Letter Meme
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stephanieburgis, who gave me the letter "B", here's my attempt at the Letter Meme that's going around. These are my top ten favorite things that start with "B", in no particular order. If you want to play, leave a comment and I will give you a letter.
1. Border Collies (Border Collie mixes) . I never guessed that border collie mixes would be my favourite type of dogs, until I met Steph and she introduced me to Nika. Now I wouldn’t have any other type of dog. Border Collie mixes are enormously intelligent, playful, loving, loyal and fun. Nika converted me to them, and now Maya has confirmed it.
2. Bears. The ancient Finns believed the bear was the spirit of their forefathers. Koreans traditionally believe the bear is their ancestor. Most bears are shy and gentle, and will only attack humans to protect their cubs. There is something inexplicably grand about bears, the way they move and hold themselves, and there’s also something very human about them, no doubt the source of the many human-bear legends. Sadly, bears are also used in traditional Chinese medicine, meaning that many thousands are held in captivity for the appalling practice of ‘bile farming’, where the bears are farmed solely for their bile glands.
3. Behind the Rules. Steph’s short story, which is now available online at Escape Pod.
4. Beaches. I’m not really a beach person, at least not in terms of wanting to just lie there on a beach getting sunburnt. I want to be up doing something instead. But I still like beaches. The kind of beach I have in mind is small curve of a beach beneath steep cliffs, sheltered and calm and empty, the kind of beach you might come across when hiking and see below you. That’s my kind of beach. Although I wouldn’t mind a house on a beach either.
5. Banana muffins. Which I have just made. Here’s the recipe:
- 3 bananas, preferably soft and browning
- 1/3 cup of margarine
- 1/3 cup of sugar
- 1 1/2 cups of plain white flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1/2 cup of sultanas
Mash the bananas, add the sugar and mix. Melt the margarine and mix in. Sieve the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate into the wet mixture and mix well. Add the sultanas and mix in. Grease muffin tin and add the mixture. Bake at about 325F/160C for 30-40 minutes, depending on size of muffin tin.
Delicious!
6. Butterflies. Butterflies are magic. There’s a reason people use them so often in fantasy stories. Anything with wings like that has got to be fey, a fairy in its mundane, hidden guise. If I had lots of money (lots and lots and lots of money), I would want a butterfly house. The kind in an old, glass-and-white-painted-steel conservatory that arches far above you. Like the Schmetterlinghaus in Vienna or the one at the Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh, full of exotic plants and water and butterflies everywhere. And at night, no doubt, they would shed their mundane guises and become glittering fairies.
7. Books. Does this even have to be mentioned? You literally can’t move in our house without tripping over a book or bumping into one. Part of this, of course, is that we’re not very organised so we rarely return them to the shelves, but mainly it’s because we just have way too many books to fit on the shelves and the only way we cope is by piling them everywhere.
8. Black Books. The British TV comedy series set in a bookshop. This was one of my favourite comedies of the last decade or so. Completely over the top, completely hilarious. Here’s one of my favourite clips, where Manny and Bernard decide to write a children’s book:
9. Bristol. This is my home city, where I was born and where I spent most of my childhood. Bristol is a very cool city, full of history and interesting little corners and nice cafes and restaurants. Pretty much whatever you want, it’s got. Kind of the opposite of Leeds, in fact. One day, we’ll move back there, if we get the chance.
10. Bands. Okay, I’m getting a bit desperate here, trying to think of a tenth ‘B’. Bands I like are probably 95% heavy metal bands and 5% ‘other’. Right now, if I was going to choose my favourite bands, they would include Iron Maiden, DragonForce, Nightwish, Magnum, My Chemical Romance and whole bunch of others.
