Dandelions

*I originally posted this about a year ago on a blog I no longer write*

Dandelions

When I got home this evening Roman our two year old was climbing up the walls with cabin fever having been stuck in the flat all day while lizi was cleaning it top to bottom.

It was still light and warm so I took him on a little walk to stretch his legs, we live right next to the Rodwell trail which is an ideal place for a wander or cycle.

The Rodwell trail follows the path of the old Weymouth to Portland railway that used to transport quarry workers adn the stone they mined on and off the island. It has been closed as a railway since the 1950s but has been given a new lease of life as a footpath with lovely smooth tarmac. The platforms for several stations still line the route and give an eerie glimpse of the past. There are some great photos here

As soon as we got onto the trail Roman started shouting at me about 'flowers, flowers Daddy!' and was soon grubbing about in the undergrowth, seemingly impervious to the great clumps of stinging nettles.

After he emerged with a handful of what I call Elderflowers, (i'm sure I have the plant name wrong but if you do ever want a positive ID on a plant or bug you have found the best place to go is Ispot where you can upload your pictures and have a geek check them for you), and starting puffing away I soon realised he was actually looking for a dandelion. I steered him towards something more suitable

Thus armed he has another go

only instead of blowing he sucked....yuck

The story does have a happy ending, I re-armed him and we spent some fun time blowing dandelion faries everywhere - hurrah!