The Letter "F"

The letter "F" was assigned to me by ErinSlick. At first I wasn't sure I could come up with ten words that began with "F" that meant something to me but after much deep thought over the last two days I think I 've compiled a decent list. Here they are, in reverse order:

10. Firkin - a new word I learned this past summer while I was visiting my grandson at CNU in Newport News, VA and playing in a USTA finals match. A firkin is an old English word for a unit of volume. It comes from a Dutch word that means "fourth" so a firkin of beer is equal to 9 imperial gallons or a fourth of a barrel.

9. Factoid - I love trivial little snippets of information that may or may not be useful in my lifetime. Factoids fill your head with useless nonsense that can be used to amaze and enlighten friends and family, for example, how many out there knew what a firkin was?

8. Flowers - love em, peonies, magnolia, lilac, lavender, love em, the smellier the better.

7. Feathered friends - I have a very strong affinity with birds of all kinds, but especially with falcons and hawks. I see them everywhere I go, whether I'm driving or walking, in the city or in the country. It started about 15 years ago when a falcon landed on our bedroom window ledge. We were living in a condo in Arlington on the 15th floor. Of all the tall buildings and all of the high trees, he (I decided it was a male) chose our ledge. That same day I was offered a job, a change of career, that changed my life. It was three years ago today that my mother-in-law passed away and three years ago tomorrow that my mother passed away--just one day apart. As my husband and I were driving out of the cemetery from his mother's funeral, two hawks swooped in front of our car and landed in a tree above the spot where she was buried. When my step-dad came to visit for a couple of days during the holidays, the first Christmas after my mom passed away, we were talking and both looked up at the same time and saw that a hawk was sitting on my fence just looking at us. She stayed there for a half-hour or more and then flew off, but the next day she came back and sat there again. My dad left the third day and the hawk didn't come back that day. I will never forget it and neither will he.

6. Facets - the many facets of life and life's little treasures, like minerals and gems, which I love to collect and study under a good light and magnifier.

5. Foo-Foo - or if you prefer phoo-phoo, as in my high heel shoes, which I wear all the time. I hate flats they are clunky and unattractive. There is nothing like a sleek sexy high-heel to make you feel fantastically fabulous whether you are wearing jeans, pants, skirts or dresses, Ferragamo, Manolo's, Jimmy Choo, you name it, your worth it.

4. Frugality - use to be my least favorite word because I thought it was synonymous with being cheap or miserly, but in today's economy and environment I've grown to embrace Wikipedia's definition of the practice of frugality, e.g., acquiring goods and services in a restrained manner; resourcefully using already owned economic goods and services; to achieve a longer term goal, like going green, saving animals and the planet. Frugality is in, embrace it.

3. Fiction - especially historical fiction. A few of my favorite historical fiction novels are Valida, The Other Boleyn, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Manhunt, The Queen's Fool.

2. Fortnight - I'd love this word to be brought back into modern English. I'd love to say I'll be away for a fortnight, or you will be hearing from me within a fortnight. The word is laden with authority and sophistication, it means so much more than just "two weeks."

1. Family - so many F words can be attributable to family, like--fortunate, fun, fantastic, foremost, forever, familiar, friends, and foremost, as in my life, every single fruity one of them.

whew...I'm done.