M.

Lynn at A Sweet, Familiar Dissonance did this little game where she was given a letter and named 10 things she liked that began with that letter. Then she opened it up for those who wanted to request a letter.

And I got "M."

So here are my ten things:

1. Music. (I was going to say Mozart, but he's not my favey-favey among composers - I think that honor goes to Dvorak or maybe Vaughn Williams - and I also like a pretty wide range of music, including a lot of traditional folk music (Swedish nyckelharpa music, the various old dances, that kind of thing), old pop music (especially French chanson), some of the more roots-oriented country (like some of Johnny Cash's and Dolly Parton's stuff), and lots of other things).

2. Michigan. I have lots of relatives who still live there (both Upper and Lower Peninsulae), I lived there for a few years myself. I like the variety of habitat-types, from the conifer forests up north, to the mixed birch-conifer forests in the tension zone, and the oak-hickory, beech-maple, or little remnants of prairie in the south.

3. Mystery novels. My favorite form of "entertainment" reading. Particularly in love with Inspector Alleyn right now, but I've also read most of the Nero Wolfe mysteries, and a big slug of Christie, and Donna Leon's Inspector Brunetti mysteries. I also like the one-off novels (not part of a series) and short stories in the genre.

4. Mice. No, not the "real" kind, the cartoon/cutesy kind. When I was a child I had a lot of toy mice that I played with including an entire family that lived in a doll's house.

5. Maple sugar candy. It's hard to find around where I live, though, so I have to mail order it.

6. Mail, if that mail includes either magazines, "personal" mail like letters, or GOOD catalogs.

7. Malted milk, especially if it's chocolate. Or just a "malt" - a milkshake with malted milk in it. Actually, just milk in general. I usually drink skim milk and if I'm shopping somewhere that sells Promised Land Dairy's milk, I will buy it because a. It's a small dairy that is kinda sorta semi local
b. They don't use rBGH
c. The milk is from Jersey cows and I do think there's a difference in taste - EVEN in skimmed milk.
d. They don't try to "enhance" the skimmed milk by either cooking it down or adding powdered milk - some dairies (coughBraumscough) do that to their skim milk and it tastes "cooked" to me. I don't like it and won't buy milk that's been treated that way.

8. Moggies (the British colloquial for a tabby cat). And, by extension, other British colloquialisms. I've noticed I tend to refer to a group of people as "you lot" lately (rather than y'all, which I had been starting to do). And I've noticed TWICE on this blog I've typed "aluminum" as "aluminium" and decided to leave it.

9. Material. Especially the kind you can use in quilting.

10. My Mom.

So, if you're itching to do this, I guess I can carry on the trail: comment asking for a letter, and I'll post a comment giving you one. And you can write about it on your blog.