flowers.....

Flowers...

with their lovely faces...

who can resist?

Valentines Day is my favorite 

special day...

it is the day my sweetie and I had our very first date.

So 

I am spoiled on Vday with lots of roses..

4 dozen this year....

(yeah, I know....smiles.)

I placed them all around the house.

When I was looking for these images,

I stumbled across 

these lovelies from earlier in the year.

Sunflowers rival Roses for my attention...

always.

Hope you are given flowers by someone you love,

and if not, 

go out then, and buy them for yourselves!

I do....

smiles.

I love you....

more than you can imagine....

more than I thought myself capable....

more than our years will allow us....

more than chocolate....

bread....

coffee.....

More today than yesterday.

I will love you no matter what.

 I will love you if you are stupid,

 if you slip and fall on your face,

 if you do the wrong thing, 

if you make mistakes,

 if you behave like a human being 

- I will love you no matter.
--Leo Buscaglia

smiles.....

Red warms the heart...

soothes the soul.....

calms the mind.....

feels like home.....

and at same time,

it can be 

the perfect 

color.

Like that 

mug, warming with 

freshly boiled water,

as the coffee steeps in the french press... 

or the cardinal that smiles at you from afar....

only to suprise you with his strange cross-beaked bite....

forgive the fuzziness....

this was taken with a long lenses,

but I just couldn't resist the 

beak....normal for him, but disconcerting for me...

And then 

there is this guy...

who appears to be giving me a rather rude 

gesture....but in reality, I caught him 

with 

"his pants down", so to speak...
but check out his
red cap!

We are thawing out around my town...

but there are still piles of snow and ice around in shady spots...

Red

catches my eye...

and reminds me that my favorite holiday is coming up!

Valentines Day is 

just around the corner.

Do you send Valentines?

Do you make them?

Do you receive them from the people you love?

Would you like to?

I absolutely adore making 

Valentines, and have stocked up this year on supplies.

I will document some crafty stuff this coming week,

and will post it.

If you make Valentines,

please share!

I would love to see what you do....

Perhaps you would be willing to post photos, too!

and then come back here and let me know where to find you.

I should warn you,

as much as I enjoy the process, 

my Valentines are, well....

sort of basic,

elementary,

uncomplicated,

but

they 

are filled

with 

LOVE!

smiles......

Been a bit distracted lately...

But I want you to know that I have had

Red Intentions....

What are Red Intentions?

Well...

it goes like this...

I wake on February 1st and think to myself

"I've got to keep my eyeballs on the lookout for

Red"...

Red fabric,

Red paper,

Red flowers,

Red hearts,

Red notebooks,

Red cards,

Red ballons

Red cookies,

RED!

So that I can be oh so creative and make the

perfect Valentine.

Well, after a few years you would think that I would know better...

that I might learn that I get really busy every February

(for reasons unknown)

and Valentines Day creeps up on me.

I cut out the hearts

see?...

I found flowers...

I even thought I might call you on the

Red Bat Phone, see?

Well, it's almost V-day.

And I have been on the receiving end of this day.

Sweetie took me to dinner last night in the fluffy falling snow...

to my favorite dinner establishment

We ate until we could eat no more...

and then he says...

"I have a gift for you and you cannot refuse it"

now that sounded a bit scary.

He goes on the explain that he has been doing some

research, and asked some questions,

and knows that there is something in the

mall, right next door, that I need.

For the life of me,

all I could think of was Tiffany's...

But

really better than that

(if you are a photographer)

The Apple Store.

He had in mind

buying me a new Mac.

Well....

I will tell you this man knows the way

straight to my heart.

We walked over

found a customer service rep,

(even one our age!)

and bought it.

Just like that.

So, today I am distracted.

I am cleaning up my PC,

so that when I take it in tomorrow

for the brain transplant.

(aka; the file transfer)

Those geeks

(and I mean that in the nicest possible way)

won't think I am the slowest, most disorganized dinosaur

on the planet.

I am so excited.....

I have watched all the tutorials on

Apple.com

and

I have gotten all my software together,

so that they can help me.

And I am busily

backing up all my photos to my external HD's.

Did I say I am excited?

So you can see,

I didn't make you that sweet

little red thingy I thought I would,

or write the perfect poem,

but

I want you to know...

that

I am very grateful for your friendship.

It has helped me,

and made me grow,

and given me confidence,

and shown me how special

all of you are....

smiles.

Valentine's Day celebrations...

This was the scene of a V-Day party I photographed years ago.It was sort of a crazy affair at a home where no one actually seemed to live. I was recommended by the caterer, who I had known for a number of years. It was what I would call a mansion, I didn't even see the whole thing. Brand New, huge, very fancy, and not at all the sort of place I would feel "at home" in....

Well, it was a paying job, and I needed the money, so I packed up the day before and called my regular "assistant". She apologized and said she was out of the state and would not return for days. HOLY COW!

You see, I never go on an assignment without an assistant. Not because I need the help, so much, but because I don't want my equipment stolen, broken, splashed, hidden, sat-on, etc...

All of which has happened at one time or another. So....I asked another friend to help me out and offered to pay him the regular amount, he refused, and said he would do it for free. Well, I wasn't in a position to argue with him, so off we went. The night was fine, and I got paid.

But the biggest thing that came out of this strange affair was my husband.

You see, that assistant was "he".

He helped me, and understood my profession.

We fell in love over the next few months,

and were married on Jan. 1, 2005.

We count Valentines day as our first date.

I am blessed.