Ending Valentine’s Day on a Sweet Note

I don’t have a sweetie or a sweet thing or anything resembling a Valentine, but there are many sweet things in my life.

Friday, February 13, 2009 - My mom is home from the hospital after 2 weeks and 2 days. She is still very weak, but hopefully the comforts of home will speed her recovery. She is one of the sweet things in my life. Someone that sweet should not feel that bad.

That evening I experienced an evening of Guitar Blues at the invitation of my friend, Norm, at The Paramount Theater in Charlottesville. Jorma Kaukonen, founding member of Jefferson Airplane, four-time Grammy nominee Robben Ford, and Ruthie Foster thrilled the audience with their performances. Ruthie is the least known among the three, but for me her soulful blues voice was the icing on the cake. Sweet, very sweet. Thank you so much, Norm.

About a week and a half ago, the snow fell for the first time this winter onto the field beyond my kitchen window. I stood just outside the back door taking photographs. Here is what I saw. I was delighted when I downloaded the photos. The photos that look like black and white are completely unenhanced. I stood in the darkness not sure what I was capturing and only used the flash.

Please click on the following link to see additional photos from today’s blog. http://www.flickr.com/photos/35412116@N03/

The next morning greeted me with white beauty.

This beautiful sunrise carried in Valentines Day.

A friend told me he recently he bought Seal’s Soul CD. With no Valentine of my own, I gave myself the CD for Valentine’s Day. Ooooh, what a sweet indulgence. Thanks for the recommendation, Bill.

Now, here is my Valentine's gift to you. Very sweet. Please click on this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rooyt3ptNco

January Happenings

January can be a tough month. You have just come through three of the major holidays of the year, often followed by a big let down. January 09 held its trump card: the historical inauguration. That brought my friend, Ellen, back to town. Her grand daughter was invited to the inauguration, so Ellen flew up with her from Atlanta to deliver her to those that would watch over her for the next several days. Ellen wasn’t invited. Sorry. While she was not welcome at the White House, she was welcome at my house. I felt like cooking during her first night’s visit as we both enjoy that. I prepared sockeye salmon, baked sweet potato, a simple salad and fresh baked bread. Added to the mix was good wine, great music and candlelight. That combination seems to work best for me. After dinner we relaxed in the living room with more wine, music and conversation.

The night before the inauguration, I was invited to the Swope Farm for dinner at Ellen's sister's home. This is the couple I had Thanksgiving dinner with…at their Deerfield Farm. Sassy was there, too. I took 5 pounds of frozen at sea scallops. Unless you are on the boat when they are caught, it doesn’t get any better. Ellen prepared a special batter and fried them. We had corn from the garden, homemade applesauce and I cannot remember what else. But it was all good.

Knowing that I have a fondness for woodworking, Kenny gave me a tour of his workshop. That was cool.

The view from this property is unbelievable. I was able to get a few photographs before it got too dark. Imagine how beautiful this scenery is when things green up.

I took my lunch hour to watch the swearing in. After work, I went home with my friend Tammy so we could watch some of the festivities together on her much-larger-than-my-screen-TV. She is a wonderful hostess. We had a nice dinner and I got a good night sleep in a comfy bed. Sorry, no photos to offer.

I have been trying to get cardinals to come to my feeders and was finally successful. My attempt to bring them in also brought 8 squirrels and a Blue Jay. Squirrels are cute and can be fun to watch, but the little bastards spent an entire day trying to get up to the hanging feeders, including sitting at my kitchen window studying the situation…and one succeeded. That meant that I spent the day yelling at them (they just looked at me waiting for me to stop), pounding on the window (that scared away the birds but not the squirrels) and throwing little pebbles at them (which they chased thinking I was throwing them something else to eat). Something I did seems to have worked…for now.

The month ended with taking my Mom for a pedicure. She always seems to be in pain when she has a pedicure so I encouraged her to focus on a magazine. It worked most of the time.

A few days later I met her at the ambulance entrance to the ER as she was having serious difficulty breathing. That is something no one should have to suffer. She is an 84 year old trooper and is finally, today, showing some improvement so she is out of ICU. I hope she is able to go home soon. Of course, I had to get a photo of the sunset from her hospital room.

Now bring on Feb.