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A bit of Romania in my backyard! SPOILER ALERT!!!!

In writing the sequel to Birthright, I decided to really research everything out, not that I didn't with Birthright, but I wanted the sequel to be very thought out in detail.  So, if you haven't read Birthright yet, do not read this.

Anyway, I had to find a reason why Candra's father kept going away on business.  Where was he going and why!  Candra and her mother drank a tea infused with her father's blood, but it also had rose petals, mistletoe and blood root in it.  I had the hardest time and I should have thought of this long before, but being the novice at writing I didn't.  Shoot me!

Anyway, I thought roses, and then I did a search on roses in Romania which I came up with their flower which was the Rosa Canina.  A wild rose, pink, with rose hips after the flower stops blooming.  Rose petals offer protection and bring love.  Perfect right?  Gets better.

Growing up, my mother had an arbor that her father, my grandpa made and she had planted wild roses on either side of it...a Dog Rose or in other words, a Rosa Canina.   Ba zinga!  The very rose that I want in my story happens to grow in my back yard now because it is the one that my mother had planted many, many years ago.  It's been in my family for over 55 years and to this day grows like crazy!

Who'd of thought that everything I have written about is within reach of my hand.   

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