When I was a little girl, I used to love to make dandelion crowns in the summer when I played "dress up".  I loved the cheery little yellow blooms.  Much as my parents thought they were pests and weeds in our yard, I loved them.  They were happy and  bright and they popped up everywhere.

As an adult, my appreciation of dandelions has grown tremendously as I realize all that dandelions give us.  Blooming in April and May, they provide early sources of much needed pollen for honeybees, ladybugs and many other beneficial insects beginnings to lay their eggs.  In addition to being a support for other insects and pollinators, dandelions are a green, growing medicine for us, - more nutritious han most vegetables in our gardens.  

Dandelions have been used as a food and medicinal plants for millennia.  The word comes from the Greek and then French "dent de lion" or lion's teeth because of the dandelion's deeply cut tooth like leaves.  Young dandelion leaves can be used in a salad and the buds can be fried or baked to taste like a mushroom.  Dandelions have more vitamin A than spinach and more vitamin C than tomatoes.  They are also a powerhouse of iron, calcium and potassium.  If, however, you are planning to forage and eat them,  sample small amounts at first to test for allergies.  Other than perhaps a stomach distress, dandelions are not a poisonous edible and have no poisonous look alike.

Boiled dandelions were used by Native Americans to treat a variety of illnesses including kidney disease, swelling and inflammation, skin problems, heartburn and upset stomach.  The Chinese and Europeans also used dandelions to treat a variety of illnesses and infections.  Dandelions are survivors, growing in harsh locations, requiring little and spreading deep and resilient roots.  They are fast growers....with plenty of sun they go from bud to seed in days and they are now in cultivation in many places for their culinary and medicinal use..  

And dandelions are just fun!  Children love to pick them and wear them.  Also, when they develop to a puffball they are fun to blow to scatter the hardy little seeds to begin anew.  Catch a flying dandelion seed and you make a wish..  

So here's to the lowly but important dandelion! Thank you for your gifts!

I have loved dogs and have had them all of my life. I think they are a gift of love sent here to be our special companions.  They give us devotion; they give us comfort and they give us joy.  They do silly things and they make us forget our personal problems.  Loving your dog is a great way to lift your spirits and your pet loves it too.  It has been found that the very act of cuddling your dog causes the brain to release the happy hormone Oxytocin, the "feel good" hormone.  It's a two way street; you love it and your pet loves it.  It makes the dog feel safe and loved and in return, it boosts our feelings of happiness.

My last wonderful fuzzies were from left to right: my adorable Shih Tzu Nunzi who had one leg shorter than the other three but it didn't bother him (his walk was just a little different); Tinker, a Shih Tzu mix who only had one eye (but that didn't bother him either).  He loved to carry his teddy bears around with him. And now my little Gumby (a Maltipoo who likes to hang his head out the car window (therefore the aviator goggles). All three were shelter pups (I think they are the best kind).  Nunzi and Tinker have crossed over the rainbow bridge now but Gumby is still lighting up my life with his wonderful and spunky personality.  He particularly loves little children and all the kids in my neighborhood know him by name.

These feelings and that connection deserve a special celebration and one is coming up.  Sunday September 12 is "Hug Your Hounda Day".  So enjoy what the dogs (and really any companion animal) give you and indulge in some special "cuddle Time" with your pet.