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03/17/11
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February 14, 2012
“Once in awhile,
Right in the middle of an ordinary life,
Love gives us a fairy tale.”
When Cupid first laid eyes on Psyche, Greek goddess of the soul, he was so overcome by her beauty that he dropped an arrow on his foot, and fell in love with her.
But even Cupid couldn't explain what he was feeling.
"So what is this thing...called Love? "
Despite Oscar Hammerstein advising us — "Fools give you reasons, Wise men never try," — we are foolish enough to try.
Could Agatha Christie, who unraveled many mysteries, unravel this one?
"It is a curious thought, but it is only when you see people looking ridiculous that you realize just how much you love them."
The problem may have been in trying to narrow love down. Tom Hanks realized that was impossible:
"It was a million tiny things...”
That didn’t help.
Giacomo Casanova chimed in, and probably sent the search for its meaning back a few thousand years:
“I have always loved truth so passionately that I have often resorted to lying as a way of introducing it into the minds which were ignorant of its charms.”
Cole Porter, who always knew the score, asks if you will recognize it when you find it:
“Is it an earthquake, or is it a shock, Is it the good turtle or merely the mock?
Who else but Shakespeare could close the show:
“They do not love that do not show their love.”
So whether it's "for all time or simply a lark," today is the day to show it.
Happy Valentine's Day everyone.
Pinky and I had valentine day every day. We drew,with crayon, on the bathroom mirror. It was a tr...
Feb. 14, 2012 8:19 PM
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03/12/11
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03/28/11
I dropped an ARROW© Stapler on my foot...saw stars, not hearts.....
This is the day of love?
Surely every day is.
just Where does that arrow have to ,er, penetrate, to leave you able to think of anything but OW!OW! OW!...When all you really want to do is sort those little pastel printed heart candies so you can eat the "special" ones last....(Oh, You know the ones I mean)
...and, needless to say, the'coin operated mirror' today will reflect you in your best loving image...go ahead, indulge...(and eat chocolate- - it makes people happy)...profits go to the 'old broken hearted people's home'....(they only have a B&W TeeVee...and no TCM)
I came along on this day, in 1944, with a ♥ on me little onesie. The photo was black and white but it is a good bet that it was red.
The beauty, with a three day head start, was already in that selfsame nursery.
Yup, that is crazy and we know it.
I probably say you look pretty today as much as or more than I say I love but to be honest, fifty years into the game, what you do, what you don't do and maybe most important of all, what is left unsaid are all expressions as important as saying I love you.
So, for that matter, are the raspberry jello and cut-out sugar cookies with red cinnamon hearts melting into the frosting waiting for me tomorrow.
She is getting dinner with friends at our favorite restaurant and probably a nice foot massage.
STONEY.................happy birthday.........what a sweet story about your & your wife's nursery meeting.................lovely, please eat a heart cookie for me............may your day be wonderful!
Good morning LOT & RY! LOT, how correct you are.........................very day..................have a loverly day all...........................
Stoney, Have a very happy birthday.I usually observe this Valentine's Day wearing all black. Hehee. No. I really do.
Happy Birthday Stoney - have a great day.
Happy Birthday Stoney, what a lovely story.
STONEY--Greetings and Birthday Felicitations! You and the Beauty really do make the quintessential Valentine's Day story. Its nice.
Stoney,Happy Birthday !!!
You make my heart beat like a Thunder Cannon......White Buffalo Spirit...Living near Paris Island.Air Station..the F-18's flying overhead where i lived on Fripp Island..............and a mix of Love...made my heart beat like a Thunder Cannon...
Look at community Pictures...for my Village Valentine..Happy Valentines Day!Birthday Valentine Wishes.to Stoney..Romeo and Juliet Love Tarts for Supper!
Happy Birthday Stoney. Enjoy all the sweet somethings and the sweet nothings.
She picked me. God only knows why. The cat at the table wearing the bread basket on his head who stuffed her phone number in his pocket and didn't find it until he wore the tan suit again after getting it back from the cleaners a month later. The big goof in the funny shaped TR7 who got lost on the way to her place. She listened to my bad poetry and endured my partying because she saw something in me I didn't see in myself. Oodles of passages and here we are. I would call it love but rather think it has no name else it becomes a mere word. What we have is "it". If there was an arrow, it was laced with that old #9 Potion dispensed by the Gypsy Woman with the gold capped tooth on 34th and Vine.
Thanks be to God for guinea pigs, cats, dogs, rabbits and little brothers. At an early age I'd worked out what Cupid/Eros had in mind - but things sneak up on you. There I was, getting on with my life, divorced from Ex#1, been on my own for years. An old flame called and asked for a date - talk about no such thing as a free lunch! The minute he walked into the place where we had arranged to meet, my 'heart' did all the somersaults they write about in trashy novels. I was trying to make small talk with this man while simultaneously grappling the first thought that had popped into my head on sight of him which was - I am going to marry this man- I was so freaked out by this entirely unexpected idea that I lit the wrong end of my cigarette. Honest, I didn't know I was even looking for a relationship like that. So to cut a long story short, I did marry him. To be fair some of it was great fun, but much of it was very difficult. So Ex#2 and I are no longer together. It is lovely to read Stoney's tale of how things do work out sometimes, but forgive me if Valentine's Day is not a topic that fills me with enthusiam.
HAZE - you're forgiven. Hallmark Holidays have lost their meaning. David and I have been together for 55 years - it's comfortable and he is the Love of my Life.
STONEY - Happy Birthday!
HAPPY VALENTINES to The Village.
Happy Birthday Stoney. I love to hear how people met their beloved.
Happy Valentine's Day everyone. Eat chocolate - it makes you happy!
Well, it makes ME happy!!! Especially the dark chocolate caramels......mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm (a la Bebe!)
Valentine's Day certainly must have been invented by a woman for women. Most of the men were not informed. Luckily, and then unluckily for Real Life, I was raised by a man who was fully indoctrinated and the day meant heart shaped candy boxes, red tulips for me & yellow roses (her favorite) for my mother followed by the little turqoiuse (sp) red ribboned Tiffany boxes by our places at dinner.
I then entered the world. Hah! Of course there had been clues in the preteen and teenage years with the stomach wrenching heart beating wondering if a card or anything would be forthcoming from current crush, but still...little did I know that I would never again be treated in quite that fashion on The Day.
I met my husband 9 years before we married. We each had other relationships but I did in fact have an "aha" moment when we were introduced. As if I recognized him. He was, however, the absolute worst about what he called "Hallmark" holidays.
My advice to other females now is always the same...expect nothing, buy yourself some wonderful chocolate and your favorite flowers! and Happy Valentine's Day to all of you!!
Oh and by the way, when I baked cookies and heartshaped cakes for sale on the 14th, I made some that were "broken" and they always sold the best!
I know many of you are fond of cats so here's a Valentine story. The deal with breeding top drawer pedigree cats is that some people (who are slightly crazy) keep a stud cat in a Fort Knox pen in the back yard with a cozy insulated shed - cat flap to the outdoor run. In the shed there is a smaller secure pen for the queen (female) in oestrus, so they can see and smell each other and get all excited. So I took my lovely Lilac girl, Lily on 13Th February and she was duly settled in the stud palace which was then padlocked from the outside. All very proper. Next morning, Stud owner goes into the stud house and Lily is missing - panic! She looked high & low before realising that my cat had ripped out the staples securing the wire mesh separating her from her intended. There she was, curled up in bed with her handsome prince on Valentines Day. The resulting litter of kittens were superb, two becoming International Grand Champions, one a stud cat who sired many Champions. The stud owner had rushed off to get her camera and returning to the Stud House, realised she had left the door open. Oh s**it - no worries, the two lovers were still cozily entwined in bed. She sent me some really cute photos.
Baked heart-shaped chocolate chip brownies for my family today as well as a Berger Cookie Pie -- veins clogging just preparing it.
Chef Deb ~ I love that idea: broken heart
Happy Birthday Stoney. My husband and I also share close birthdays-one year and two days apart. The dates are Nov 14 and 16--9 months from Valentine's Day.
Ha ha! Andy & Deb ~ I used to make gingerbread tourists decorated up with icing bikinis, swimming trunks, sunglasses etc. Inevitably, there would be a cookie jar of 'amputees' on the counter. This was in the days of PC, so I could give them for free to bored kids in exchange for filling up the sugar bowls, cleaning a table - or as the kitchen area was in full view of the public, when I was frantic busy I'd yell out for a volunteer to come and help. Parents were amazed how their surly child at home would be bursting with pride to be wiping up dishes in exchange for a few broken cookies. Funny old world.
Happy Valentine's Day everyone. I placed a cupcake in
the club car for each of you.
Stoney, yours has a candle on it. Light it, blow it
out and make a wish.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6LGvCf-TBw
I made a better wish and I even spit on it!
Paolos ~ We did that with our children many years ago -- same reaction, so much fun. And thank you for the cupcake.
Hazel ~ Great idea and it was a little more simple world before the days of computers and Game Boys -- now try tearing them away from them for a few cookies.
My lover and I will go out for dinner tonight, and have some wine which we usually skip on Tuesday nights. We bought a box of chocolates last weekend. Cards will be exchanged. We most likely will have an amorous evening. Not a bad way to spend a Tuesday. Happy Valentines everyone. I hope I'm not over sharing.
l Marjore~ You bought a box of chocolates last weekend? Such restraint! The 'fridge fairies would have vanished them by now.
Over-sharing? 'Scuse me! What are friends for?
Hazel, We've eaten 1 pc each of chocolate. Yes, we practice such restraint. We are both trying to lose some of our bellies. We won't give up sweets, but will limit our daily intake. So the Valentine chocolate may last a couple weeks! Hurrah. Then we can replace it with Easter chocolates!
Happy Birthday STONEY. I know it was love at first site from the way you describe it. Older women can do that to you.
Happy Valentine's Day to all the Village.
I've been keeping a very pretty scented candle for a special occasion. It's coming dusk here, so I will light it as a Valentine gift for all the Villagers, be they happy or sad.
You see HAZEL? Single ladies don't have partners to bat the fridge fairies off with!
My most memorable Valentine's day happened many years ago--I think it was 1990. I lived in IL, just north of Chicago. I had to go up to Milwaukee on business that day, but had planned on a nice dinner at home that evening with special deserts and some hot underware as a gift for my husband. Well, I don't know if any of you remember this, but that Feb 14 1990 a blizzard hit the Chicago area, and I got caught in it on my my way home. I left Milwaukee around 5 pm, got home at 10:30 at night. This was before I had a cell phone. The car I had at the time was lousy in snow too. I got in a minor accident at the Deerfield toll plaza--as I was pulling out, my car spun out of control and I hit the tires of a big truck. It pulled off my bumper. I threw the bumper in my trunk and we both kept going on our separate ways. I got off the highway because the traffic had stopped and went home via side streets. There were cars everywhere, slipping and sliding. It was awful. Nothing looked familiar in the snow and dark. I just kept driving and driving: I just wanted to get home to my valentine! Well, I finally made it, my car got stuck in the alley in front of our garage--I went up to our apartment to let my husband know I was home. He was annoyed with me, probably a result of his worry, he helped me get the car in the garage and went to bed. I stayed up for another couple hours, drinking the wine and eating the dessert myself getting myself calmed down. He didn't like the underwear either--red silk is not his thing. Believe it or not, this is the man I still live with. Back then, Valentine's day was no biggy. I have him a little better trained now. But no more red silk.
Being spoken for is a nice thing. Having someone to love is nicer still.
If you find yourself with neither, I will be your Valentine and hold you in my heart all day and again tomorrow and tomorrow's tomorrow...
Stoney--Beatus Natali to you!!*********Valentine's is just such a pick me up in the middle of winter....I doubt if it would be as big if it came in the summer. Everyone has had it up to the neck with weather and short days featuring overcast skies. Mid-February is a grand time to turn our attentions to making someone smile or feel special--virtually like RY's famous mirror in the club car--or in reality--wearing pink or red will lift your spirits and those who see you. If you are blessed to have a very special someone in your life and to be a special someone be grateful and happy! It may be over-hyped, but there is nothing wrong with letting others know they're cherished. Yes, the world could use more Stoney's who do it everyday, but there's a whole lot of people that need a little reminder to step up and make sure that that person sharing their life knows that they're sharing their heart, as well. There's so many kinds of love out there to share, Cupid's is just one of them. Love to all of you!
Stoney, I love your 11:29. It brought a tear to my eye and some joy to my heart. I've been unhappily alone and unloved on past Valentine's days. You're very sweet. And for those who are happily alone with love in their hearts, there's always room for more!
Andy--I want a piece of your Berger pie--it sounds fantastic! CD--your daddy was a very special guy. My husband used to send flowers to our daughter on Valentine's day--he only stopped after she got married. I always thought it was sweet of him. And Hazel, the cat story is the greatest story of all! My land o'goshen woman!! You have lived quite a life!
Thank you Stoney, very sweet and affectionate of you, your Bride is truly a very lucky woman!Although not spoken for, I do have some one (ones!) to love. I have sent them balloons today, they will probably inhale the helium and entertain themselves....
Thank you STONEY and thank you for the cupcake PAOLOS. CAROL you are right about my D.O.D. (thats how he signed cards & notes to me---Dear Old Dad).
When the children were young; to help everyone endure the long winter nights nites/days; I recycled the 14 foot Christmas Tree into a Celestrial Valentine Tree; all made Valentine ornaments to add a love spirit to all hearts...and the lights, white, preferably helped lift heart-loving Cupid Spirits. My college kids call Valentines Day, today...Single Awareness Day!!! Good Cat review, Hazel...i received My Valentine; it read: With everyday that passes, my love for you grows deeper and more beautifulXOXOXO I droped off by postal acclaim LX car service, an over-sized pink envelop...with sentiments of endearing thoughts and pulled one arrow from my quiver and shot a cupids bow on the Kisser of the letter recepient!!!!
Well Stoney, you romantic you. And now we all know how you got that romantic streak. Happy Birthday my friend, a very happy birthday wish to you. I only regret that I never got to see you in that little onesie with a red heart on it. I bet you were adorable, you funny valentine. Don't chane a a hair for us, not if you care for us...Best of the day, dear you!
Happy Valentines Day to all you friends and lovers and lovers of friends and friends of lovers. Does that cover most of everybody? I hope so. <3
<3 waa supposed to turn into a heart. But it didn't. I kind of figured it wouldn't. The message remains, however...<I heart youse guys>
Thanks, everybody, for the nice thoughts.
Backstory: There had been practice shots with big, heavy, hard and inedible green apples with an eye to establishing range before dropping the hammerhead close enough to Mr. Kenney that he would know that he had not been forgotten.
He had separate-entrance lodgings around the back of a single lady's house on Lincoln.
He'd made himself unpopular by suggesting at the tavern that he might be more of a rumor than a roomer.
Nobody believed him and then, one day, he used his sparkling Ford pick-up to cut off four bicyclist and send us scuffed and dinged over the curb in a pile of bikes.
Given the era, he might have been given a pass had he not backed up, stopped and laughed.
He lived to regret that in many ways for a long time.
Our magnum opus was probably the day he came hustling out the door to find his truck up on more railroad ties than his jack was capable of reaching.
Didn't matter anyway. The jack handle was up on the roof and his heavy hydraulic jack knotted to an elm branch fifty feet overhead.
A clothesline rope hung down tantalizingly close and we were semi-hoping that he would be dumb enough to jerk on it. He wasn't but he got the picture when we rode by, circled back and smiled.
The lady married a nice man who taught math at a middle school and Mr. K. got the boot… we actually kind of missed him.
Started the day with my wife's favorite flowers-Lily of the Valley-then To off to lunch at one of our favorite eateries. This evening ,along with a shrimp dinner at home we will share a bottle of bubbly. I will start with my traditional Valentine Day toast- I will be your valentine if you will be my concubine. She will ignore iti as usual but after so many years of hearing it s she would think something was wrong if I forgot to toast her in this fashion.
Happy, Birthday, Stoney, and many, many more. The Beauty is a lucky lady and you, my Eyefriend, are a lucky man. Conratulations and Happy Valentine's Day.
To all the villagers--Happy Valentine's Day and remember "love just is" so give to yourself as well as others.
You got it Carol!
When I was a little girl, every Valentine's Day, my father would buy my mother a large heart-shaped box of candy and get me a small one. It was such a special thing to do and still brings a smile. I saved my mother's box, since it was larger, and would put all those Valentines from the kids in school in it. Do they still do that in school or has it gone by the wayside along with everything else innocent and fun because a single sour puss found it offensive?
I wish a Happy Valentine's Day to all the fine folks of the EyE. You are all surely loved in this place 'cos the streets and sidewalks are paved with it, it radiates from our sun in the daytime, the reflection of our moon at twilight, and in the shining of our stars at nightfall.
Real boats rock, but we usually make it back safely to the port.
Stoney, a very Happy Birthay to you. You had to pull some strings to blink into world on D Day.
Spring Rain.... Keep on thinking free....
Peace out, catch ya in the Club Car...
I am in agreement with the theory that when Achilles' foot he discovered his "Achilles heel"....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__ebR_8UKAY
PeterLake: I'm so glad you showed up. I checked under all the porches in the vicinity, but no luck. So Happy Valentines Day Mr. MIA. Better later than never-er.
Yay!!! Hello Bert! I've just been wallowing in paolos's Leanord Cohen link and feeling a bit sad, so great to see you.
Andy, your sweet memory reminded me of our valentines day tradidition that was handed down over two decades from all five of my siblings until it was my turn. As I mentioned before, my Dad worked in the Chicago stockyards since he was 14 years old until he died at the age of fifty-six so he wasn't the kind of guy to go out and buy flowery Valentine's and candy in heart-shaped boxes. It was always us kids that did the leg work for him.
I'm sure my Mom was onto us, but never let it be known to us kis or to Dad. They loved each other dearly, through good times and hard times and didn't really need a card to state the obvious,.....but it helped.
I marjorie: I'm beginning to think most people have some sort of story to tell that involves that Deerfield Toll Plaza. I've got one too but I don't want to remember it. I'm glad you're hangin' with the same Valentine, and that you've managed to shine him up some...And I do recall that snow storm in 1990 on V-Day, because we went out into it, to meet friends at a restaurant, and on the way there, a car just slid over to our side of the road and was coming right at us - but we swerved hard, and it just grazed us. But we just kept on going too. That was some night, I agree. Tonight we're home, as are you, enjoy the evening! I can't see how you wouldn't. ;)
Other than anything Stoney writes about love, I've long been taken by this, below, by a guy named Will Shakespeare.
I love the last line, it's almost as good as anything Stoney writes. Almost. It might be as good, except that Stoney uses phrases like "being spoken for" and Shakespeare doesn't.
Nonetheless, here's a really good poem, and I hope you'll enjoy reading it, one more time:
Sonnet 116
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me prov'd,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
~~William Shakespeare
Just ONCE in my life, it would mean the world to me if I could get flowers. . . .NO . . .I would take a daisy picked from a roadside ditch. . . on Valentine's Day.
Strange, Peter Lake, the memories that come up when people are talking about Valentines Day. Big, ginormous hug to you. I suppose we were sort of lucky that our Mom & Dad would cuddle up on the sofa holding hands - and us kids felt sort of embarrassed - that old and still doing it? O Yuk!?
Something more upbeat, Miss Hazel?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiACBq4xntI
My dear Park4No truer words were ever written.
Spring Rain, These are for you, especially for you…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vh0KkW42iiY
Thanks, paolos~ gret stuff! Can you find Crazy Little thing Called Love?
Stoney- A most Happy Valentine Birthday to you!! What a great baby story, and the followup.
Carol - Thanks for your thoughts! Good ones!
Park - Thanks for the Shakespeare sonnet. That boy knew how to write!
Hazel- Appreciated your cat mating story!
Wishing love, chocolate, and hugging to all Villagers! Happy V-Day to one and all!
Since I was married at 20 to a handsome Sigma Nu from Philadelphia while still in college, and divorced after 11 years, then single and dating with 2 small children for 6 years, then remarried to a philosophy/psychology PhD who was 17 yrs. older but a really romantic guy (who died 1995 after 14 yrs. marriage), then single again 10 yrs. teaching school and having women friends for a social life (a few really bad dates thrown in), I met my present love accidentally on Classmates.com. I am a very happy girl now at 67, and only hoping to keep this Valentine as long as we can stay alive and well. Cupid does exist and sometimes gets it right!
Peter Lake ~ My mother would be the one to let it go, but my father? He was the romantic. I celebrate everything.....life is wonderful worth celebration in itself, but we are, most of us, ordinary people to all but our families. So we make a really big deal out of birthdays, anniversaries, Valentine's Day....everything. And even as adults, our children and their spouses and their children know and count on, their day being very, very special.
It is hard to match Elizabeth Barrett Browning's love poems.
How Do I Love Thee?
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday’s
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints,—I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life!—and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
And this sentiment works for love that is romantic or familial...
Found this, Miss Hazel,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bjR_DG5yQ8
then found that
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyNE9pIXRE0
funny how things fall into place
Spring rain~ on your doorstep is a bunch of pink camelias from my garden. Tied with raffia to keep the boquet perfect. Dangling from the raffia is a littte card, handwitten, that just says 'With Love'
Even more sweet things… thank you.
This is kind of nice:
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/13/lifes-frailty-and-the-gestures-that-go-a-long-way/?nl=health&emc=healthupdateema2
I especially like the part about the big boob.
Nice work, paolos!
paolos, thank you.Hazel: are your flowers already blooming? I have a friend in Cornwall who says the daffodils bloom much earlier than here. Thank you.
Hoping this will work
http;//youtu/sh-esHNKIL
oh pfffffft well think it--its Maurice Chevalier singing "Valentine"
My favorite Holiday - I've always loved Valentines Day. Despite my horrid romantic past & present - I refuse to give up!!
Went to work dressed in Valentine's Red today & enjoyed every Minute of it.
Mooseloop - Thank goodness, I am not the only one who think Cupid hasn't possible lost it after all these years.
Stoney - Happy Birthday :-)
Sad Valentine story, about "Why My Dad Never Brought My Mom Flowers." Once I asked her, how come daddy never brings you flowers. I was a kid and I didn't know that this could be an explosive question - but she just laughed, wasn't annoyed and a fight didn't insue after Dad came home. She said: Back in Phoenix when we were newly married, and he was working as a mechanic at the used car dealership, he came home late one afternoon, all dirty and greasy from the shop, and with this ragged bouquet of flowers in his hand. And it just struck me as funny, that he should have been dressed in a suit or something, but there he was in the white tee shirt and mechanics pants, carrying these flowers, walking up to the house. I couldn't help myself, (SHE SAID), and I laughed. And I couldn't stop laughing. It just struck me as funny, flowers and grease all over his hands and clothes..." I couldn't believe I was hearing this. My heart just fell to the floor with a thud for my Dad...he was just out of the Navy and he was a mechanic, and they didn't have money, and MOM LAUGHED at him? I could cry just thinking about it. .... It learned me a lesson though, and it didn't have to do with getting flowers - it had everything to do with being ever so careful with the heart of your lover, because it's fragile, and while it heals, it heals with a scar, and the scar is a sad memory...............So he never brought her flowers, and Valentine's Day was no biggie with them, I don't recall them ever mentioning it, no cards, no candy, and certainly no flowers. I can't say as I blame him. I heard my mother tell a friend that "oh no he doesn't get flowers, I don't like flowers, they're such a waste of money."..............I knew that wasn't the truth, I didn't care what her friend thought; mom knew it wasn't the truth either. ... That was one "event" - the no flowers and why - that made me look at my mother in a different light, from a different perspective. I was just a kid, but I knew what it was like to have my feelings hurt, and it was a side to my mom I was to recognize more and more as I grew up. I loved her very much, but she shouldn't have laughed at my dad way back on February 14, 1946. You never do things like that to the one you love, and that's the truth. .... PS: I do get flowers, red roses today. And I'm ever so appreciative of the gift - and mostly of the man who gave them to me. Tee shirt or tux, he's the best.
Thanks, paolos, my hero of finding Things On The Internet. You are so kind to take the trouble to respond to my demands. Spring rain~ Yes, I have flowers blooming - struggling some days with bad weather, but my pink Camellia blooms from Christmas to July! I have swathes of snowdrops, crocus and daffodils any day soon, Witch Hazel in bare-leafed flower, fat buds on the rhododendrons and Azaleas, the insulating furry cases of Magnolias slowly opening and things in the garden that I planted years ago and am dying to see them flower for the the first time. My 'phone bill went ballistic the first time my Tulip Tree flowered! The one I'm waiting for now is a Handkerchief Tree (Something or other Daviddi) planted in 2005- many of my plants were gifts from friends, so a walk around the garden reminds me how many people .... and yes, not just the plants, big pots, garden ornaments, imponderable stuff that makes my pond filters work, a fountain! A huge Buddha who sits in the Ty Bach (Outside loo) Sometimes I feel like tending the garden is a burden 'cos my ankles, knees, hips and back hurt. Not to complain - how fortunate I am - and I forgot the wildflowers which would make another list, and the birds and the sunrises and sunsets and the snow that stays up on the mountains. Eeeew- sorry to go on, but you did ask.
It did. It had to be. It couldn't be any other. Just ask Francis.Albert.Sinatra:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ipJ2P8duaY
I wish you'd write it down Hazel. Just talk/write into a journal. I wish you would. So good, what you have to say...
For those interested, the Westminster Dog Show is on tonight (finals) at 8:00 pm. I think it's on USA network. It's a veddy good show. I think so anyhow. Look at it this way: it's not the dogs' fault that their owners give them silly hairstyles. I think they all deserve prizes just for going out in public like that, some of them - much less being on stage. Poor things. Anyhow, enjoy - if it's your cup o tea.
Haze and Andy,
I don't ever remember our family walking anywhere, be it to Curch, the Zoo, the museums that dot Lake Shore Drive, ...... Anywhere at all, when they were not holding hands as if it was after that date that they really found each other.
......even after those times when dinner plates and empty cups were winged across the table on those occasional night when my Dad would stop off for a shot-n-a-beer and bet on the pobues before coming hone. It was like a match that was lit and then blown out before it burned your fingers......
The dinnerware never broke or chipped 'cos it was melemac,...their hearts even sturdier in a soft kinda way
Meanwhile and far away........
Pinky and I had valentine day every day. We drew,with crayon, on the bathroom mirror. It was a trick I started because I knew the shower steam wouldn't stick, and the med cabinet has those sliding glass mirror doors. I knew she would have to slide it to get her stuff, and there was a big red heart,or as still there now, a silly valentine cartoon,and an anniversary message. Still there. I clean around it. And there is also a big smile,drawn on , at the level even with her own lips; as she was failing,and weaker, I put my arm around her and drew that smile on her reflection in the mirror, so she would remember what she looked like smiling. It's still there too. I'm glad I have all you friends to tell these stories, and share. Thanks.
more on the honor rollcard from my husband.....I just love it.
El Corazón siempre encuentra su camino....el mío encontró el tuyo.
Feliz Día de San Valentin Con Mucho Amor!
I love you once
I love you twice
I love you more than beans & rice
then my love presented me with a whole chocolate soufflé filled with raspberry whipped cream and rose petals scattered around ....so I have this log of a cake (a slice would have been plenty)...but it is my favorite...well, one of my favorites. He said I could always freeze some of it, as he doesn't eat it...I definitely have to dole it out to myself slowly.. all it will take is a little willpower...I think I can do it! Then we went to lunch at one of our favorite restaurants. The owner brought us complimentary champagne. My love has a gig tonight and though I've heard him play thousands of times and never get tired of it, the place will be packed, so I would rather stay home. Daffodils for me....I love them. Steve is the romantic one though ...always flowers, special surprises...I'm not so good at it.
(translation of the above...The heart it always finds its way.... mine found yours.
Happy Valentine's Day. With much love!)
Hazel, loved your cat story...awwww
bebe...I hope you're having a special day today. I bet you get lots of Valentines from your students.
Happy Birthday to you, Stoney...and many more. Wow...3 days apart and in the same nursery...seems meant to be. Very fortunate.
Park4, your 6:45...very touching recollection....and a truth about hurt feelings.
Thanks for the cupcake, Paolo...I think I can make room for a cupcake!
Happy Valentine's Day to all my fellow Villagers.
Geez, these are stupendously beautiful, sad, funny, heartbreaking, revealing pieces from everyones' heart. You all floored me. Some are almost too painful to read (PARK), some too funny (HAZEL), some w/ a sweet melancholy (PL), some sad (SPRING RAIN), some full of hope later in life (MOOSE), some sweet & Victorian (VR & PAOLOS), some romantic & heart shaped (STONEY), some reminded me of how thrilled I was when the mailman would arrive w/ a big card addressed to ME! From my father............so thrillingly romantic (ANDY), some great advice (CHEFD), some memorable (IMARJORIE), some full of hot air & nice thoughts (CAROL & PENELOPE TX), some comfortable (GIRAFFE), some incredulous & goofily romantic (TT), some clumsily full of Cupid (RY) to share love (LOT & RUSTY), hopeful & glowing in red (RINGS), succinct (MISS BLUE), sweet smelling (RWH1), mysterious (BERT), great story & birthday greetings (STONEY),..................................I heart all of you!
Bebes, there is a heart shaped cheeseburger with your name on it from me....
Park 4~ Thanks for your kind words. I think my writes sometimes amuse the Village 'cos it gives them some context, (the writings, not the Village) but the whole wide world?
Peter Lake~ Somebody was saying yesterday about their kid making a picture of momma that was multi-armed (as in limbs, not weapons) with a big smile. No more sitting at a dinner table with flying melemac - listen - clickety clack, clickety clack, you are in the club car with lovely eight-armed friends, fantastic food and octopus embraces.
Park4, All I can think of is the movie, Best in Show...so funny... and I had no idea how close the depiction is to the real dog shows....I just may tune in for the broadcast of the Westminster Dog Show....if it's still on....but I"ll think of the movie.
RY, what a beautiful bitter-sweet memory you've shared with us. Thank you.
Hi Jane, I'm watching it. It's not as stuffy as it sounds. The dogs are playful, they seem like they really like doing what they're doing. Despite the hairdo disasters. The black lab had long wavy hair....and it lost out to the Irish Setter, which is pretty much okay, they are pretty cool dogs, too. ANYHOW, it's way way better than CUPCAKE WARS, which my husband is watching but if he knew I was writing that here for all to see, I wouldn't be getting any flowers for the rest of my life either!
Hazel: One word: yes. Your musings go way past the Village. I could read you outside in June, in the hammock, listening to the bugs and watching the butterflies, and tsk-ing at the squirrels who won't leave me alone - and your book (with illustrations) would put it all together, would make sense of it, would delight. ... It would be the kind of book I'd keep on my bedside table. You've already put it down here over the years, months...it's hard to recognize one's own talent. Trust me and everyone else here who has told you, your words are lovely and lively whispers that need to be "spoken" more loudly. People will want to listen.Don't shake your head: Yes, they will, too. xxoo
Aaaaaww PARK 4~ Would I ever find a publisher? I know somebody who could/would do the illustrations. It's super-late here. Duvet calls loudly! Nos da.
Happy Happy Birthday Stoney dear! I hope happy days will come to you all year. If I had one wish then it would be, a happy happy birthday to you from me!
Love ain't dead or blind, it is asleep in the next room. Graveyard shifts are the pits. Happy VD, Single Awareness Day, or Tuesday of your choosing y'all!
Hi JANE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I heart you! I have never seen that movie, but have only heard great things. I hope you are relaxing & are eating chocolate.......................
PL......................and I will eat that cheeseburger w/ relish........not relish relish, but w/ relish...........bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahaha!
Haze, I agree totally with Park4 on your wonderful way with words. I always look forward to reading more. Nos da
I found a valentine on the sidewalk outside this
morning, I think someone dropped it, it had a little dust on it.
When I wiped the dust off it read, To the
village from ChefDeb
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sh-esHNKlLU
Hazel-I agree with the folks above. I want to read the novel you write about your life with ex#2. The passion! It would make a great beach read.
I got a very romantic V day card from my husband last night. Made me a little teary.
Park4--your story about hurt feelings made me sad--I know exactly what you're talking about. There are just those things that you wish with all your heart you could take back.
We don't do flowers at our house either. But not because of hurt feelings, but rather two cats who seem to always find them, knock them over and spill water, or some other destructive deed.
One more thing about V day--I think my Ipod knew what day it was. I have it set on random/shuffle, but last night it played something from the Love Unlimited Orchestra (remember Barry White?), Matt Damon singing My Funny Valentine from the Talented Mr. Ripley soundtrack, and Frank Zappa singing Dirty Love. It knew...
Valentines Day was very low key this year...Chinese Take Out and Cherry Pie.
I won't even attempt to say it better than Shakespeare...
"Doubt thou the stars are fire;
Doubt that the sun doth move;
Doubt truth to be a liar;
But never doubt I love."
PS- I won't even attempt to say it better than Bebe did (848PM) either, but I'll second it.
In my humble, the village did a fine salute to Valentine's Day - there's lots and lots of good reads. And to Mr. Peterman: Hope that Cupid's Day found you well and celebrating "this funny thing called Love." Happy Valentine's Day from all here in the Village!
My eight year old daughter received a valentine in the mail yesterday from a secret admirer. Seven years earlier, her sister who was eight at the time received a valentine in the mail from a secret admirer. My eight year old accused me of sending it because it arrived in the mail with 3 others that were signed by me. The fifteen year old then looked at my with a stupified gaze and exclaimed YOU were the secret admirer? I took that card out every year on Valentine's day to try and figure out who my secret admirer was. I guess the secret's out. I'll have another go at it in four more years.
Bingo! C note.