VALENTINES DAY IS NOT MY THING

Ordinarily I prefer to do my loving spontaneously, on days I feel good about, towards those I love at any moment in time and not be directed to a commercial moment to express my love and affection.

I don't like those boxes of 'guess what's in me' chocolates in red hearts or the pressure of having to wonder who will give me a Valentine card or remember me. Or who I have to remember!

Today I have food poisoning for Valentines Day! It was the tainted steak from last night that did me in, so my heart was in my mouth all day ...so to say, and lovin' was not on my mind.

At one point half way between my cuppa tea and the porcelain goddess I remembered it was Valentines Day. I actually stopped throwing up long enough to laugh out loud, envisioning myself and wondering who could possibly love me like this, with hair standing out every which way from my head, sitting there naked as a jail bird with my head crammed in the garbage pail?

And then the door to the bathroom wafted open and in came my beloved, and then a second beloved, and a third and so on so before I knew it I had 9 of my fuzzy boo boos crowding around wondering what the heck I was doing in there!

I have rescued cats and a few dogs, even a praying mantis and above and beyond any day of the year, these are my friends and my lovies. Oh, I know, I have my loving kids, my mom, and once upon a time ago there was my ex and a string of others, ho hum ... and gag, there were those ever present chocolates leaking nougat cream and cheap booze, but no one, nothing, has ever fulfilled that unconditional place in my heart, even if it is in my mouth today, better than my pets.

Without further ado, and in honor of my heart and theirs, here they are...not all of them ... just a few for today. Oscar is up top and of course he is with the JEWELRY because this is a jewelry blog ...right? It's a very nice old Zuni needlepoint ring in sterling silver set with natural turquoise. And there's Pearle, Oscar's mom. She thinks she's a chicken and loves our oven roaster. She's also Zoe's mom and Daphne's mom and you can see them posing like little show girls on a gray satin blanket. Just imagine the tiaras on their heads and little glasses of mint juleps.

And this is Maggie, my special angel cat, and Pearl's sister ...looking very contemplative. I wanted to do a post for you today about Scottish Agate jewelry but other things got in the way, things of a belly aching kind... It's great to express my love and appreciation for my critters openly because really, on a day like today, they are the ONLY ones who would have me exactly as I am without any complaints or judgements.

Even our Corgi Winston, the herding dog who thinks all the cats are cows and has been running them around for 10 years, sat faithfully by my side while I groaned and moaned bowing down to the to the microbes that siezed my gut. And he, faithful bud that he is, sat by keeping me company all day long without complaint.

My best friends and no chocolate required! The Scottish Agate is coming, so stay tuned!