Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

8.5" x 11"

colored pencil, ink

I hope that you are having a wonderful Valentine's Day with those you love!

I took out the earbobs (the kind that you screw on, not pierced) that a boy gave me many years ago, when we graduated from high school. I've worn them every Valentine's Day, that I went anywhere, since that time. I thought that they just look like Valentine's Day.

The earbobs are heart shaped with a pearlized background surrounded by gold. In the center, is a red rose. On each side of the heart, there are 3 blue stones, in what I call gold spokes extending from the side. There are two more little gold spokes at the top and one more larger one at the bottom.

I don't think that I had anymore dates with the boy after he gave me the earbobs. I went off to college and he went off to the service and we went on with our lives. I was very surprised that he gave me a graduation gift. That was very nice of him, and it is still appreciated. He was cute, I thought. When he died, not so long ago, I immediately remembered the earbobs in my jewelry case.

I'm not going out anywhere, but I took a picture of the earbobs and a piece of popcorn that my grandson brought me this morning. He found a kernel of corn that he thought looked like a flower. (Last year, he found a heart shaped potato chip that we took a picture of!) So our picture is called "Hearts and Flowers". I guess that was my valentine for this year.

I thought I might need to add the photo of the earbobs to our family pictures. And, I might draw them for my sketchbook.

Remembering all those handmade Valentines that I had my students make to give to veterans, people in the nursing home or hospital, and service men and women, I did the above little valentine with some old fashioned symbols, and an old fashioned saying.

Often, we just used copy machine paper, which was easy to get, and wasn't so heavy for mailing. In good years, when we had more money, we used construction paper, and things like ribbon and rick rack to decorate the cards.

The above card was done on copy paper with Prismacolors and pen. The saying on it became so trite that it was discouraged. And since it had not been used much for a long while, I thought I would add it. I think I started hearing that saying when I was about in second grade! My boyfriend printed it in his Big Chief tablet and passed the paper back to me. (The teacher had separated us, believing that we were too young to have boy friends and girl friends! I wasn't so interested in having a boy friend in my class, either, but we ended up together almost all through school. She didn't know that I had my first date at age 7! The grown ups weren't so in favor of it, though.)

I always thought that, on Valentine's Day, it would be so nice to be treated really well by someone special. That's the day to get jewelry, like diamond rings, candy, flowers, and be taken to some place really nice to eat, go out dancing in some romantic place, etc.

It usually is a disappointing day. Watching others get balloons and valentines, making them for other people, watching romance on tv. We did have one principal who gave each lady faculty member a rose on Valentine's Day. I sort of felt like it was for the ones he really liked, and the thorns were for the rest of us! But it was nice for my desk.

Ashton's class had a party at school yesterday. He only showed me one Valentine he got-a 3-D or hologram type of thing with a dog and a kitten on it. As you move the card, the animals change. He said they had ice cream sundae's at their party. He thought they should have had more. I think he was hungry. He didn't eat breakfast, and didn't like the lunch at school.

When we were in school, some students were allowed to decorate a box for all the valentines. Crepe paper and ribbon were the favorite materials used. The box sat on a table in front of the room, and valentines were added until time for our party.

I thought that the hat boxes at Grandpa's dry goods store would be ideal for a box to decorate. I begged and pleaded for a box for years! I just got a grouchy "No"! Pappy explained that they needed the box for business, but I thought that they could spare just one for our Valentine's Day party.

One year, he gave in and let me use a hat box. I was so proud and thought that was the most beautiful Valentine's box that we ever had. I still didn't get to be in the group that decorated it. But that was okay.

I don't think that we had to give a valentine to everyone, as they do today. It was war time and times were hard. We never thought about making cards, either. I think that we bought our little cards at Fink's Variety Store and, those with more money, or those who had saved to buy one for a special boy or girl, bought those at Taliaferro's drug store. Cards to our special friends were written and addressed with great care and dropped into the hole on the top of the hat box. It was nice when the sound indicated that there were a lot of cards in the box.

Parents brought cookies and punch to school for our party. Those were enjoyed quietly at our desks. We read our cards as we walked home, and, later, talked to our friends to compare notes about who had sent us a card.

The Baptists had a special Sweetheart Banquet for Valentine's Day. It wasn't for sweethearts, particularly,but for older teens. A chance to dress up and use our best manners. If anyone actually had a date for this, that was really special! Most of us just went on our own. I found a program recently from one banquet that I attended. As I recall, I only went to one, or maybe two. For one thing, we were Methodist, and, for another, I was shy and had a bit of an eating problem. I think my friends and my mother insisted I go, or I never would have gone. But, it was nice.

We should have taken more photographs of those things.

My "romantic" evening is going to be watching the British comedies on Houston PBS while eating supper, and having some of the yellow cake with lemon frosting that my daughter made for my mother's birthday. (She makes a cake for all the family members' birthdays, although they are no longer with us!)

Hope you have a great Valentine's evening, and, at least, have some great memories to enjoy!

***********

I thought that my "Rain Dance" picture wasn't going to work, but, there are clouds to the south moving toward us, and it sounds like thunder in the distance. Let's hope we get some nice gentle rain!

************

If you like to draw or paint, I hope that you will be joining us Saturday for the Plein Aire Workshop in Calvert. Virginia Vaughan will be painting with us on Sunday, for a while, too.

I know it is going to be fun! And we are going to learn a lot!

Contact Cecelia at grannyc_54at yahoo.com for a supply list and information. It would help to know if you plan to come.

We've got a lot of material to work from in Calvert!

************