Valentine's Day Fun

Cupcake Decorating Contest, Charleston, S.C.

I was off for the most part of this week but worked today since Valentine's Day is one of the high holy days for the Volunteer Department in the friendly little hospital across the river. I watched with relief as the happily, decorated cupcakes started arriving for our annual cupcake decorating contest fundraiser for the American Heart Association. Volunteers spent the day directing florists to the right floors to deliver flowers to lucky employees and patients. Mrs. South Carolina even got a personalized pageant balloon doll from our clown volunteer Dr. Silly Bone.

Mrs. South Carolina - Jennifer Loveday Donovan served as Honorary Volunteer for the day handing out Valentine fortune cookies and posing for photos and fellow blogger Christina Orso from Hungry Meets Healthy arrived to be official cupcake contest judge. Thanks ladies! You brought a lot of smiles today!

Effusive Valentine

I thought about using this picture for Zen Monday, but apparently that thought has crossed my mind before.

I decided not to make fun of this house, though, or these people. I think they just love their holidays. I don't know if I'd want to be their neighbor, but it's better than gang members hanging out on the front porch. (Always looking on the bright side, that's me.)

So, happy Valentine's Day to you. Some people hate this day. I did, when I was single. But I love you! Isn't that enough?

Yeah. I know.

Be Your Valentine

I picked white azaleas and camellias in our yard and made a bouquet for our table last night. Lots of stuff is blooming right now. The rain helped. I think the plants like the cooler weather, too.

This one's growing in our back yard. It climbed over the fence. I don't know what it is. Any clues?

I hope you have a happy Valentine's Day. J and I couldn't work out our schedules so we'll celebrate later this week. We feel fortunate to have each other and we celebrate that every day.

To those who have a date tonight: have a lovely, romantic time. Indulge in your love. It's good stuff.

To those who dread this day like final exams, nausea and the coming of Al Qaeda all in one: I recommend self-indulgence of the non-alcoholic kind. (Drinking makes it more maudlin than it already is.) Ice cream, chocolate, chips, cookies, a good book, a funny movie, bubble bath--whatever you want, you should have it. Indulge yourself, dammit. Somebody's got to do it.

Love Isn't About Presents. But A Gift Basket Might Help.

near the courtyard at Vroman's Bookstore

I thought I was going to post about something else today. Then I heard Vroman's Bookstore is doing a Valentine's Day promotion that almost makes me nostalgic for the misery of my single days. Almost. I mean, those were some bad days. The nights weren't so great, either.

At either Vroman's store, on Colorado Blvd. or Hastings Ranch, you can enter a "drawing to win a holiday basket...filled with books and gifts totaling up to $200," basically by tearing up a photo of the one that done you wrong.

If you kept the photos, that is.

I didn't. There's nothing left of those bad relationships except the emotional muscles I built from the steep learning curve I climbed. However, for single folks who deserve a happy Valentine's Day and who are sick of being left out (I dreaded February 14th for years), it might be more than satisfying to rip the schmuck's photo in half and have some nice tchotchkes and a few good books to show for it.

(There were good relationships, too. From those I kept the memories. I might even have the photos, but as they're not digital I have no idea where they are.)

Zen Monday: #133

Some Mondays are more Zen than others.

Please experience the photo and tell us, in the comments, what you've learned.

(Your first Zen Monday? Tell us what the photo makes you think of. There's no right or wrong, no prizes. Just have fun.)

Good Cardio

Last week John and I climbed the fire road across Las Flores Canyon from the Sam Merrill Trail. It was his idea. With no shade on the mountain we had the perfect overcast day, he wanted to try something different, and why not?

I had all sorts of reasons why not. There's no good trail. It's not a hike, it's a climb. And it's rocky over there, with gravel and scree loose enough to roll you down ten feet for every two you go up.

I didn't think I could do it.

"Sure you can," said John. "You're strong enough."

I begged to differ. I complained a good part of the way up. It was steep. I was scared. For some of the climb we had to resort to our hands and knees just to find something to hold onto. It was most undignified.

I finally gave up, afraid to go on.

"I'm going to see what's around that bend," said John, obviously not the least bit worried.

He was gone for a little while. I found a place where I could sit without having to hold on and busied myself taking pictures. Finally, I crawled up after him.

Not too much farther along he'd found the wider road. He helped me over a few tough steps and we walked. It still wasn't easy; our legs were tired and our lungs were hungry. But we kept going and we made it farther than either of us could have gone alone.

At the top we gazed out over exhilarating San Gabriel Valley views we'd never seen before. We congratulated ourselves for making it so far. We discussed the great gobs of lunch we'd eat when we got back down. And I thanked John for insisting I could make it (the climb, not the lunch).

Happy Valentine's Day, sweetie. Even mountains are no match for us when we climb them together.

Fairy Tales

We're taking a Valentine's Day break from our Altadena hike.

This is a close-up on the Cinderella Tile Panel at the Huntington Art Gallery in San Marino. The card on the wall next to it says the panel was originally created to adorn a fireplace. The tiles were painted by Lucy Faulkner, sister of William Morris's partner Charles Faulkner after a design by Edward Burne-Jones, and manufactured by Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Company in London in 1862.

I think the tale of Cinderella is appropriate for today because in the story, the couple can't be together until she reveals her true self to him. Yeah, yeah, yeah, she has to fit the glass slipper. And yeah, yeah, yeah, it's a rags to riches story of virtue conquering tyranny. But fairy tales are also allegorical. Love is about sharing our truest selves with each other and accepting our loved ones in all of their forms, from the glorious to the base.

Tomorrow we'll return to Altadena, with an announcement!

A Valentine

City Daily Photo bloggers around the world celebrate love today. I celebrate, too. Pasadena's loaded with romantic spots—restaurants, galleries, gardens and more.

My sweetheart and I began falling in love in Pasadena at a theatre that's no longer here and at a restaurant that's also gone. Neither of us lived in Pasadena then, but we liked coming here. On our first Valentine's day together, after all the shops were closed, we held hands for the first time and walked along Colorado Blvd., ignoring the chill in the night.

We've been in love with each other, and with Pasadena, ever since.

At the same moment I took the above photo, my sweetie snapped the photo below with his cell phone. Our little friends prove that sometimes your Valentine is your best friend. Or your best friend is your Valentine. Or both.

It's chilly in Pasadena again tonight. A good night for a walk, holding hands and ignoring the cold.