Summer's Snow

Muscovites strolling on Beryuzova Ulitsa amid summer flurries of pukh. The word pukh means fluff, down or fuzz, and Moscow residents use the term to describe the weightless stuff that floats down from the city's poplar trees each summer.

A woman brushing away yet another piece of pukh. The fluffy seed is found, or finds its way, into every corner of the city, including courtyards and apartments.

The pigeon's landing may be softer in the white fluff, but there's still the large canine to contend with. A young man walking his dog on a summer day.

It really does get everywhere. The seeds floating through an underpass.

But it sure beats driving through real snow in Moscow.

Pukh is a temptation for those who like to watch things burn. It acts like flash powder, lighting up in an instant. Here, a smoker holding his cigarette as he ponders the material underfoot.

Sometimes, though, it really is child's play. A girl sliding and laughing in a patch of the stuff.

A red-headed woman readying her tissue for a sneeze, with a brown-haired woman perching on the bench next to her. The brunette woman has a piece of pukh stuck on the top of her hair.

A man taking cover under an overhang. Unfortunately, this type of "snow" is unavoidable.

Workers taking a smoke break while lounging in the grass and the pukh. If these men were part of the legions who fight off the city's summer snow, their break is very well-deserved.