More Than Chocolates and Flowers

Valentine's Day. Is it contrived? Do you hate it? Do you write a mushy note to your sweetheart? People go all out with romantic getaway weekends with their significant others or swing to the other end of the spectrum to put together highly entertaining anti-Valentine playlists and celebrate the anti-holiday. Me, I'm a sucker for the mushy stuff, and I think anti stuff is fun, too.

Whatever your feelings, this day is about love. Maybe you love the diner down the street and the friendly owners who work hard to make it so inviting. Maybe it's a book that you love written by someone who spent days tapping their thoughts out. Maybe it's that person who lies down next to you at the end of each day. Surely you are not anti those things so broaden your Valentine definition to include more than honey-snuggling if you don't have a honey to snuggle.

I say celebrate. Go to that diner. Pick up that book. Write a goofy note to that person who embraces your imperfections. Love and you will find it.

Fun With Family

That's Grandpop, a cast of a Giant Tortoise that used to live at the Buffalo Zoo and still lives on in memory at the Buffalo Museum of Science. The last time I saw him - well, his cast - was probably twenty years ago.

Saturday B and I met my parents for breakfast and to spend the day in Buffalo. We'll often end up at a movie or just wandering the Galleria, but my mom asked, "How about we go to the science museum?" What a great idea. We had such a good time. The funny thing is the last time I was there was with them and my brothers and sister in the family minivan, back when minivans were kind of a new thing. It was nostalgic and quiet at first because we got there within a half hour of them opening.

The two exhibits that I remember most are this turtle and the pendulum. You can see it on the first floor and then run up to the second floor to look down at it swinging back and forth. They start it swinging in one direction every day and if you check it out after you've been there a few hours, it appears to have changed direction when in fact it's just that the Earth has spun that much.

Winter Without End

It's staying lighter longer, but it's still hard to remember days warm
enough to wear a t-shirt right now. When it is reasonably warm, I make
the most of the snow on cross country skiis and my snowboard. Fun as
it is to go flying down a hill, my thoughts keep turning to
surfing...wishing that still, cold slope was the surging, warm ocean
beneath me.

Is it possible one trip to Hawaii has ruined me forever? B is also
done with winter. The only problem is winter is hardly done with us.

Hopefully we will have another day of just the right amount of snow
and warmth to get to this spot pictured. The trail flanked on either
side by maples and hawthorns leads into a grove of pines filled with
shadow and sunlight. It's the kind of place you get quiet in; like
entering a church but better.

No Sunday Blues

All the Sunday life maintenance stuff is done: garbage collected, fresh towels up, fresh sheets on, lunch made, clothes out for tomorrow and (ugh) alarm set. Now I'm about to chill and read some more of Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife by Mary Roach. Her writing is witty and always chock full of fascinating facts and stories. A previous book, Stiff, is one of my absolute favorites. So the prospect of reading makes me happy plus I'm really excited to show off some logo design ideas on Tuesday for the place I just started rowing at. There was a quote in the movie A Family Thing that goes something like, "Being happy ain't nothing more than having something to look forward to."

Sleeeepy

What a momentous and hope-filled day. I don't know how Barack is still awake let alone lively looking. I am whooped. It's a let's-see-how-many-sports-I-can-fit-in-one-week kind of week. Sunday - 1.25 hours cross country skiing. Monday - 1.25 hours cross country skiing. Tuesday - 1.5 hours rowing (my first class, indoor tank, way fun). Wednesday - 1.5 hours gymnastics. I'll throw a run in eventually just to show off or maybe I'll just pedal to a podcast at the gym.

Waking up is not pleasant. I have a strong suspicion that bending legs to lift them tomorrow is going to be especially unpleasant. I will sleep well though - from sheer exhaustion and with happy thoughts of the Obamas doing the same in the White House.