DERELICT DANDELION

We had a great service from Church and then a Zoom Coffee and Chat afterwards - it’s not what we are used to and we all agreed that we miss the personal contact and hugs from our Church family, but for the time being, this is what it has to be.

I went out for a walk afterwards - but Mr. HCB decided not come today, but I was quite happy with my own company.  I had seen a derelict tree some weeks ago and went back there to take some shots, it’s amazing how much all the cow parsley has grown up around it, but I got some decent photographs.  

Then I walked over to my little “sanctuary” and was thrilled to see a beautiful lilac tree and the smell was amazing.  There was no-one about, so I launched into one of my favourite Ivor Novello songs, "We'll Gather Lilacs"  - from the show, “Perchance to Dream” written in 1945, the year I was born, and actually some of the words are quite suitable for our present situation.  This is a very old recording of the song by Anne Zeigler and Webster Booth and is quite crackly, but I think that adds some atmosphere to it - although many of you will be too young to remember it! 

This brought back memories of me singing quite a lot of Ivor Novello songs when I used to go round to residential homes with a friend from Church, to entertain the residents,  just after we were first married, and these sort of songs were always very popular.  

When I got home after my walk, I couldn’t decide which of the photographs to use so asked Mr. HCB for his opinion and in his own words, he said that I had “messed about with it”.  I told him it was known in photographic parlance as “editing” and he just smiled that enigmatic smile of his, which said it all!

However, once again, I have changed my mind because I had also seen this little dandelion, which looks derelict, half the seeds having blown away already - and no doubt many of them have landed in our grass!  There is something about a dandelion head that is so beautiful, even when some of the seeds are gone.  And who remembers picking a dandelion seed head, blowing all the seeds off and making a wish?

“If dandelions were hard to grow,
     they would be most welcome
          on any lawn.”
Andrew Mason