Not to squash anyone's bubble today, but apparently St. Valentine had nothing to do with sweethearts and romantic love. It's not even sure how many people St. Valentine is actually made up of.
According to Wikipedia, there was no celebration of St. Valentine until Geoffrey Chaucer, who mentioned in Parliament of Foules a fictional old tradition of celebrating this day.
The feast of St. Valentine was allegedly (has anyone noticed this word becoming the most used word in English newspapers today?) devised to take the place of the very ancient pagan festival of Lupercalia, which was observed in order to 'avert evil spirits and purify the city, releasing health and fertility.'
Sounds like a jolly event. What are folk supposed to do during a festival that leaves them healthy and fertile? Why, invent St. Valentine's Day! And I'm very glad they did.
Here is the little tin of chocolates M presented me with this morning. I have to say, I'm more excited about the tin than the actual chocolates. Isn't it sweet?
Here are some romantic things I have around the house:
This ornament was bought from a charity shop last week. I think they had a number of them because my friend bought one at the same time. (Floss, have you noticed how I've mixed red and blue? The nearest I can get at the moment to red and turquoise!)
A collection of random hearts I usually keep in a bowl. Here set out on an old piece of lace curtain I have in my stash:
A friend gave me this picture when I was busy writing romantic (and stronger!) stories:
A few years ago my son made this picture for me. It's his version of a piece of art we saw in a gallery. I loved it, but couldn't afford it and he very kindly put this together for me (as it's not an exact copy - rather a fifteen year old's interpretation, I hope we don't get into copyright trouble)
Sorry about the reflection of my lights.This last picture I won on ebay recently. I fell in love with it instantly and had to have it. There was a frenzied last-minute bidding for it and I won. Just hope none of you was amongst the other bidders:
Great pictures - I am very interested to see where the red and turquoise theme will take you!
ReplyDeleteGreat photos. Nice reflection for Valentine's day!
ReplyDeleteYour heart collection is so sweet, I love all of them, but especially the teeny weeny little stone heart right at the bottom.
ReplyDeleteLove your hearts too,and can see why you had to have that picture...it's lovely and romantic.
ReplyDeleteI spotted that tin and thought the same as you!
Mr Boo bought me some lovely belgian chocs for Valentines.
Bellaboo :)
I like that light in the reflection...
ReplyDeleteWow you son did a great job on the picture!! Creativity looks to run in the family!!
ReplyDeleteHappy Valentines day!
blessings
mary
I'll be happy to eat those Lindor chocs for you. No problem. And I thought the reflection of the light fixture was part of the picture. I was really impressed and trying to figure out the symbolism when I got to the part about it just being a reflection.
ReplyDeleteLove the picture and your heart collection. Happy Valentine's! xoxo
ReplyDeleteThe picture your son did is great! You can't beat having lots of hearts around the home - I know we have.
ReplyDeletex
Lovely Valentine pictures.
ReplyDeleteThe house doesn't have a makers name. It was actually a water feature and you can also burn a tea light in it. But the pump was too noisy. I think I got it at Hatfield Craft Fair many years ago.
Fantastic post and such lovely pics too! I love hearts , I have quite a few in my home all the time, why wait for the day! suzie xxx
ReplyDeleteAlong with you and most of the others who have commented, I have quite a few hearts around the place too........ Lovely post, lovely collection of photographs.
ReplyDeleteI love your ebay purchase, Andi!
ReplyDeleteI often wonder on ebay, if I am bidding against other bloggers - I didn't see your picture for sale, so you can be safe I wasn't bidding against you!
Happy days,
Denise x
MMmm those are my favorite chocolates!
ReplyDeleteYes Blythes can be expensive ($60 and up) and for now you can only get them on e-bay and most of them come from Hong Kong. BUT they are so fun and you can get one that looks a lot like you (which would be easy since you said you already look like a Blythe..lol)
Sandy xox