We finished our wonderful book just this morning! I told you about it . . . Still Life by Sarah Winman ~ we loved every wonderful word of it, it’s ALL about love as all the best books are. All about the pursuit of love. As most of you 
know, Joe and I listen to the same book while we walk (one iPhone, two ear buds), and this book ended a few hundred yards before the end of our walk so while we were sighing and sad our book had ended, I said to my phone “Play some Italian MUSICA” and it did and we listened to this all the way home. You HAVE to either read or listen to this book. It’s too wonderful! Valentine #1 to you from me with love.🌷 La Festa di San Valentino began in Italy!💘💞 Perfetto! And so we turn to the real reason we are here . . .
In the 1950s, where I grew up in California, Spring began on Valentine’s Day.💝 The lupin and California poppies were in bloom, the roses were budding, days were warmer, winter was over, afternoons were spent roller skating, and on Valentine’s Day we went to school with a fist full of Valentines like these, carefully signed on the back in pencil “To Janice from Sue.” Nothing too flowery. We were just little kids. “To Pete W. from Sue S.“
The small die-cut Valentines came in cellophane-covered boxes we bought at the dime store, twenty-four assorted valentines for 99¢ so we could give one to every friend in our class, and one for the teacher. One of my favorite days at school. How could we NOT 
love school ~ we made Valentines for our mothers ~ in our starched dresses, that hot-iron fragrance still lingering on peter pan collars, essence of Mother and home, our saddle shoes and mary janes skipping carefully over the cracks in the sidewalk as we walked to school together. Another sunshiny day in
The month of love
But in New England, Valentine’s Day arrives in the dead of winter. That came as kind of a shock when I first moved here. Snow on Valentine’s Day seemed so strange. But the middle of February is NOT spring here on the island. It’s very often wet, one way or the other. Never are flowers and a celebration of love more appreciated. And in that frame of mind, my darling Valentine’s, I made you something! Guess what it is?
Yup, Valentines! You are so smart!
Two of them! With an envelope! Aren’t they cute? They stand up! With little hearts and flowers on them! And they aren’t just for 
Valentine’s Day… inside they are blank! You can say anything because flowers and love are everything!❣️ They’re free, your only job is to print them out on card stock (use lighter paper for the envelope), fold them, (I hope you’re enjoying being in Italy while we talk!) cut them out just inside the lines, and write something pretty inside. You get them here: the I LOVE YOU CARD, the FLOWERS CARD, & ENVELOPE. And if you’d like to get cardstock that will go through your printer (80 lb for the cards), they have it HERE! (They have it everywhere, just Google “cardstock.”) I hope you love them!
So, little February is jam-packed with love in more ways than one for me and Joe!💓 Monday, February 6th was the 36th Anniversary of our first date! We find that as the years go by we want to celebrate MORE!💃🏼 No romantic restaurants with cozy dark Italian bars are open for dinner on a Monday night in February on Martha’s Vineyard, we tried to find something ~ we finally gave up, and decided we like LUNCH just as much! And, because apparently no one goes to lunch on Mondays, we had the place to ourselves and chose the darkest corner table. Which wasn’t very dark. And no Dean Martin . . . No Arrivederci Roma . . . we had to rough it.💖💕💖
We brought along this shoe box filled with our old photos. We thought it would be fun to eat and talk about the places we’ve been together. We’ve never done this before, taken photos to lunch, but I highly recommend it! Good thing no one was there, the 
memories were bouncing off the walls! I had an ice-cold Cosmopolitan, Joe had a day-glo Aperol Spritz, we shared a great big Caesar salad, and this restaurant has an open-fire pizza oven and makes the best thin-crust pizza EVER, so we split a pizza too, molto bene, and then split a piece of Lemon Cake with lots of whipped cream. Bellissimo! So it was perfect! Want to see some of the pictures? One by one, out of the box they came. The most used word of the day was . . . “Remember?”
So, as a little bit of background for you who don’t know unless you’ve read my book A Fine Romance, before I met Joe, I was living alone in my house called Holly Oak, minding my own business . . . and fairly truly through with men (I thought), it hadn’t been working out❤️🩹 I was a little wounded . . . and happy enough . . . I kinda had it all . . .
sleeping with my three darling kitties. . .😻😻😻
Kitties, always true blue and trustworthy. So, here we go, pop into the way-back machine, let’s go even further back, to 1982 … In a nutshell, after a shocking (to me) divorce, followed by an unplanned cross-country move, accidentally buying a little house on an 
ISLAND where they had this thing called winter, followed by a few years of flailing, learning, figuring things out, then writing my first book, quite a few forays into the weird world of dating (in those days we actually had to GO with the person, there was no 
looking anyone over online, no police reports or dating reviews ~ we were on our own). A bit distrustful, and nearing 40, I thought that “alone” was probably the way I was going to stay. I was fine with it. They told us back then then we had a better chance of being kidnapped by terrorists than falling in love after 40 which seemed about right to me. (Now I laugh! 40 is only the beginning!!!) I loved my little house, my kitties, and this beautiful island separated from the real world by a big blue moat, ringing with church bells, the smell of salt in the air, little white farmhouses, shingled cottages . . . but even after all that good stuff, I still had a bit of an attitude. “Too Mean to Marry” ~ was the t-shirt I wore to the supermarket. I was definitely NOT going to fall in love again.
Then one day . . . almost exactly 36 years ago . . .
This guy showed up! Too handsome, I told myself, and too young. But he persisted and I forgave him. We put the camera on the staircase, set the timer, ran back into position, and took our first selfie together ~ at Holly Oak, all dressed up to go to a dance 36 years ago, in one of our first public appearances as a couple.👀 Seems like just yesterday.🥰
Mi sono innamorato di te.💕❤️💕❤️💕
So, I digress, back to our lunch ~ there we were tucked into our corner, all settled in to celebrate our anniversary, and into the photo box we dove, pulling out picture after picture . . . 
Here I am on the boat on our way home from our first date in Boston . . . bewitched, bothered, but mostly bewildered, had no idea if he would “follow me to my house,” despite assurances by Doris Day that this was the way things go … nor was I sure I wanted him to!
But, slowly, as you can see, Joe revealed his adorable self to me. 
My first Valentine from Joe came when my mom was visiting . . . (I pulled this card from the photo box and we said awwwwww . . .) 
By Christmas, I knew . . .
Maybe it was the hat . . .
Or that we fit together like two pieces of a puzzle.
I could now thank all the things in my life, even the hard ones, even the lonely ones, even the ones I wanted to hide in the bushes and wait for so I could scare the peewaddin’ out of them ~ now I could be grateful for all of it, to everything that lead me here. It took a while, but I had come from a long, long way.💝
Worth every step of the journey to find this guy at the end of the rainbow. Such a surprise.
Isn’t his hat cute? I like that little tail. No guys in California wore hats like this! He was an original!
Joe’s 40th birthday was a luau … in our back yard under a tent! Aloha-ha!
It must be love when you still like each other after putting together a yard sale!
Whatever I do, he wants to do, “Where are you going today?” says Pooh: “Well, that’s very odd ‘cos I was too. Let’s go together,” says Pooh, says he.” 💕 A.A. Milne
My first selfie with a cell phone, we were in a field in England, I needed four tries! Not quite realizing yet it was all in the arm, as in how long is your arm.
I had a hard time getting my face in it! Look at him, all calm and collected… (When I tell him I’m writing about him, he always says the same thing, “Make me look thin.”🥰)
I blamed my glasses for getting in the way.🤓
Fourth time was a charm…
How we love sailing across the Atlantic.
In 2001 we became Auntie Mame and took our two nieces, Holly 12 and Heidi 11 on the Queen Elizabeth 2 to England and France for the joy-trip of our lives. We started planning when they were around 7. Worth every fun second of it. A true-life adventure for all of us! And proof that . . .
How could we not high-five after climbing this hill and discovering this amazing view of the green and pleasant land we’ve come to love . . .
Could never have done it without Map Man . . . It took a very small village: him + me = we can do this!
The British supermarket, no matter what part of the country we are in, is so fun. Perusing unfamiliar goods, commenting, laughing, questioning, figuring out … I love milk, I always have, the first time we went to a market in England, I found “Breakfast Milk.” The name was all I needed. Actually tasted just like milk, but BREAKFAST milk, just HAS to be better! I think you will understand if you say it three times in a row!🤣
But if I’d ever leave youIt couldn’t be in autumnHow I’d leave in autumnI never will know ~I’ve seen how you sparkleWhen fall nips the airI know you in autumnAnd I must be there 🍂🍁🍂
Good way to give cards, just show it to her in the store! Make her cry!
If ever I would leave youIt wouldn’t be in summerSeeing you in summerI never could go.🤩
And could I leave youRunning merrily through the snow?Or on a wintry eveningWhen you catch the fire’s glow?
NO Way!
Remember the day Joe came into my studio to show me that while he was busy on his computer, his tea bag had wrapped itself around his glasses and flipped out of his cup without him noticing? And lived there for a while, swinging back and forth? I wrote a whole post about it. He made my day with that one!
I still laugh.
Thank goodness I discovered I didn’t like to fly, otherwise I never would have discovered how much I LOVE the train. 
Another Valentine’s Day, and a horse-drawn sleigh ride in the snow.
He’s in Wales and I’m in England, but as always, we’re together!
If ever I would leave youHow could it be in springtime?Knowing how in spring I’m bewitched by you so?Oh, no! Not in springtime!Summer, winter or fall!No, never could I leave you at all!🌷
Up in Maine. Not leaving him here either.
“The world is full of happy people but no one ever hears of them. You have to fight and make a scandal to get in the papers. No one knows about all the happy people.”💖 💖 💖 Gene Stratton-Porter
Well, that’s enough of that! You get the idea. Very difficult to 
cover 36 years of collective camera mania in only one lunch! We’ve had 36 Christmases just for starters! And 36 Summers! 36 years of kitty loving. Plus, we left our shadows on all those walks to the sea on a dirt road 
through the woods that we plan to haunt one day. Altogether we’ve had 13,140 sunrises and sunsets, over 432 full moons, and all the good ones are in my photos. And despite all this focus on memorable photos, can you believe it? I FORGOT to ask the waitress to take our picture at lunch!🤣 I only remembered as we were leaving…
Downstairs, there was this decorative door at the entrance with mirrors in it . . . caught a quick glimpse of ourselves and suddenly remembered! So we took our 36th anniversary pictures here! I could barely get my head into this selfie, we’re both standing on our toes!
At least we got a picture! And it’s not like we are lacking in recorded history! My favorite thing about being 75, about aging is being able to look back and see how it all came together. Much of my youth I worried, not knowing that things would all work out with the magic ingredients of time, determination, and a lot of luck. Remember that if you are in your twenties or thirties and uncertain. It’s normal. I fretted the entire time. But try not to worry, it’s all going to be okay. Pray to God, continue to row toward shore, and . . .
Life is short . . . But it’s never too late for you to make it exactly the way you want it. Start small. Put a flower in a vase and on your window sill. Wasn’t that easy? Isn’t it pretty? See what I mean? You just made your life a little better. That’s how it works. You are in charge.💖 
And to top off a perfect day, waiting for us on the porch when we 
got home from our Anniversary lunch was a box with THIS in it! I unwrapped Joe first, recognized him immediately ~ the beret! They were made by darling friend and Valentine Elf, Karen Courtney! Look at the details, my glasses, our ears (squee!), Joe’s hat, my dress, JACK with his green eyes. . . what a great job!
Even my book! My sister has already tried to steal them from me!
So what else do kindred spirits need at this time of year?💝 Oh yes, decorating! Spring (ish) is such a good time for that!
And a few romantic recipes . . . 
If any of these recipes sounds good to you, just click ON THIS, and then put your cursor on the recipe you like, and click! Voila!😋
But, most important of all . . . be sure to 
You deserve a chocolate mint coffee, a champagne cocktail, some flowers, and a hug . . . and can give it ALL to yourself, you can take your book to lunch, and later, you can have a long bubble bath! And if you can’t do it on Tuesday, do it on Wednesday! You can have a red letter day!
See you next time! ❌⭕️❌⭕️💃🏼💃🏼💃🏼💃🏼💃🏼
I keep trying to end the list but my list does not end! The heart doth know diaries too. And wildflowers from the English Countryside.🥰 And gratitude. The heart doth bend toward beauty.
While repainting the upstairs floors and ceilings and some of the walls, Joe built me a “closet!”💞💞💞 That perfect little indentation has always been there, used to have a hutch in it. You’ll notice it’s in our bedroom, and open to the room (no doors on the closet, you open the door to the bedroom, and voila, you find a walk-in closet with a bed in it!), once 
he puts the pole up I will, for the first time since we moved here in 1989, have all my tops, skirts, pants, and jackets in one place. All this time they’ve been in five different tiny closets located throughout the house. Pure unadulterated torture! I do not know how I took it for so long.😊 PLUS, he added a very long shelf! I’m beside myself with joy! So now, we’re sleeping in a closet! I close my eyes at night, snuggled under down comforters, saying goodnight to my clothes. I can not tell you how happy I am! 2023 has been very good to me so far!
behind), and saved artwork (reading all of it has actually been quite a nice thing to do, luv-lee letters and cards from many of you) ~ which leads me to send a shout out to “Sarah W.” who wrote me the most charming letter last April, signed-off with “Bread and Butter,” and her name.
demanding members of our family, so well-behaved and requires so little … no direct sun … really no plant food, every few years it outgrows its pot … you can either move it to a larger pot, or divide it to make new plants ~ or both! Basically it just sits there quietly looking beautiful. This one started out as a tiny thing, but it’s lived in our dining room for over twenty years now, it TELLS us when it wants water, it visibly droops! Which is why it lives so long! A droopy plant tugs your heartstrings and gets watered and holds-on until it does. This plant is a win-win! 
to get up and move ~ I like to make it happy ~ it rewards me with fireworks!🥰 You can do these without weights when you first start and then add little ones . . . until you feel stronger. I do them during little cracks in the day, like when I’m waiting for the water to boil for tea, waiting for it to brew. It’s a good thing! Winter won’t last forever!
mother-in-law, Shirley, who ended it with this: “P.S. As I am typing, there is a cat napping on my lap, and, because he will slip off if I don’t hold him, I’m typing with one hand. So, if at the end of my life, anyone wonders why I didn’t produce more, I hope someone tells them, ‘She had a cat on her lap.'”😻
Living decorating roots are showing! Look how the rug almost matches the quilt! That Claire Murray rug was a gift and is one of Jack’s very favorite things. When he is lounging on it, I have to be careful I don’t trip over him ~ he blends right in! And sometimes, when he’s NOT on it, I THINK I am tripping over him! That’ll probably be the way I go, tripping over a non-existent kitty.🤣
Book-of-the-Month for February!💖 I’ve been getting lots of mail telling me people are having a hard time finding it. And yes I know, because it is out of print once more, and is off being reprinted right now! So proud of that little book. Kellee wanted me to let you know that we have 200 of them left in our studio right now, and that will be that until more come in maybe April, maybe May. All out of Fairy Tale Girl too… and more coming. All ordered, done and dusted!
Lost Words (wonderful!), and are now deeply madly in love with a new book called Still Life by Sarah Winman. Joe likes it as much as me. Twisty, beautiful, quirky, lovely, a little bit of England after the war, a lot of Italy (you can smell it, you can taste it), all the things we love (the heart doth know), and we’re learning about things we didn’t even know we loved. I read reviews on Amazon and learned that the author used no quotation marks in the hard-copy version of this book, which confused some readers about who was saying what. But it’s read so expertly with different voices for the characters that we don’t even know it. We’re only the first quarter of the way into it. We have 10 hours to go, and walk about 45 minutes a day. Yay! I want it to last!
Taber Newsletter? “Dedicated to Preserving the Timeless Writings of Gladys Taber For the Benefit of Future Generations.”💙 It’s been a long time since I have written about it . . . I still get mine, and love it, but we’ve added so many Girlfriends since I last wrote about her. So if you’ve never heard of her, this is for you! This quarter’s issue has a wonderful quote on the cover from Gladys about making memories ~ her gentle old-fashioned way of writing is such a treat in this wild 
world, and this 40-page newsletter that’s sent out every two months via snail mail (never online), is perfect with a cup of tea, and a kitty you can hold on your lap because you can read AND drink with only one hand! From times gone by, there are recipes for treats for birds, kitties, and dogs. And treats for people too. Stories of penpals, bounty from the Quiet Garden, the charm of the seasons, and love of pets ~ also reprints of Gladys’s column called Butternut Wisdom first published way back in last century, and much more. A place where kindness, gratitude, and memories abound . . . If you’d like to learn more or sign up to receive the newsletter, I wrote a 
