Every two weeks, the blogosphere comes alive with something called a Blog Off. A Blog Off is an event where bloggers of every stripe weigh in on the same topic on the same day. The topic for this round of the Blog Off is "Flowers".
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| "Mai" flowers in Sicily |
Not being a flowery, or "planty" person, I have spent most of this evening wondering how to tackle this post. Please don't misunderstand me - I am happy to receive, look at and inhale the scent of flowers at any time but I don't want to dig holes for them, worry about them in all weathers or wait for them to grow.
For years I couldn't afford to tame, let alone do anything creative, with my garden back in Cardiff, UK - much to the chagrin of my neighbours - and when I finally did plant some specimens, I enjoyed them when they were small but got rather overwhelmed when they began to spread like triffids.
At around the same time, I went through a house plant phase but the charm wore off when one day I observed live THINGS crawling on some of them. Yes, I know - "Cu' mancia fa muddichi" - "He who eats makes crumbs", as the Sicilian proverb goes, roughly the equivalent of "You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs" - or grow houseplants without attracting a few attendant bugs, I suppose.
This brings me - unintentionally at the outset, I assure you - to Sicilian proverbs and now we can have a Sicilian proverbs quiz in honour of this week's subject. Are you ready? All you have to do is match the proverbs and one saying 1 - 5 with their meanings a - e. You'll find the answers at the end of the post.
1. Marva ti sarva.
2. Favi 'niciuri, acqua a vadduni.
3. 'A biddezza è comu 'n çiuri ca nasci, çiurisci e mori.
4. Nun c'è rosa senza spini, nun c'è amuri senza peni.
5. Eni friscu com'i rosi.
a. Beauty is like a flower that buds, flowers and dies.
b. Mallow saves you.
c. There is no rose without thorns and no love without pain.
d. He's as cool as roses [said of someone who stays calm in a difficult situation].
e. Broad beans that are in flower need plenty of rain.
Finally, this week's topic does give me an excuse to repost this favourite song from home. It is sung by the much missed David Alexander:
David Alexander - My Wales
Proverbs quiz answers:
Please highlight the space below to see the answers:
1b, 2e, 3a, 4c, 5d.
Below is the full list of bloggers participating in this week's theme:
3 comments:
Great post Pat! Here are my answers to your quiz:
1-b
2-e
3-a
4-c
5-d
How'd I do?
I actually passed the test, although I don't speak a word of the language! I don't speak Latin either, but the two languages both use it, so you can see the similarities. We used to have house plants but have long since given them up. On the other hand, we do have some flowers that we enjoy quite a bit. They are all very hardy, as they don't really get much in the way of care from us!
Thanks, Paul. 100% - well done! Bravo, Joseph! I might be asking you what flowers you have soon!
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