I like Valentine's Day. If I read about an ancient culture who had a special day each year celebrating romantic love, I'd think they sounded like a culture with good values. Of course it's too commercialised, everything is, but you can easily opt out of all that without throwing the baby out with the bathwater.Ed gave me a 30 gallon waterbutt, 2 blackcurrant bushes and a promise to dig the potato patch for Valentine's Day (I wonder if he remembered to claim his 10% discount at the garden centre for being an allotment-holder?) He knows that if he gave me 3' high teddy bear and a satin-covered card from Clinton's I'd laugh at him. When he gives me a gift he gives me something I want, and he knows me well enough to know what I want (also I'm not shy about dropping hints)
Later on I'll cook him his favourite meal and try to time it so it's on the table when he gets home from work. We usually eat all together as a family, but sometimes we wait until the children are in bed to have a romantic meal with just the two of us. But tonight is the local beekeeping association AGM so I have to go out. That they would hold their AGM on 14th February tells you everything you need to know about the love lives of beekeepers.
9 comments:
I'm with you Mel - I like the day, it's just the marketing that goes with it that's annoying. Ignore that, concentrate on your loved one and all will be well I say :)
I'm cooking the mistress a 3 course meal tonight and I've bought her a necklace as a surprise (I can put that here as she doesn't even read my blog, let alone my friend's blogs!)
Have a good AGM - I guess they have to St Val's day so the Queen doesn't get too jealous.
hb - www.wildburro.co.uk
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I hope you have a wonderful and romantic Valentine's day! We married folk need to do all we can to keep from taking the love of our lives for granted.
Potatoes... I'll pass on an idea I heard about planting spuds. Put them on top of the ground inside a tire (or a tyre, if you're on the other side of the pond LOL). Fill the tire with compost or well-composted manure or whatever. When the vines grow up through, add another tire and fill. By the end of the season, you'll have a large stack. When the vines die, tip the stack over and pick the taters up off of the ground.
Believe me, I have dug up enough of those things to appreciate this idea.
The love life of bee keepers... Well, I don't know about most bee keepers, but the bees have it rough. The queen mates with several drones at the beginning of her life, then retires to the hive to lay eggs. The poor dear never mates again.
As for the drones... well, they go out happy. The queen has inward-pointing hairs, so the poor hapless drone ends up losing part of his anatomy when he goes to pull out. He falls to earth and dies with a smile on his face. Meanwhile, the queen extracts all the sperm cells and casts away the refuse.
Are you sure that it isn't that bees have such complicated personal lives that celebrating them on just one day is impossible? :).
What a fantastic blog you have here. My first visit andnot my last. Happy Gardening.
I'm with you there on the gifting. Some folks would never understand! We also don't think twice about celebrating on other days (other than the birthday, holiday, etc) if the official day doesn't work.
Years ago at work, someone started giving notes on VD to say thanks to coworkers & other groups and it spread. The company grew much to large to keep managing it in a big way, but I've tried to keep it up within my group. I like the opportunty to bypass some of the VD hype and make it a nice day to say thanks, bring treats, leave something fun on their desks, etc.
I hope you all had lovely Valentine's Days too. Nice to see you, Petunia and ruth. I've linked to both your blogs because I enjoyed reading them.
Is that a recent photo? It's so green! Sounds like your dh knows you well.
Yes, the photo was taken the day of the post. The field in the background is pasture for sheep and cows. It stays green all year round, although it is grazed les frequently in winter otherwise it would quickly turn to bare mud.
I put a lot of effort into convincing the Other Half that nothing's happening for special occasions - and she falls for it every time even though she's initially suspicious that I'm up to my tricks again.
This time, whenever we went shopping over the past month or so, I'd find reasons to nip back to the shops just after we got the boys in the car. Forgot this, forgot that, need the loo, need some cash etc.
So, along comes Valentine's Day and it's just another day, the odd hug or a kiss, leftovers for dinner, shopping, chores, blah blah.
And of course, the Other Half goes into resigned mode - well it would be nice, but I know we haven't the money and he hasn't the time etc etc.
So, when we went to do the shopping she wasn't surprised when I had to nip back into the shops.
Ha ha ha.
I sneaked back out to the car, keeping in the blind spot where the mirrors can' show me, sidled up and then tapped on the window.
"Excuse me madam, but I believe you left these behind..."
And presented her with a bottle of wine and a seriously good box of chocolates. Now, a lot of people will think, oh yeah, typical.
Not so, we're lucky to have three or four bottles of wine a year (we're a homebrew household) and while the OH has a serious chocolate thing, she almost never gets to indulge.
And, of course, Greenfingers was the movie on the TV so what better treat than children to bed early, with her comfy on the sofa (with rug) with a bottle of wine and an entire box of seriously good chocolates to scoff. Girl heaven!
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