Photo Update

   Spring has returned in all its shades of green, and brought with it the first blooms of the year. While many consider the dandelion to be naught but a weed, there are those among us who see it as much more.
    I went out one day early in May and photographed its glorious gold as it peppered the grass with blazes of glowing contrasts. When I look at dandelions, I always think back to the days when my daughters were toddlers. They gathered endless bouquets of the lemon coloured flowers for me. I always brought them in to put in water, in a little baby food jar I kept especially for that purpose. As a kindergarten teacher, I was showered with the same honour every spring when my little charges arrived for their classes, and I put those towheaded stems in water, too.
   The dandelion has a long history of being used by people as more than just camera fodder. Check this site out for the list, which includes everything from salad and sandwiches to wine and beer, not to mention its pharmaceutical uses. In this photo gallery, you'll see a shot of a brave little tulip that somehow escaped the confines of the cultivated beds for the freedom of a field sprinkled with dandelions.

   About a week after my romp among the Leontodon taraxacum, I grabbed my camera and headed back out, this time in search of the darling buds of May. I am a true daughter of the north, regarding the winter as the very best season of all, but I can find beauty in the early spring, as well. When the buds are just beginning to open, the trees look as though they have been frosted with green icing. Everywhere you look, there is such promise. The spring is a past master of tantalizing with hints of glory to come. That was what I wanted to capture with my lens as I walked through nearby parks and a ravine into scenes bursting with vernal verve.