Chapter Break Filler

[Róisín]

Lovely little piece. And Kitty was very sweet.

[thegreyarea]

Finally I have a small one, inspired by our very own Róisín!

And well inspired you were! A lovely piece!

Beside that, I never grow tired of Emil and Lalli interacting. I'm surprised, however, that our golden boy didn't mix things. He must be making his very best to avoid being "stupid"

[Vulpes]

These are all wonderful! I won't attempt to comment on them all, I'll miss someone. Thanks for sharing your creativity, and thanks to Keep Looking for coming up with the idea.

[Jitter]

Thanks Grey! Your poem is beautiful!

The plants lesson is by no means the first one And the ones he remembers here are plants Emil likely knows from Sweden, although not necessarily all of the uses. Anyways likely easyish to know.

Btw the berry mustikka is bilberry, which often is called blueberry outside of North America, but the true blueberry doesn’t grow wild here. I only just learned the difference now. The American true blueberry is called pensasmustikka i.e. “bush blueberry” in Finnish. I’m sure most Finns know “blueberry” as the English name for the wild berry but actually* the correct name is bilberry.

* I am an engineer! I must get an occasional “well, actually...” to keep functioning!

[Crumpite]

Well, I see that the forum ate my previous lengthy and well crafted post...

First, Jitter, I did have a *type* of Corona virus, NL63, which is a kind of common cold virus.
Rosin wondered if it might not give partial immunity but so little is known that it's an open question...

There have been some wonderful posts here lately !
I wish my talents ran more toward the artistic side so I could contribute.
As it is I give heartfelt thanks to those who do and share 😀

Oh, and I just got the bill for my two week hospital stay: $90,000 !
Of which I only need to pay $250 😀😀😀 
I can see I need to do more to be worthy of the effort spent to keep me alive !

[Keep Looking]

Chapter Break Filler

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Prompt 12: Flowers

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For today's prompt of flowers, your humble organizer Keep Looking has taken the stage.

Spoiler: show

Notes before you read it: each poem and flower corresponds with one of the characters. I mostly just went off the general feel or vibe of the characters and the flowers when it came to matching them - I hope it's not that hard to guess which belongs to who. These are all flowers that I am familiar with because they come from my corner of the world, but you guys might not know them (Roisin, you probably do, but I'm leaving my bets there).





The species in order: Banksia Grandis (Mikkel), Templetonia Retusa (Sigrun), Acacia Pulchella (Tuuri), Kennedia Coccinea (Reynir), Pterostylis sp. (Lalli) (I don't actually know what specific type of snail orchid I remembered since the memory is pretty vague and a lot of them are fairly similar), Caladenia Flava (Emil)
It's funny actually because you guys were talking about this stuff in the general discussion thread so consider this my contribution to the conversation.

I would normally put a thanks here but it seems very weird to be thanking myself, so anyway - if any of you are inspired by this prompt, feel free to share what you've made!

Also, I want to apologise to anyone who got told by me that they had a week until their prompt was up but actually had six days. I forgot how weeks work and only realised that I'd been counting it wrong yesterday.

[Róisín]

Emily, that is excellent! I like the symbolism, especially the stolid, anchoring Banksia with its so many uses and its hidden sweetness under a rough exterior for Mikkel and the Greenhood for Lalli. I know the native magical uses for both plants, and I do like that you chose for Lalli one of the plants that are used for connecting to the Earth energies and tapping into the land, as well as helping with magics of concealment. And I can imagine the Greenhood with its ability to hide in plain sight being very much a Lalli kind of plant. The Templetonia suits Sigrun and her loudness (one of the common names for it is Cocky’s Tongue), and the Kennedia is exuberant like Reynir, and just as vivid. Caladenia is as beautiful and as dependable in its ‘always coming back’ as is Emil. We mostly have the pink and sky-blue ones around here, but those flame-touched golden ones you have in WA are especially lovely. The Acacia is good for Tuuri, unobtrusive and very useful. Did you know that one of the meanings of its specific epithet of ‘pulchella’ is ‘modest or maidenly’?

 You forgot Kitty! I know what her plant would be, and will try to add a verse to your work, if I may? Can’t draw it though, but you probably know the plant well enough to make a picture if you think it suitable? May I?

[Grade E cat]

This prompt is the one I almost chose before realizing that I could write something set during that harvest if I picked "Harvest". Inspired by a conversation I overheard during some of my mother's early online tea breaks:

Bouquet

People just out of quarantine had become a consistent source of revenue for Guðrún’s flower shop. Each time one of them stayed at the nearby hotel, they would buy flowers every day, for several days in a row, due to having greatly missed them during quarantine. Unfortunately, sooner or later, they all moved to a remote town on joined a party planning to build a brand new one from scratch. Saying she never saw any of them again would be a lie, as Reykjavik remained the only place where certain goods could be purchased. The people she recognized as former post-quarantine customers, however, never seemed to remember her. It was hence a pleasant surprise when Árni, a man who had babbled about becoming a sheepherder, came back to tell her he had moved into one of one of the “new towns”, which was more of a hamlet by his own admission, and his new life project was well on its way. She had an even more pleasant surprise when he decided to buy a bunch of flowers from her “for old time’s sake”. She didn’t know what to say when he presented the bouquet to her right after paying for it, asking if she was interested in sharing dinner. She managed to calm herself, and remember it was just dinner. They would both figure out if there was any kind of future for the two of them later. Nothing was more uncertain with the Rash slowly eating up the rest of the world, and the recent realization that even without the constant flow of foreign tourists, Iceland wasn’t producing enough food to properly feed its own population.

[wavewright62]

I love both of these!  In the cases where I wasn't familiar with the plant (most of them, actually), the poem helped immensely.
And Grade E Cat's headcanon about how Guðrún and Árni (hahaha babbling) met, is touching and rings somewhat true to what could have happened.  I like it a lot.

[thegreyarea]

That's wonderful. Keep Looking! Reminds me a notebook for some XIX century naturalist, but a poet naturalist!
Grade E Cat, that's another that goes right into the headcanon! Well done!

Oh, Crumpite, about the "I can see I need to do more to be worthy of the effort spent to keep me alive !", for me you are our Crumpite, and that justifies it all!

[wavewright62]

This is apropos of today's prompt, and also for Lalli's canon birthday on 20 April!

[Róisín]

Wavewright, that is a lovely Lalli!

Crumpite, the medical money is very well spent. We treasure you and would miss you from the Forum.

And Grey, you are right, Keep Looking’s stuff does remind me of those illustrated journals of C18/19 botanists and people doing nature study. I have looked at more such things even than usual since one of my grandsons got a job last year at the British Museum organising parts of their collections  of unexhibited botanical materials and accompanying notes. For him it is the dream job, and I hear about it.

[Keep Looking]

Róisín, I'm glad you approve of my flower choices! I look forward to illustrating your Kitty poem - I figured 6 poems was enough for me to write, which is why Kitty (and Onni) were left out. Botanical illustrations have always been an interest of mine, so I'm glad you think they're improving! I don't know whether I'd go into a botanical career in the future, but I'm always interested in learning about it.

And Wavewright and Grade E Cat, I love what both of you have made! I haven't really been keeping up with commenting on all of various people's contributions (I'm busy enough organising this thing), but rest assured that I've been thoroughly enjoying them!

Crumpite - wow, that's a big medical bill! I'm glad you didn't have to pay the whole thing.

[Jitter]

Keep Looking, very apt descriptions! I don't know the plants at all, but the poems work well for the persons!

Wave, lovely Lalli!

Grade E cat, I love your vignette and it plays very well with my earlier ones where Guðrún is plants person

Mine is again in a similar vein, this time with Grade E cat's. Some new people though.

Flowers
“Don’t you think it’s time we made this official?” Signe asked and gestured around in the cottage.
“Make what now?”
“This. You and me. Oh, you silly man, ask me to marry you!”
“Um… I’d love to, no question about that. But there’s no official anymore. Who would officiate? Where would it be registered?”
“Well, I guess you are right. But I still want to… do something. Show everyone that I’m here to stay. With you.”

“I suppose we could ask everyone to come over, and maybe say some vows? Marry ourselves?”
“Well, everything is down to ourselves anyways, so why not. Now, propose!”
“My love, would you like to marry me? Say, next Tuesday?”
“Ok mister, you have yourself a deal!”
“Great. I’m… I’m the happiest man on earth?”
“Drop it, you are not a romantic. And neither am I”.

Tuesday afternoon everybody from the village is gathered on the Madsen farm. Signe is waiting at the cottage, but Michael is nowhere to be seen.  If he’s gotten cold feet, I swear to god I’ll… But now Michael returns, carrying blooming cherry branches.
“Flowers for my beautiful bride!”
“Aww, they are pretty! But I’m not a romantic. And neither are you!”

“True. But I am the happiest man on earth today. And you are my beautiful bride! Please take them!” Signe takes the offered blooms and arranges a few white flowers into her hair, as well as Michael’s.
“Let’s do this!” Hand in hand they walk onto the farm green and face the villagers. Face a large chunk of the population of the whole world.
"Here we go" she whispers to Michael, and then loudly “Dearly beloved…”

[thegreyarea]

Jitter, that's lovely! Those two really found out they were made for each other

Later...
"So, which name?"
"Name? For what?"
"For our sons, silly! Bornholm needs children!"
"You are pre..."
"No! Yet! But I like to think on that kind of things"
"Well, if it's a girl she could have your name"
"Boring! But we can name her after my mother... And if it's a boy? Don't tell me you want Michael."
"Eh... Ok... Then... Magnus is an excellent name."
"You want to name our son after your cat ? Let me tell you one thing..."