Last night’s sunset.

And then as it got more intense:

It was spectacular.

I was at the grocery store yesterday and as I wandered over to the potatoes (my favorite food) this was staring up at me:

A heart-shaped potato.

It came home with me. Don’t say I didn’t wish you a Happy Valentine’s Day.

Don discovered this little rock a few years back. He promptly gave it to me.

I keep it on the table by my blogging chair.

This photo gives you a sense of all the beautiful markings on the French bistro table in the living room. I should take more closeups of the table – the texture is wonderful.

And this arrived in the mail yesterday. It’s from a certain little guy we know:

It’s on the refrigerator, of course. I spoke with him last night and thanked him for the valentine. He was more concerned with the question, “Why is it so cold in New York?”

After several attempts to explain it, I landed on “Because we’re closer to the North Pole” and that did it. I love that boy.

The battle with the ice continues. I’ve never seen a winter like this one – so many extremes in temperature make for freezing, then melting, then freezing again. Add to that a downhill slope on the parking area and we’re left with a giant slab of ice. I’m over it. It’s going to get quite warm for the next 3 days, so maybe I can get rid of it for once and for all. Crossing my fingers.

Shaun White. That’s all I can say. What an exciting competition! Redemption (at least in his eyes) makes for the best kind of story. Seeing him drop to his knees and cry was truly moving. Bravo!

Don and I have been apart on Valentine’s Day more often than not. It just seems to be that way. Same thing last year. But he’s my Valentine every day of the year.

Happy Valentine’s Day to you, dear readers.

And Happy Wednesday.

Despite my best efforts, I never figured out which smoke alarm was the culprit. I examined each one of them as best I could, but I couldn’t investigate further because I never heard the chirp again. Not during the day. Not last night.

I’m grateful, but it does remain a mystery.

I recycled yesterday, which is always a pain in the tush, but even more so in the winter. But it’s worth it, because I love an freshly emptied trash can and empty recycling bins. We had snow showers all day long with no accumulation predicted. However, the snow picked up in the afternoon and I’d guess there’s an additional half inch on the ground now.

Dear Stella, heating up water for my morning coffee. She’s the best.

Did you watch the opening ceremonies of the Olympics? I did. It was beautifully done – visually stunning. They always are. I’m ready to lose myself in some Olympic competition, to escape into something positive and uplifting. We all need that right now.

Today, my exciting agenda is to clean the bathrooms, something I said I’d do earlier in the week but never got around to. If you’ve read this blog for any length of time, you know I absolutely detest cleaning the bathroom, so you can imagine how excited I am at the prospect.

Less than a week until the first preview performance of Escape to Margaritaville. And that means less than a week until the Original Broadway Cast Recording comes out! I’ve preordered mine. Can’t wait!

Happy Saturday.

After two days of shoveling 6 inches of snow with a half inch of ice on top (because even though the driveway was plowed, there are a lot of areas the plow can’t get to that have to be shoveled) and then unearthing our cars, I went to bed last night wanting nothing but a good night’s sleep. However, at 3:30 am I was awoken by the chirp of a smoke detector. We have a lot of them here because the person who flipped the house installed them and then the previous owner added more that are wired into the security system. There are too many of them.

I couldn’t figure out which one was chirping. After ten minutes, it stopped. I remained awake for another two hours and finally got back to sleep when, at 6:30 am, it started again. This time I waited it out and fell asleep again only to be awakened at 8:10, when it started again.

I’m on my second cup of coffee and I have a lot to do today but you can be sure that I’m going figure out which one of these frigging smoke detectors needs a new battery.

Meanwhile, it’s like Ice Station Zebra out there. Chicago and Michigan, I’m thinking of you. You’re supposed to betting up to 20 inches of snow! Hang in there.

The FedEx guy just came and I opened the door to tell him to be careful – some areas are icy despite my best efforts – and he said he’s seen much worse. Basically when he’s not driving, he’s walking on ice all day long. These guys are heroes. I saw the UPS truck delivering in the midst of the heaviest snow during Wednesday’s snowstorm.

This is all I’ve got for you. The monstera is having yet another baby! My plants have been fairly prolific this winter.

Thank you for all your loving comments yesterday. It was a much tougher day than I thought it would be and I cried off and on all day long. Don had a hard time, too. But your support helped a great deal. Love you all.

Happy Friday.