Happy Valentine's Day

Worthwhile

the Romanesque Room at the Castle Green

Maybe you remember our visit with Ron Hobbs of Castle Catering just over a year ago. He's organizing a special event, and he asks so politely for our participation "...if you are so inclined..." 

Here's Ron's email:

Again this year I am organizing a special Valentines Dinner for some very Special People. Forty to forty-five Soldiers and their spouses will enjoy an intimate dinner provided by Castle Catering and it’s Restaurant Partners at The Castle Green and The Romanesque Room.

I want to give you an opportunity to express your gratitude directly to one of our Heroes by delivering “your” message that you are proud of them and thank them in the form of a Valentines Day card.

If you are comfortable doing so, please help us get the word out by forwarding this email to your contact lists. As I ask this, I do not know if this request violates any kind of privacy issues for you….if it does, then don’t worry about forwarding. We are just trying to get as many Valentines Day Cards with a “message of thanks” as possible.

Here is what I am asking you to do if you are so inclined…

1)         Send a Valentines Card with a message of Thanks to:

                         “A Soldier and Spouse”
                          C/O Castle Catering   Suite 102
                          50 E. Green St .
                          Pasadena , CA .  91105
             
2)         Certainly NOT required….but if you would like to enclose a check for $5, $10 or $20….or whatever you would like, made payable to “The Wounded Warriors Project” the soldiers will see them and we will forward them all to the Wounded Warriors Project.

3)         Last, if you are OK to do so…..please forward this message to some of your contacts and give them the opportunity to also send a Valentines Day Card with a “Thank You” message.

That is it…..I hope you will participate.

Thank you so very much.

Ron

Ron Hobbs
Owner, Castle Catering
50 E. Green St. 
Pasadena, CA.  91105
(626) 792-4444
Fax  (626) 793-6769
ron@castlecatering.net
www.castlecatering.net

Effusive Valentine

I thought about using this picture for Zen Monday, but apparently that thought has crossed my mind before.

I decided not to make fun of this house, though, or these people. I think they just love their holidays. I don't know if I'd want to be their neighbor, but it's better than gang members hanging out on the front porch. (Always looking on the bright side, that's me.)

So, happy Valentine's Day to you. Some people hate this day. I did, when I was single. But I love you! Isn't that enough?

Yeah. I know.

Be Your Valentine

I picked white azaleas and camellias in our yard and made a bouquet for our table last night. Lots of stuff is blooming right now. The rain helped. I think the plants like the cooler weather, too.

This one's growing in our back yard. It climbed over the fence. I don't know what it is. Any clues?

I hope you have a happy Valentine's Day. J and I couldn't work out our schedules so we'll celebrate later this week. We feel fortunate to have each other and we celebrate that every day.

To those who have a date tonight: have a lovely, romantic time. Indulge in your love. It's good stuff.

To those who dread this day like final exams, nausea and the coming of Al Qaeda all in one: I recommend self-indulgence of the non-alcoholic kind. (Drinking makes it more maudlin than it already is.) Ice cream, chocolate, chips, cookies, a good book, a funny movie, bubble bath--whatever you want, you should have it. Indulge yourself, dammit. Somebody's got to do it.

Love Isn't About Presents. But A Gift Basket Might Help.

near the courtyard at Vroman's Bookstore

I thought I was going to post about something else today. Then I heard Vroman's Bookstore is doing a Valentine's Day promotion that almost makes me nostalgic for the misery of my single days. Almost. I mean, those were some bad days. The nights weren't so great, either.

At either Vroman's store, on Colorado Blvd. or Hastings Ranch, you can enter a "drawing to win a holiday basket...filled with books and gifts totaling up to $200," basically by tearing up a photo of the one that done you wrong.

If you kept the photos, that is.

I didn't. There's nothing left of those bad relationships except the emotional muscles I built from the steep learning curve I climbed. However, for single folks who deserve a happy Valentine's Day and who are sick of being left out (I dreaded February 14th for years), it might be more than satisfying to rip the schmuck's photo in half and have some nice tchotchkes and a few good books to show for it.

(There were good relationships, too. From those I kept the memories. I might even have the photos, but as they're not digital I have no idea where they are.)

Zen Monday: #133

Some Mondays are more Zen than others.

Please experience the photo and tell us, in the comments, what you've learned.

(Your first Zen Monday? Tell us what the photo makes you think of. There's no right or wrong, no prizes. Just have fun.)

Good Cardio

Last week John and I climbed the fire road across Las Flores Canyon from the Sam Merrill Trail. It was his idea. With no shade on the mountain we had the perfect overcast day, he wanted to try something different, and why not?

I had all sorts of reasons why not. There's no good trail. It's not a hike, it's a climb. And it's rocky over there, with gravel and scree loose enough to roll you down ten feet for every two you go up.

I didn't think I could do it.

"Sure you can," said John. "You're strong enough."

I begged to differ. I complained a good part of the way up. It was steep. I was scared. For some of the climb we had to resort to our hands and knees just to find something to hold onto. It was most undignified.

I finally gave up, afraid to go on.

"I'm going to see what's around that bend," said John, obviously not the least bit worried.

He was gone for a little while. I found a place where I could sit without having to hold on and busied myself taking pictures. Finally, I crawled up after him.

Not too much farther along he'd found the wider road. He helped me over a few tough steps and we walked. It still wasn't easy; our legs were tired and our lungs were hungry. But we kept going and we made it farther than either of us could have gone alone.

At the top we gazed out over exhilarating San Gabriel Valley views we'd never seen before. We congratulated ourselves for making it so far. We discussed the great gobs of lunch we'd eat when we got back down. And I thanked John for insisting I could make it (the climb, not the lunch).

Happy Valentine's Day, sweetie. Even mountains are no match for us when we climb them together.

Fairy Tales

We're taking a Valentine's Day break from our Altadena hike.

This is a close-up on the Cinderella Tile Panel at the Huntington Art Gallery in San Marino. The card on the wall next to it says the panel was originally created to adorn a fireplace. The tiles were painted by Lucy Faulkner, sister of William Morris's partner Charles Faulkner after a design by Edward Burne-Jones, and manufactured by Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Company in London in 1862.

I think the tale of Cinderella is appropriate for today because in the story, the couple can't be together until she reveals her true self to him. Yeah, yeah, yeah, she has to fit the glass slipper. And yeah, yeah, yeah, it's a rags to riches story of virtue conquering tyranny. But fairy tales are also allegorical. Love is about sharing our truest selves with each other and accepting our loved ones in all of their forms, from the glorious to the base.

Tomorrow we'll return to Altadena, with an announcement!

A Valentine

City Daily Photo bloggers around the world celebrate love today. I celebrate, too. Pasadena's loaded with romantic spots—restaurants, galleries, gardens and more.

My sweetheart and I began falling in love in Pasadena at a theatre that's no longer here and at a restaurant that's also gone. Neither of us lived in Pasadena then, but we liked coming here. On our first Valentine's day together, after all the shops were closed, we held hands for the first time and walked along Colorado Blvd., ignoring the chill in the night.

We've been in love with each other, and with Pasadena, ever since.

At the same moment I took the above photo, my sweetie snapped the photo below with his cell phone. Our little friends prove that sometimes your Valentine is your best friend. Or your best friend is your Valentine. Or both.

It's chilly in Pasadena again tonight. A good night for a walk, holding hands and ignoring the cold.