Five questions (and answers, too)

I received these questions from a dear friend of mine over at the Almond Valley – check out her blog if you want to revel in gorgeous pictures of flowers, landscapes and all things beautiful. That blog is pure eye candy!

So, she's given me five questions and I'm to give five answers to each of these questions. Interesting! Here goes:

1. Where do you see love in the world?

It's

in family and friends

in the beauty of nature

in music that moves me

in words of compassion

in random acts of kindness

2. Your favourite flower – explain why.

Oh, there are so many, I can't pick (hee hee) just one! Good thing I'm allowed to name five. :)

As long as I remember, I've been partial to forget-me-nots. They don't seem to mind so much where they grow, they're small and modest, but that blue...! It's one of my favourite hues. (To illustrate, a picture from puutarha.net.)

Lilacs. Simple reason: the scent. One of my favourite scents (I do have many, true).

Lily of the valley. This is like the two of the above in one: small, fragile, but has an amazing scent.

Twinflower (Linnaea borealis). Small, fragile (anyone see the pattern here?). To me, this is the flower of poetry: to my ear, their Finnish name (vanamo) is phonetically pleasing and they feature in some iconic Finnish poems (image below from peda.net).

And finally, the stereotypical, boring choice... dark red roses. Can't help it. They're gorgeous. They're the classic. They're drama. They're romance. To illustrate: a picture of my rapier and a red rose:

3. Your secret dream/wish?

If I tell you, it won't be a secret, right? ;)

All right. Confession time. I guess this counts as a secret since I never talk about it, except with a few trusted friends (you know who you are, you poor things who have to put up with my blather). I'd love to learn to write well.

Four more... I'm going to be greedy and list the things I want (either more of or to keep what I have): love, health, time, passion.

4. What did you have for breakfast this morning?

Some home-made muesli (I make it myself so I know what goes into it – anything you buy from a store contains heaps of refined sugar and other useless stuff... and I like mine with plenty of dates) with skim milk. A big mug of coffee. Black, no sugar, nothing. Just coffee.

Wait. That's only three things. Erm... a glass of water. A small handful of pills: vitamins and my AS meds.

5. A book that gives you strength?

Any book I'm reading at a given moment. That should count for at least five, but as a bonus, I'm going to actually name one:

Manda Scott's Boudica books. Boudica is definitely one of the best characters in the “strong female character” category, and the books are about small tribes standing up against Rome, the superpower of its time. Imagine the courage and resilience and heroism and sheer stubborness that demanded!

I love Boudica (or Breaca), and her brother is one of my all-time favourite characters. All right, one of the major fictional character crushes I've ever suffered (suffered???). To me, his story is about whether we can live with the consequences of our actions and the remorse; whether we can find forgiveness and whether we can forgive ourselves. It's heart-breaking but encouraging.