Etymology: Begonia

Meet Begonia's namesake:

Yes, I have a thing for cute guinea pigs.  ;-)

The Guinea Pig Goddess surveying her kingdom from on high...

Sadly, she is no longer with us...  :-(  She had the most lovable personality of any pet I have ever had--a real rough-tough-creampuff type who liked to think that she was a vicious attack dog--except on the inside she was just a sweetheart.  Ahh...I wax poetic.  She is memorialized in a statue at the 401 freeway exit to Moya Brennan Boulevard.

--Wenda

About the name...

This project has evolved organically in my imagination, so a lot of the names of places featured here may not seem to make a whole lot of sense because they were chosen for their personal meaning.  If one has a story behind it, however, I'll explain, and I'll start with "Wanda's Domain."

I never really chose this name consciously--it just came to me and stuck, and try as I might, I haven't wanted to get rid of it.  

Who is Wanda?  (Note that it's not Wenda, so it's not my egotistical bid for immortalization ;-)  No--Wanda was my pet guinea pig when I was ten years old--just as this city was born.

The namesake enjoying his midday snack :-)  Yes, his.  The pet store can have, ahem, trouble, telling the sexes apart when they're young.  I tried to change his name after finding out, but, like with the city, it stuck.

I love guinea pigs.  They make great pets, and they're just so darn cute!  I've had ten of them, and most got towns named after them...