“Alright bug, time to head inside for your nap!” I shouted from our boulevard garden.
“I just need three minutes to get all these flowers.”
And so I helped her collect dandelions for three minutes, this arbitrary time unit she has chosen to mean as long as it takes.
The shady patches yield the best weeds: leggy gold tufts towering over grass, shin-high to a three and a half year-old. One well-placed grab and snap through the hollow stem.
She remembered the last time she collected her beautiful bouquet. The tangle of bright flora turned into a heap of gray chicken food. She said, “Remember yesterday all my flowers got little and tired?” Yesterday is another time measurement that means sometime before right now.
So we filled a bucket with water and the dandelions swam while she slept.
Yesterday we collected wishes for three minutes too.
:: :: ::
all photos taken with a Canon Digital SLR from Vanns.com
25 Comments
That is adorable! My daughter Jocelyn has started saying, “one time?” which means as many more times as she can before I say enough.
So lovely! Thanks for sharing!!
I love their expressions for time…my daughter says “remember a long day ago when I did ___.”
Nici- I love these focused, beautiful little vignettes. Awesome photos, so colors are so saturated!
xox
Melina
How beautiful. 🙂
Photos are gor-ge-ous! The new camera suits you well!
(Can’t wait til my little one can stand on her own so I can hold the camera with both hands and step away to photograph her!)
I love this post. Such a perfect moment with your little bug. 🙂
So sweet! My husband is not a fan of dandelion “weeds”, but I think they’re so pretty – I always pick some for my little one when we’re out on walks. I happened upon your lovely blog via Kelle Hampton’s Enjoying the Small Things, and really look forward to your posts. Have a super day!
Love how you captured this moment….3 minutes forever saved.
And your landscaping is soooo beautiful….I could sit for hours amongst it all.
Margot is so DARLING…..her face AND words!
Kelly
I have a just-turned-four year old daughter and her phrase to use with me is “five more minutes”. If I mention five minutes later what she said, she tells me- “no daddy, five more minutes”.
I try to catch her and her little brother in pictures but yours set the bar a lot higher. Great photos.
Jeff
http://eighthacrefarm.blogspot.com
What an amazing transition from the cool blue hues of winter to the warm dandelion glow of spring melting into summer. Love these shots!
,,,one can only imagine within the 3 minute time frame what her wishes must have been,,,(smile)
So sweet. My daughter’s “before” word used to be “this morning”. “Mama, remember this morning, when I was a baby…”
Ah, I miss this morning 🙂
I love setting out the dandelions that my son picks for me. My friends think I’m nuts, but I think that they’re beautiful 🙂
Such a beautiful post!
Love the pic!
Love “Collecting Wishes”
Dandelion wine? Cmon now!
My Ceci is now nearly 5 but not long ago, she used the phrase “last night” to indicate anything that happened before right now.
Margot~ You are so going to love to look back and read all the love your mama has written about…you…for you.
I Love You A Bushel & A Peck!
Gram
ps….You sitting with your freshly picked flowers bouquet is my latest screen saver! xoxo
I have never made dandelion wine! Maybe this year! Anyone have links or recipes to share?
My dad made it once – I’ll try to dig up his recipe. He also made a great dandelion vodka. Soak the leaves in vodka and let them infuse until you like the taste.
Sorry! Meant blossoms not leaves!! But the leaves make a good salad…
Found it! Here’s the recipe:
6 qts dandelion petals
1 lb white raisins (chopped)
3 lbs granulated sugar
2 lemons
2 oranges
1 gallon water
Montrachet wine yeast
Put water on to boil. Meanwhile, wash flowers trim off all greenery, leaving petals only. Put 4 quarts of petals in primary and thinly slice lemons and oranges onto petals. Pour in boiling water and cover. Stir daily for 10 days, then strain off pulp and squeeze to extract all liquid. Bring this liquid to boil and add 2½ pounds sugar, stirring to dissolve. Return to primary, add chopped raisins and cover. When cooled to room temperature, add wine yeast and recover. When fermentation is vigorous, add remaining two quarts of petals and recover primary. Ferment 7-10 days, stirring daily, and then strain wine into secondary and fit airlock without topping up. After two weeks, add ¼ cup of sugar-water (remaining ½ pound sugar dissolved in 1 cup water) every other day until secondary is full. Then ferment to completion. Rack and age 3 months. Stabilize, wait 2-3 weeks, and rack into bottles. Age another 6 months minimum.
Burb…Your great great Nell, lived in East Missoula, used to make the most incredible, kick-ass, dandelion wine known to woman!! I used to have her recipe…I’ll look for it 🙂
xoxo
What’s up, just wanted to mention, I liked this blog post. It was helpful. Keep on posting!