writer traveler photographer

Day 20 … played hooky

Ever notice how dandelions look pretty fuzzy at first glance  … but get up close and personal with one and WOW! What you can see is simply astounding. Puts me in mind of that old saying, “There’s more here than meets the eye …”

4 sm

When I was rained out of axe throwing in Barrington today, at first I was disappointed. Then I realized that I’ve been running on fumes of late. So the notion of having a “free” day made me a little giddy and I went back to bed. Hence, zip to report.

But I did have an “aha” moment that I would like to share. It has to do with dandelions. Normally when I look at dandelions I see a bunch of fuzzy things. But when I take the time to look closer and pay attention, a whole new world pops into view. And that’s what TJP is all about: having that 3-D dandelion experience–in my own backyard. It’s really all about discovering what lies underneath. That “More here than meets the eye …” stuff.

I’ve had dozens of dandelion moments in the life of TJP but it’s going to take me some time to reflect on and synthesize what I’ve experienced.

I’ve started to keep some notes loosely titled “lessons learned.”  Hope you’ll all help me out by sharing your thoughts. Would love to get a conversation going.

Meanwhile, I’m resting up for tomorrow …

 

 

 

4 Comments

  1. Jennie Morrow Jennie Morrow
    July 27, 2015    

    Wonderful topic- dandelions. To expand a little on your dandelion observation, it is also true that we can look at the same thing at different times of our lives and, according to where we are at, according to what we bring to the moment, the thing can look very different. Perhaps that is what this wonderful (later) time of life is for; for reflection. But not the kind of reflection that you have captured in your riverbank photographs where the water image becomes a flipped duplicate of the real. Our later in life reflections are affected by the currents of our lives, are rippled by the wind and are colour dependent upon the weather; in other words they are so much more interesting for our having lived. Just as the dandelion becomes more interesting as it ages, so do we. I’m looking more and more like a dandelion everyday and loving it.

    • July 27, 2015    

      Oooh, I love this Jennie! It also occurred to me this morning that dandelions-when thick and lush and yellow–are also very dense. Gorgeous, but dense. Almost impenetrable to the eye as the petals are so jammed together. Then, little by little, the heads mature and there’s a total transformation. It’s gradual but the result is bloody dramatic. Much more so than most living things that die. I mean, you can recognize a dying or dead oak leaf as an oak leaf. But a wispy dandelion head as a yellow dandelion? There’s no resemblance. Yet it’s still a dandelion. So I’m thinking about that.

      And the light! there is so much light dancing through the space around those miniscule hairs on the dandelion’s head. As we age, here’s to our dandelion heads getting more and more light … and being less jammed.

  2. Rose-Marie Lohnes Rose-Marie Lohnes
    July 27, 2015    

    Ah, the lonely, often maligned dandelion. I used to pick tender dandelion greens for my grandmother and folks in our little community surreptitiously made dandelion wine and often fermented it in their workshops. We were cautioned never to mention it. 🙂 Nowadays, we ignore the hints of some of our neighbours who both “weed and feed” their lawns – attracting chich bugs. We amile and enjoy the dandelion’s decorative yellow splashes amongst the othee “weeds” in our yard…..mowing anything that is green. Good on you to cekebrate the dandelion’s surprising complexity. Rose-Marie

    • July 27, 2015    

      Love the story about the old folks surreptitiously making dandelion wine. Sweet. And I’m happy to hear you enjoy/appreciate YOUR dandelions!

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