XoXo

Last night while checking out the at the grocery store, the girl who was bagging my groceries asked me if I was a Valentine or a Black Heart. I said, 'Excuse me?'


Apparently people are now having Black Heart parties for their single friends. Did you know that?


When the girl told me she was a Black Heart I told her she should be a Valentine as there is always plenty of Love to go around. She was probably thinking 'Yeah, right. This woman's a nut!' Ha!!

One of the wonderful reasons I Love Valentines Day is that the tide of seasons is beginning to change. We can feel Winter wane as Spring begins to push in with longer days and warmer temperatures. This year it definitely feels like Spring is knocking down Winters door! It's saying, ready or not here I come!


As I type this post the Cardinal is singing his song, the Bluebirds are eating Zick Dough, we have several American Goldfinches, and small flocks of Robins are beginning to arrive. I wouldn't be surprised to see the local Sugar Shack set up this week to start getting ready for business, but that remains to be seen.

The Rose speaks of love silently
In a language known only to the heart

A little Instagram Love made from the Red Stamp app and then edited with the Squaready app. I LOVE Instagram <3



And if you were my older daughters boyfriend . . .

. . . this would be your Valentine. Screws, wire, nails, staples and all the rest. Love comes in all different forms ; )

Yes, sometimes Love can be a little scary. 

Lovin' them lobster traps

Um yeah, I don't know what's going on here but I guess Fox's Lobster House is carrying the holiday theme into Valentines Day with their lobster trap tree. Very unusually indeed! 

I can't help but wonder if Gloucester, Mass has their infamous tree decorated for Valentines Day as well?

I have to admit the 'love' decorated lobster trap tree was a delightful sight to see yesterday on my trip to Nubble Lighthouse in York, Maine!

Let it rain

If there's one thing I've always loved about the weather is watching the rain or snow fall from a distance. The wind-swept streaks coming down through the sky can be so bold. Seeing them at sunset is all the more dramatic.


* All of these images were shot within a matter of minutes of each other *

I never paid much attention to how quickly the sky changed color during a sunset or sunrise until I started photographinging them. It really is amazing. A matter of 30 seconds can make a dramatic difference in the colors reflected up through the clouds.

The Forsythia I cut last week-end has little green buds appearing. Yay! I also cut pieces from the Double-flowering Cherry tree but didn't have any luck last year getting them to bloom so I'm not hopeful they'll be any different this year.

Have you bought seeds yet? Or Spring bulbs? 

I know it's early here in the Northeast but I'm itching to get things started. Just yesterday I noticed they're starting to tap the tree's for maple syrup. That took me totally by surprise as it seems so early but with days in the upper 30's to low 40's and cold nights I guess the timing is about right. At least for this year anyway.

Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.

~ Rabindranath Tagore

I wish you all a wonderful week-end! Bitter cold temps are on tap for us but then we'll rebound back into the 30's and 40's again next week. Just plain strange. 

Just a little something . . .

Two weeks away. Where has the time gone? 

It always feels good to be back, especially when I have something pretty to post. 

I've continued to hold true to my word of keeping flowers in the house throughout Winter and will continue to do so until I can bring flowers in from the garden. If you don't have any of your own I suggest you go buy some! The roses I've been buying are the small spray roses, and at $3.99 a bunch you just can't go wrong. The florist had some out of code carnations marked down to $.99 so I bought those too and mixed them in.

She also had loads of bright orange and yellow mums that someone over ordered and were also marked down to $.99 a bunch so I bought two bouquets for the girls bathroom and put them into one large container. Its like a greenhouse in here and I love it.

So I think I have found my dream vacation spot. 

Yesterday I started browsing around Google Street Views and thought, 'Hey, why not go to Paris and see the Eiffel tower!' and so I did. Did you know you can go to different countries? I never even thought about it before. So then I drove around Champs Elysees and down a few side streets. Lots of people, shops, restaurants, and plenty of cars, but beautiful scenery.

From there I just had to go to Positano, Italy. Did you ever watch the movie Under the Tuscan Sun? It's one of my absolute favorites and you can view it here. The guy she met in the market and had the one night fling with lived in Positano. 

Positano looks like a gorgeous place.Water sparkles on the bays like a million diamonds, while houses seemingly stacked almost one on top of the other grace rocky hillsides accessed by simple narrow streets. (Positano map) You can see it for yourself by dragging the little orange person down to the blue lines. I would suggest zooming in on the map a bit first though as it will make it easier to find the streets. Just to the right of Chez Black has a gorgeous view!  Maybe you've actually been there yourself, in person? My girls were making fun of me because they thought it was a silly thing to look up online but I think its pretty cool. Technology is amazing! We obviously don't travel much but maybe one day that will change. 

What a marvelous way to check out a vacation destination before you make reservations!

The days just keep growing longer. Hard to believe we will be springing forward on March 11th. Sounds good to me! A few of my daffodils have just started to poke up out of they ground. I gave them a cease and desist order until at least March. Hopefully they listened ; )


Today I cut Forsythia and brought it in to force.

I was struggling to photograph the flowers before the sun sunk to low. The shots below are just before sunset. Often times I think it's the pretties sun of all with long shadows and golden colors.

Lots of hooting and hollering going on in the family room tonight during the Superbowl. Seeing as how we live in the heart of Patriot country I guess it's to be expected. I don't watch sports but I loved the half-time show, even though I'm not a big Madonna fan. It was SO much better than last year with the Black Eyed Peas. Oy!

Oh, did you have a favorite commercial? Tomorrow I'll try to watch some of them online.

Hope your week is a good one!