Tennyson: "So many worlds, so much to do, so little done, such things to be."

      Wanting  to learn something new daily (theme of this year), I find I am lucky to produce ANY thing. On Valentine's Day, for the first time, I PURCHASED rather than created cards for the grandchildren. I was inspired to do something because I ran across an elementary school "Special Delivery Love Truck" son Jim made that had heart shaped wheels carrying stuffed red lips (think Claes Oldenburg) with a tag to pull to show teeth. Caught up in the spirit, I stepped into one store to find cards and simple little gifts to wrap to drop off for the youngsters.Since poetry happens in February, I added rhymes for each grandchild. When delivering, I spied on a shelf a small round canvas in a Valentine box. I must have painted the lovebirds before or at the time Bill and Beth married in 2000. She is sweet to save.

       Grand Erika was born on Valentine's day and likes historical fiction. I had just discovered Marie Benedict's books on interesting women that are a pleasure to read. My favorite Book Bub introduced me to Carnegie's Wife;  and I had read her The Personal Librarian about J.P Morgan's helper. Joe and I piled  four paperbacks by this author to wrap:  The Other Einstein (Relativity), The Only Woman in the Room (Wifi),  Her Hidden Genius (DNA), and Carnegie's Maid. Some of these are in the stack on my table I have attacked. I am enjoying reading again, however distracted coming out of the pandemic with always too much to do.

       Next I was tempted by a Great Courses ad with seriously reduced prices. Three just arrived: Social Media 101, The Everyday Gourmet:The Joy of Medterranean Cooking and Writing Creative Nonfiction on DVD's that I can watch on my big computer. Joe says the noise won't bother him since I am always making noise in our shared study. 

Note: Unfortunately we did not know that cadmium had been found in dark chocolate and included a bar in the grand's Valentines!