Spot the Frippet: viola.

 There are three kinds of viola, all beautiful, and the one which gives you most pleasure reveals a great deal about the kind of person you are, and how you'll best find happiness.

Forget horoscopes or counsellors: take a viola test.

So: which makes your heart lift the most?

These:

photo of Viola reichenbachiana by H. Zell

this:

or this lady here?

painting by Frederick Richard Pickersgill (this Viola is a lot more fun than she looks here)

I know I should be saying Viola form Twelfth Night gives me most pleasure, but for me it's actually the flower. Visual beauty gives me the most joy, even more than Shakespeare's words or music. 

But they're all glorious.

So which makes you happiest? Words, the visual, or music? 

Today, I'm going to make a point of enjoying them all.

Spot the Frippet: viola. There is a small problem here in that Viola in Twelfth Night is very often pronounced VI-olla rather than veeOHla, but never mind.

The flower word comes from Italian, probably from Provençal before that, and perhaps before that from the Latin vītulāri, to rejoice.

The plant name is the Latin for violet.