This week at the Carrot Ranch, Charli Mills challenged writers to In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story that features Lemon Queens. Maybe it’s an ancient fairy tale or a modern brand name. What ideas seep into your imagination? Is there a character or place involved? Go where the prompt leads!
I thought it would be easy to write about sunflowers but, alas, I struggled. I finally came up with this story with the theme of diversity, acceptance, belonging and a place for everyone. I hope you like it.
A place for everyone
Rose prickled and turned away from the newcomer. “You can’t blow in here on a breeze expecting to be welcomed,” she whispered to a neighbour.
Sweet Pea belied her name, ignoring the stranger and trailing away to mix with others of her own kind.
Even cousin Marigold wasn’t hospitable, fearing he might spoil their whole bunch.
He didn’t tempt rejection by the glamourous golden Queen outstanding in the field.
Instead, he sailed right by and alighted far from cultivation where his lowly origins wouldn’t raise a brow.
…
“Look! A dandelion! Do you like butter or cheese? Let’s play!”
While many consider dandelions a weed, they actually have many positive uses.
Children love blowing their seeds around and, as the video below shows, physicists learn a lot from studying them.
When I was a child, we used to hold dandelion flowers beneath our chins to decide whether we liked butter or cheese. A lighter refection would indicate a preference for butter. A darker reflection would indicate a fondness for cheese. I don’t think our readings were particularly scientific, but we were always pretty confident of our interpretations.
I was also interested to discover that dandelions, sunflowers, marigolds, lettuce, artichokes and others all belong to the daisy family. Now I’m wishing I did my research first rather than leaving it until the last minute.
Thank you for reading. I appreciate your feedback. Please share your thoughts.
One spring while tending to my grand-daughter I took a before and during the blow photo of her with a seeded Dandelion. It is in a collage of photos of the grands that spring where I can see it everyday 😀
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What a wonderful memory to capture.
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I love your flash fiction story. For years we dug dandelion roots out of the lawn but they always came back so now we enjoy them. I’m not sure our neighbours do.
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Do you use the dandelions in your garden, Anne?
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Only visually!
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🙂
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Lovely norah. In the Uk it is buttercups we hold under our chins. The petals are so fine and brightly cloloured the sun shines through them and shows yellow under your chin, meaning you love butter. Where dandilions we were told, if picked would make you wet the bed. Unless they had become wishing clocks. I did not know daisy was part of the lettuce family, though Dandilion leaves have been in mixed leave salads for centuries.
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Buttercups make sense as the flower of choice for that game, Ellen, but I know we used dandelions when we were kids. Maybe we didn’t have buttercups so we just made do. I haven’t heard the story of wetting the bed. I’m sure it came true for some children. I wonder what the antidote is. It’s interesting how traditions are similar and dissimilar across the globe.
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It is they must get discombobulated somewhere between here and there 😇
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We’re half a world apart after all. 🙂
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Half a world away, yet here we are being virtual friens, sharing and connecting. What a wonderful world.
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It is indeed! 🙂
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I think this was fabulous flash fiction, Norah. I’m glad you chose the topic you did, as it works beautifully. Children today still love to blow dandelions, and see if you like butter.
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Thank you, Jennie. It is good to know that some of the traditions continue through the generations.
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I think so, too. You’re welcome, Norah.
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That is a wonderful blog post. I enjoyed that video. Thanks
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That’s wonderful. Thank you.
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I hadn’t heard that about dandelions. We just blew ours around, likely to the chagrin of the lawn-owner from which it was plucked.
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There is still so much to learn isn’t there? Not a day goes by when I don’t learn something new.
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Love the ending. Yes, dandelions have their place.
Have you switched over to the new WP? I’ve held back because I don’t see a need for it with what I do. So I’ve reviewed many books, scheduled them and they are waiting in my draft box, in case I get caught.
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Thank you, Patricia.
No, I haven’t switched over. I keep getting emails telling me I have to but so far, nothing’s changed. I’m happy to keep it that away. I believe ‘classic’ is still a choice, even with the block editor. We’ll see. I hope neither of us get caught. 🙂
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nice flash fiction; I remember doing the same thing with a dandelion to find out if I liked butter…
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Thanks, Jim. So many games are played around the world, even ones as simple as using a dandelion to discover one’s diary preferences.
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And I remember getting into arguments about whether that dandelion was really telling the truth!
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I wonder if one can ever trust a dandelion. 😉🤣
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perhaps more than some people…
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😁
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Your story is well-crafted, Norah. I appreciate how you used traits as well as names of flowers in your flash, like the sweet peas trailing away to mix with their own kind. Of course, I best like the discovered value of the dandelion by playful children. I’ve never heard of the game butter and cheese (even with a buttercup as D recalls). But I remember older girls at school chasing each other around with dandelions to see if they were boy crazy. Ah, now I think I might better understand what that game was about.
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Thank you for your kind words about my story, Charli, and for noticing my use of the flower traits. It was intentional.
I don’t recall a game as you describe. I wonder how it worked. Seems like the humble dandelion may have preceded the Magic 8 ball. 🙂
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Loved this post, Nor! Dandelions bring back so many memories! I was always a cheese girl! (And still am!)
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Thanks, Robin. And I know which cheese you like and what you like to have with it! 😉
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Well done, Norah! ❤ xo
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Thank you, Bette. 🙂
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Well done, Norah. I worthy metaphor for life
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Thanks, Jacqui. I hoped it would read that way. 🙂
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Dandelions everywhere thank you for this flash. They are a useful plant, foremost as a object of fascination and delight for children. Here, when I was a kid, it was a different plant that determined whether or not one likes butter, the aptly named Buttercup.(Ranunculus) It’s good to know my lawn is pesticide free, as I have been eating dandelion greens all summer. I have in the past also eaten the blooms and my father used to make dandelion wine from the blooms. The link you shared tells me I could also be utilizing the roots. I did know that it has value as an aerator of the soil, its tap root plowing down and bringing nutrients up from the depths. Yep, there’s lemon-ade to be made from this much maligned lemon queen.
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I did read that children used buttercups. It seems to be more fitting, but I don’t recall ever seeing a buttercup and we definitely used dandelions. Children will make do with what’s available, eh? I’m pleased to hear you have made good use of the dandelions in your lawn. I have read about their great nutritiounal and medicinal qualities but haven’t used them myself, other than as described. I guess I’m missing out. I’ll have to start on that lemon-ade. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
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love your diversity prose!
What a strange bunch of relatives … sounds like my family 🙂
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😂🤣 I hadn’t thought of it that way. It’s true of mine too.
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maybe it’s far more common than we realise.
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Probably!
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aww, your poem, a sweet ending. i love dandelions too and had no idea about all of the relatives in the daisy family.
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Thank you so much for your lovely comment, Beth. It always amazes me how much more there is to learn.
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ahhh – thanks for the smile with the “butter or cheese” ending – let’s play indeed
and the short video was so informative about the flight physics of the dandelion seeds – how cool
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I’m pleased you enjoyed it all, Yvette, and thanks for the link on your post. 🙂
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glad to connect and wishing you a nice weekend
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Thank you, Yvette. You too!
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