Valentine Hearts

It's Valentine's Day. David gave me lovely gifts in anticipation a couple of days ago, one a big red heart. But I've got a blue heart this morning, and so has he. I am disheartened with bureaucracy and government at the moment. On a better note, here's how Johnny Cash and Louis Armstrong handled the Blues. They say that playing Blues and similar melancholy music, then gradually brightening the mood of the music, can help lift your mood. Maybe I'll try it.

Update: O.K. Try these in sequence for mood-lifting: How Deep is the Ocean, My Funny Valentine and Side by Side.

Valentine's Day Thought from Wretchard:

“The day will come when, after harnessing space, the winds, the tides, gravitation, we shall harness for God the energies of love. And, on that day, for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.”

Below, a sweet and schmaltzy poem from the comments. It's the thought that counts. Truly.

Daughters are special. Having a daughter makes a man feel like he accomplished something. I wrote this for my daughter a few Valentine’s Days ago, and offer it here to all Belmont Clubbers fortunate enough to be fathers of daughters.

TO MY DAUGHTER, ON SAINT VALENTINE’S DAY
The dawning paints the night sky pink

With rose and amber hue

To look at it I have to think

The morning loves you too.


The rising sun climbs in the sky

Too bright for us to view

Another reason I know why

The noontime loves you too.


As sunset draws the curtain low

And sky turns dusk from blue

I ken full well that this I know

The evening loves you too.


And as I trundle off to bed

I think always of you

And count the thousand times I’ve said

Your father loves you too.

Happy Saint Valentine’s Day

Walt Erickson

Thanks, Walt, for being a loving Dad. From a daughter who misses her own Dad.