The Irony of the Dandelion

This morning Pip and I arrived on UBC campus for my Grad student conference. I had forgotten about child care today and decided to take her along as it is a fairly casual conference. We parked the car and Pip skipped excitedly towards some dandelions, "Mom! Daisies! Can I pick some?" And she picked me a lovely bouquet.

She was a doll during the sessions and at lunch. She played on the i-pad quietly. We even attended an unusual performance-art demo on the campus lawn. The artist was like a dog in heat: sniffed all of the audience members, stared deep into their eyes and wrapped her legs around various ones and humped their legs. She was dressed as a male/female morph--all the right "stuff" where it was needed. Anyway, she didn't hump the Pip and I--I was happy to have the Pip with me as that kind of performance-art attention would have been awkward. I just laughed at the artist's antics. Pip, believing she herself is a dog anyway, probably found the performance very realistic as she laughed with me.

So, after the lunch (no one seemed to run for the table with the adorable little girl at it???) we left as I felt desperate to prepare for my presentation tomorrow. Thus, here I am blogging when I need to prepare! As we pulled in the drive, Artemis and her nanny Laura walked by to see if Pip wanted to join them at the park--that is where she is now. So I must sign off to work.

But before I do I must share a little about the dandelion pics I took. They were inspired by today's events. Pip's glee at discovering some and then the conversation I had in my sister's office before the conference session started. Miranda brought it to our attention that the dandelion flower head is actually up to hundreds of separate flowers and the head of a dandelion is actually an entire bouquet.
I thought that so eloquent.
The dandelion is the most vilified of flowers in our culture. Everyone spends money, sweat and poison irradicating them from their lawns (except us! We love them). However, they are the most beautiful, edible flower out there; so willing to cover one's yard with colour-beauty and a food source. So, it was a delight to discover that not only is the lovely, yellow head a simple, single flower, but each blossom is in actuality an entire bouquet. Such grandeur and beauty to discover in a single vilified "weed"--an entire bouquet in each flower.