Mlecznie - or the Dandy Lions

It's that time of year, when the dandelion is in bloom again. Everywhere, across the whole of Warsaw. Wherever there's some grass, the dandelions are out. Mlecz in Polish, mleczno, the adjective - also meaning 'milky'. Dandelion is pronounced 'DAN-dee-lion' in English, rather than 'dan-DELL-yon'. The word comes from the French, dents de lion or lion's teeth.

Below: if Wordsworth could compare his daffodils (żonkile) with this lot, his heart would also with pleasure fill. Except that these dandelions weren't dancing - just looking pretty in the morning sun against a cloudless sky. Junction of ul. Puławska and Poloneza.

Below: more mlecz, this time on the central reservation of ul. Indiry Gandhi. Ms Gandhi is still the only female premier to have a Warsaw street named after her. The three blue cylinders in the middle of the frame are ventilators from the Metro, which runs beneath this point.

Below: looking southbound along ul. Indiry Gandhi; photo taken on 55-300mm zoom set at 300mm.

Below: on Pl. Unii Lubelskiej, ul. Marszałkowska running off to the left, Al. Szucha to the right. The 10-24mm lens set at 10mm (15mm equivalent on 35mm film camera or full-frame digital) has amazing depth of field, giving a rodent's eye-view.

Below: evening rush hour, ul. Marynarska. Oceans of dandelions here too. Further on up the road, I saw two more photographers with the same idea, squatting down, taking low-angle shots of dandelions.

The good weather and the brilliant yellow flowers will go to seed within a few days, each plant becoming a puff-ball of white, but thanks to digital photography, they now belong to the ages.

This time last year:
Early-May thunderstorm

This time two years ago:
Men at work

This time three years ago:
What's the Polish for 'to bully'?

This time four years ago:
Making plans for Jeziorki: Hołubcowa bis
[Not surprisingly, nothing has come of these plans]

This time five years ago:
The stirring sight of sunset

This time six years ago:
Blessed rain - after two dry weeks