A Different Aesthetic

My son and I both love dandelions.  To me, dandelions are symbolic of a great many aspects of humans' relationship to their environment, both good and bad.  For example, if one is determined to cultivate a pristine, single-species lawn, then dandelions are clearly the enemy.  Suppose that lawn is in a public park next to a river, as was the case when I lived in Chester some years ago.  The park was a gathering place for many types of people, including the fans of pristine lawns.  When it was proposed that an herbicide be used to kill the dandelions, a political controversy ensued.  I was on the side of the dandelion preservationists, but even they were not of one mind.  Some were not necessarily in love with dandelions, but were fishermen who didn't want herbicide run-off going into the adjacent Feather River.  Some didn't want their toddlers rolling around in grass that had been sprayed, or possibly tasting it.  I was among a small group who simply liked to look at dandelions, liked to see the variety of pollinators and other visitors they attract - butterflies, beetles, bees, etc.  The top photo here shows that I also find the seed clusters attractive.  Kids obviously love to blow on them.  My son has a sense of wildflowers and bugs pretty similar to mine, but perhaps not quite so intense.  He also loves flames.  I wouldn't say he is a pyromaniac, but he knows a lot about flame and to him dandelions have both aesthetic and scientific appeal.  He recently discovered that the seed clusters are highly flammable.  When ignited by his lighter, they burst into flame, shrivel, and turn to cold ashes, all in a fraction of a second.  When I discovered that he was not only doing this in an entirely safe manner, but was learning fine points of burning cellulose that were quite fascinating, I began to pay more attention to his antics and discovered new photographic possibilities.
I almost titled this post "Controlled Burn" because that's a common phrase around national forests before the fire season and after the first fall rains.  But I ended up leaning toward the word "aesthetic."  My titles for the individual photos, from the top, are:  Gone to Seed, Temptation, Discovery, and Art.  We plan to make a video clip of this, maybe with sound.