Dandelions

Thinking Dandelions ~ I was just thinking about Dandelions this weekend, I even took this picture over the weekend, with a 'maybe' on if  I'd work up a Dandelions blog post. "Direct synchronicity" hit this morning...

@WISCTV_News3 (Madison, Wisconsin television station)  twitter feed had a story indicating Dandelions will be abundant this season:  Dandelions More Numerous This Spring.

I love to think. Sometimes my brain simply will not cooperate as I would like it to. This weekend's Dandelions 'think festival' was actually fairly brief.

1.  I've always loved the bright yellow color of blooming Dandelions. Such a happy color and easy to see.

2.  It took time for my fingers to 'catch on' when I was a child to make those Dandelion chains and Dandelion crowns.  My Auntie who grew the Shasta Daisies surely did not offer the precious dedication of raising them flowers up as to allow their blooms to be sacrificed in these ways. Dandelions were in plentiful supply. I think I remember some yellow fingers and thumbs from handling them. I think I remember having to scrub wash my hands after any extended playing time with Dandelions because I think I remember having 'itchy hands'.  I think I remember getting 'swacked' in the face (during playtime, in fun) where the milk from the stem came in contact with my skin and left a 'red mark' on one of my cheekbones for quite a long time.

3.  Over the years remembering so many Dandelion analogies and/or metaphors for life, I also remembered the first one I ever heard. That very week my childish lips stopped blowing the fuzzy headed Dandelions to the wind.  A little vague now and even to some perhaps a little 'dark',  it came from a church service preaching about not letting sin tap into your heart like the Dandelion root and not allowing sin in your own life to grow and propagate being distributed to the world around you. This young child while maybe not exactly understanding all of that sermon never blew another fuzzy Dandelion to the wind.

Dandelions are Dandelions. As far as analogies and/or metaphors for life; I believe there are positive qualities to offer.  "Pffff, blow that fuzzy headed Dandelion like it is ____ and put it on the wind." <--- JOY, FAITH, HOPE, LOVE, TRUST (to name a few).

That deep Dandelion tap root can be said to be a steadying anchor, a tenacious need to exist, survive and thrive. I am positive you can think your own Dandelions thoughts, a few or a lot!

4.  I wanted to see what other Dandelions thoughts were out on this Internet.  I found these to share:

Lessons From A Dandelion by Donna Doyon ~ Inspirational ~ (About a 3 minute read, one of those reads so beautifully said and written, I knew I could never say this better!)

Fun With Dandelions by Diane Flynn Keith from Universal Pre-School ~ A delightful page, so much there (about a 10 minute read)

The Lesson Of The Dandelion by Miriam Rockness in a blog about the art and writings of Lilias Trotter ~ A very unique spiritual perspective with religious significance ( about an 8 minute read, only you will want to read it over again, maybe even several times)

The Dandelion Approach by Daniel Goodall on his ALL THAT IS GOOD blog.  ~ how that Dandelion relates to marketing, very sound points made (about an 8 minute read).

5.  The 'real' Dandelions in either your front or backyard may be considered a blessing or a curse or even both. (I'm not happy about the abundance of them in my own yards this year.) Today we got together and shared some Dandelions thinking. That has to count for something. Obviously, as you can gather from my picture above, my back yard is also being taken over by Quackgrass which is a whole 'another' subject I may or may not get to in this blog.

Find me @grammakaye on twitter. As always, feel free to leave a comment.

Edited: May 29, 2013