I take the title of my blog (“Footprints in the Wind”) from a photo I once saw. Those dandelion seed heads look to me like that plant’s fairy footsteps, a reminder of how every living thing makes its way in this world.
Here’s the original photo:
I’ve been drawn to dandelions for many years. Not just the yellow flower heads which nod and beckon in even the best-kept lawn…but those same flowers after their transformation.
The word itself is from French, dent de leon, tooth of lion. Poetry in a name!
Whimsical, ephemeral, magical. Those footprints climb as high as my imagination can fly.
Here is a favorite kind of image for me—a botanical one which is artful without trying to be:
Taraxacum officianale, of the great family of Asteraceae. I think it was Ralph Waldo Emerson who wrote: “What is a weed, but a plant whose virtues are not yet understood?”
Here’s another look at a dandelion, stripped to its essence, in a photo called “Reflections” by David Ingham:
I found the photo below in a Yahoo! photo gallery years ago, one whose photographer I cannot discover. For me, it captures the simple joys of discovery and youth.
One of my favorite images is this original watercolor by a dear friend, Susan Wilson. She tells me that the wind is blowing away all the negative in her mind, like those tufts of dandelion you can see in the upper left.
I close with a photo that mirrors my love of the seedhead:
Footprints in the wind 