CORONA TREE

My son Alex and I were walking in our neighborhood when I happened to notice a tree in someone’s front yard. I stopped and pointed to one of the berries hanging from the tree. “Is it just me or is everything starting to look like the corona virus?”

Alex started to laugh. “Nope. That certainly looks a lot like the pictures they keep showing us when they’re talking about it.”

“I’ve never seen this berry before.” I took out my phone and snapped a picture of it. “Or maybe I just never noticed it before.” I checked the screen to see if I liked the shot. “That’s a keeper.” I slipped my phone back in my pocket as we continued our walk.

“Why did you take a picture of it?”

“Because I want to post it to a nature group I belong to on Facebook. They’re really good at identifying different plants and trees.”

Alex laughed. “You could just Google it yourself.”

“Nah.” I shook my head. “It’s more fun posting it. The people in the nature group have so much information and they love to share!” I reached in my pocket and took out my phone again. “You know what?” I began scrolling through Facebook until I reached the group I was looking for. “I’m just going to post it now.” I attached the picture with the note, ‘Does anyone know what this is?” hit post and looked over at Alex as I put my phone away. “I bet I have an answer before we even get home from our walk.”

It was a beautiful day out, full sun with a nice breeze. While we were about half way through our walk I decided to check my phone.

“Do you really think you’re going to have an answer this soon?” Alex sounded doubtful as it had only been a few minutes.

Looking at my notifications I could see I had indeed gotten a reply.

“Yup! I got an answer.” I held up my phone out for Alex to see. “It’s a Kousa dogwood.” I went to Google and typed it in. Clicking on the first link I showed the picture of the flowering tree to Alex. “Now I remember them. They were the ones we really liked this Spring with all the white flowers on them.”

Alex took a closer look. “Oh yeah. I remember them.”

Feeling very satisfied I tucked the phone back in my pocket. “See I told you I can always depend on that Facebook group.”

Alex nodded his head and laughed. “I guess I shouldn’t have doubted them.”

We were almost back home when I pulled out my phone again.

“What are you doing now?” Alex asked. “Didn’t they already answer your question?”

“They did. But sometimes they add extra information I wouldn’t have thought about.” I scrolled through my notifications again. “Yup! I was right! More people answered!” I began reading them when I couldn’t help but grimace. “Yuck!”

“What’s wrong?” Alex asked.

I held up the post. “It says the fruit is edible.” I gave a quick shudder and shook my head. “Nope! Not eating one!”

I scrolled down further. “Here’s someone else saying he heard you could make jelly out of them.” I looked at Alex who was shaking his head no.

I quickly went to Google and typed it in. “It’s a thing!” I showed Alex the link to Dogwood jelly.

Alex looked at me with a questioning look on his face.

“Don’t worry. I’m right there with you on that one. No corona tree jelly for us!” I could sense Alex’s relief as I tucked the phone back in my pocket and we headed back to the house.