The Tenacity of Dandelions

Today is the first warm day of the year. The beech tree in the garden next to the lane has turned from bud to leaf, from the trunk outwards, from the inside out. The hedges are thickening up and the views across the fields are changing, closing in, shrinking distances. The lawn has grown again and the old paths I mentioned have reappeared. The dandelions have come back with a vengeance; the grass is dotted with their nodding yellow heads and there seem to be more of them now than before I worked on the lawn. A new feeling comes with the sunshine, we feel more open, less huddled. It has been a long winter. We have had the heating on and fires lit since October, six or seven months ago. But today feels like summer.