spot of bold pink suddenly appeared in the upper branches of one tree across the hollow. With my binoculars, I could make out a balloon tangled there. Over the next few months it gradually lost its shape as the helium leached away. One day, it was no longer visible and quickly forgotten.
As I searched for shadbushes last week I stumbled on a baggie holding a folded over wet piece of paper right below where that balloon had hung. I could make out a name, a place—Etta, MS- and a request “If you find this please call..”. So I did.
A woman answered, I asked for the name and she told me it was her six year old son who was not at home. When I explained the call she reasoned he must have released the balloon at school, either in nursery school or kindergarten. It traveled 350 miles here, but we’re not sure how long it took.
Whenever I stalk a shadbush I'll remember the reach of things scattered in the wind.
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