The Fuzzie-Wuzzies Are Back

Spring in Bulgaria is accompanied by an unusual occurrence that I’ve never seen anywhere else before – and I’m talking about the Fuzzie-Wuzzies that float in the air.

They must come from some kind of tree, but I have yet to discover which – and considering the amount of fluff floating in the air, there must be a lot of them in the city. It starts off with very little balls of fluff that float around – almost reminding you of snow, but they don’t melt. As time goes on, they gather their forces together and unite in bigger and bigger balls of cottony-looking fluff. The heavier balls don’t float, but gather in the corners of your porch and wait for the chance to blow into your house as soon as you leave a door open. Then they dance around your room and dare you to try and catch them and throw them back outside where they’ll only gather together with other fluff balls, and make their way inside again.

Sofia isn’t the only city in Bulgaria that I’ve seen these in. I remember encountering them last spring on some of our trips around the country. I’d be interested to know where they come from, if anyone out there knows!

In the meantime, I’ll keep throwing them out of the house until they finally disappear altogether!

Comments

  1. KalinaMay 27, 2010 at 11:20 PM

    The "Fuzzie-Wuzzies" are the seed tufts of a tree called "топола". And as I found on wikipedia is called Poplar. I believe the exact species we have here in Bulgaria is Black Poplar.

    ReplyDelete
  2. David OckerMay 28, 2010 at 5:51 AM

    I can't tell which one of you wrote the post, but Ellis would have seen these trees in Sioux City - we called them cottonwoods. I just looked it up (also on Wikipedia) and cottonwoods are in the poplar family.

    ReplyDelete
  3. baresytapasMay 30, 2010 at 9:14 AM

    I have visited this blog by accident, but I found it quite interesting. You're doing a good job (and most importantly it's free). A greeting.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ellis and Jodie's Bulgarian AdventureJune 3, 2010 at 5:27 PM

    Thanks for all your comments. I (Ellis) must have seen these "fuzzie wuzzies" (as Jodie calls them) in my youth, but I certainly can't recall them!

    ReplyDelete
  5. MartinJune 15, 2010 at 7:51 PM

    ...and yes, they cause allergy to many people :/
    i am sneezing a good one month because of them.

    ReplyDelete

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