Day 5

Feather found while hiking the Appalachian Trail. (It was a sweltering hot day and the trail meandered along the borders of fields and swampy bits of woodland. Three feathers lay in the middle of the trail, almost as if by magic. I remember clutching them in my sweaty hand, afraid they'd get crushed in my pack. Eventually, they did. I reached the road and lost the trail for a few seconds and wandered blindly, guessing it went further down, waving to 5 young Amish girls of staggered ages wearing pristine pale colored dresses, long braids and bonnets, wishing I could ask them where the heck the trail went. They politely waved back while staring at the strange woman wearing purple zebra striped spandex and a backpack. The wind was whipping wildly and I seem to recall bits of cottonwood sailing through the air like snow. I mailed the feathers to myself from the next post office and never bothered to figure out what they are. I like to guess woodpecker. But that's just a guess.) Plants are dead Indian Pipe (also known as Corpse plant!) White satin ribbon saved from a previous holiday and reused. Brown satin from a drawstring that fell out of the band of my sweatpants.