Dandelions and Thunderstorms - Mother Nature's Incredible Talents

We had a somewhat relaxing Sunday, working on our characters in Lord of the Rings Online, and spending some time in the backyard cleaning the castle steps, doing general tidying of the patio area. We watched the final round of the PGA golf tournament since we had a day without hockey, and with beautiful weather, we enjoyed a kicked-back Sunday. 

It's not often I see perfect dandelion puff 
balls. They're so easily disturbed or blown 
away. Do you remember plucking them and 
blowing the seeds away for good luck when 
you were a kid? It's an early memory of 
mine, and maybe kids don't do that any more. 

When I went out to get the newspaper in the morning (yes, we still get a paper copy of the newspaper. DH enjoys reading it and doing the crosswords. I get the e-edition in my in-box, which makes me happier than having so much paper to recycle, but to each their own. He's the one who pays for it, after all.) Anyway, to return to my thoughts - on my way out to the driveway, I saw some absolutely perfect dandelion fluff balls. So pretty. So after I brought the paper in, I grabbed my phone and took a few photos. It's not often I see these perfect balls. 

They are such a miracle of construction. 
Every little bit of fluff, barely holding onto 
the center, and playing with it's companions 
in a stellar ball of white. I wish I had the 
talent to transform something like this 
into a metal composite. But Mother Nature 
has me beat, by far. 

My next door neighbor must have been out of town (or too busy with the kids) to mow his lawn. DH had already mowed ours twice, but Chris hadn't touched his. The dandelions and weeds were tall and it was looking like crap. Fortunately, he finally broke down and mowed on Sunday. DH said he was tempted to mow it for Chris, thinking maybe he was out of town or something. I had been seeing him in the early mornings, though. So think it was just time getting away from him. 

After cleaning and putting down new gravel 
on the castle steps, DH pulled down some paving 
bricks to see how it might look if we paved the 
steps instead. We both agreed, however, it 
would be a lot of cutting and we really don't have 
the appropriate tools for that. We'll think 
about it, but we'll probably leave them as is. 

DH started cleaning off the castle steps when we went outdoors in the early afternoon. He swept, then started hosing them down and adding new gravel where needed. We've talked about maybe putting paving bricks down instead of the gravel, but that would be a lot of cutting and the steps aren't uniformly sized. It would be quite the chore. We also discussed just putting concrete along with the gravel, but that would be too permanent. We'll live with the gravel for now, and keep reassessing. 

One of my Facebook friends posted this incredible 
photo of a thunderstorm-cell forming over 
the Texas landscape. I had to share it with all 
of you. It's such an incredible view, I thought 
it might make your day. 

On that note, I'm out of here. I hope all of you have a glorious Monday and as always, please be kind to others and stay safe. I'll be back tomorrow.