Happy Valentine’s Day from us and Pluto!
I left the Christmas lights up on the back fence this year, for no other reason than because they looked good and I had defied the laws of nature and my own mechanical limitations by putting them on an automatic timer. Leave Christmas lights up on the front of the house and you get a sharply-worded letter from the HOA. Leave them up out back and you don't get anything but a label as someone who is either lazy or eccentric. I am not the first but I'm definitely the second. Most of all, however, I am a romantic.
Yesterday, in a moment of inspiration I changed all those multicolored bulbs out for Valentine's Day red and white. I am so inspired by the results that I plan to keep the bulb thing going for each holiday this year. Next up is a switch to green, orange, and white for St. Patrick's Day. I guess I could find some Easter bulbs, though I'm not a fan of pastels. We have plenty of red but May Day probably won't be a thing. I might slip Star Wars Day in there (May the Fourth) though I haven't any idea what colors to use. Memorial Day will be a slam dunk. I won't have to change a single bulb for Fourth of July.
This is what happens in that void between the Super Bowl and the first race of track season: a man practicing his guitar in the backyard suddenly bursts to his feet and begins swapping out vintage C7'S like Richard Dreyfuss building Devil's Mountain. The first track meet is next Saturday's Eagle Invite. I will no longer be spending aimless Saturday afternoons in the backyard. For now, the down time is a nice change of pace.
I bought a lobster and Wagyu ribeye for our Valentine's dinner. This marks the 39th Callie and I have celebrated. For the first time in all those years, I bought the dozen roses and two I Love You cards early, meaning for the first year ever I was not driving to Pavilion's on the evening of the 13th, sorting through the last flower arrangements and picked over cards in an attempt to show how madly and passionately I am in love with this wonderful woman. We've seen better and we've seen worse but no one can tell me we haven't spent an amazing four decades together.
I did a good job barbecuing the ribeye. The lobster made the kitchen smell of brine and drawn butter but otherwise wasn't so great. I cooked it a little long. The cards were a hit and roses never miss the mark. Then a quiet evening before a roaring fire, though not before turning on those red-and-white Valentine's lights, beaming my love for Calene to all the world like some suburban Bat-signal.
I hope your Valentine's was just as full.