The path through the dandelions

I couldn't resist another walk up the hill to the bluebell wood and now have more bluebell photos than I know how to choose between, but this time I took the field path instead of the lane, and soaked up the wonderful golden expanse of dandelions that covers the entire hillside every spring. I've always liked dandelions. They are such a wonderful, perfect shade of yellow, and have such intricate petals, followed by the wonderful softness, delicacy and play value of their seed heads. My dad, the vegetable gardener, was plagued by them and struggled for decades to eradicate them from his plot; my mum enjoyed their cheerful colour and I think was privately glad that he was never entirely successful. Now, I don't even try to remove them from the large area of former meadow that was sold to us as lawn, though we do what we can to dig the long tap roots out of the vegetable beds. Many of them are so long established that their roots run deep into the subsoil - they have probably been regenerating for centuries, and will be here long after we are gone.