Under the Valentine's Tree

Come on. Stop making yourself a cactus garden. The valentine's tree is in flower - it's time to count the bees!



Oh heck. It's that time of year again, isnt' it, when he does the DIY cupid thing.



Dang, he musta got me. Look, is that a bee?



Yes! The first one!



I think I can see two up there.



Can you see them?



It's a day early, but it's best not to miss a chance to stand and count bees under the valentine's tree.



There's one!



Is that another one?



Nope, must have imagined it..



It's a bit too cold for many bees yet. Or for taking those woolly hats off.



Is there one there?



I don't think either of us would skip this most important ritual of the year.



What about there?



Found another one?



Yup, and she's a beauty!



I just hope we have many, many more such silly rituals.



Have a wonderful valentine's day everybody!

And don't forget to share your silly rituals here.

I LOVE this!!! And I love valentines day. No matter how much of a made-up holiday it is and no matter how much it is just sustained by businesses to make a buck. Plain and simple, I love love. It brings out my inner cheesiness every single year and regardless of whether I'm single or not (this year I am, PM me boys. just kidding ) I still get so giddy on v-day and this post is just adorable burra and you've ignited the cheesiness a day early! Love it.

What are other people's rituals/traditions?

Awwww, Burra this is so sweet. You two look very happy. Complementary halves I see.

Yeah, it is a sweet holiday. It is fun to see all the happy people. I enjoy the funny jokes that come with Valentine's Day. In Ap Biology, one of my firends made Valentine's cards for the teacher to show the class. Here are the ones I remember:

"Not even Darwin can explain the evolution of our love!"

"Our love is not just a phage."

"You are the mitochondria to my cells!" (i.e. the powerhouse to my cells)

Then in Ap Chemistry, we had some good Valentines pick-up lines, too.

"With you, I am no longer just a lone pair."

"You shine like a carbon allotrope." Just be sure to mention diamonds afterwards or he/she might think you are saying they shine like graphite or a buckminsterfullerene ball, lol!

"The half life of love is forever"

Hahaha those are so great! See I was an english major so my favorite ones are from famous authors:


valentines from literary peeps

I didn't mean to de-rail the ritual part of this thread I just have never been with a partner longer than a year and a half.... hahahah so that sort of cuts into my ability to have the whole rituals deal because I think those have to be annual.. haha soo yeahh..

Burra, this is the sweetest picture story........if none of us show up here with traditions, you will have inspired us to work on some for next year. Did I miss what kind of tree? I know it's the 'valentine's tree' but is it a cherry or plum in disguise maybe? Just lovely to see your smiling faces.
....and I love the hats, especially yours.

SO beautiful and perfect! Well done on the lovely picture story!

This year, I happened across my journal when my daughter was a babe. In it, I'd written a simple poem about how happy she was to wake in my arms versus alone in her crib or our bed. I wrote the poem in a card with a lovely nature picture on front and mailed it to her, Love Mom. I used to enjoy giving my kids a little something fun on Valentine's Day and this filled that in a different way.

(For someone else in my life <ahem!>, and my son, it's a gift that I'm not giving either of them a card. They both hate cards, and all of the Hallmark-style materialism/consumerism that they imply. )

Thank you for sharing Burra! I love you two's cupid arrow shooting ritual; it is so adorable!

*covers face* *uncovers face* probably my weirdest Valentine's day ritual is watching people be happy. Happiness is one of the few things that doesn't diminish the more it is shared. Fictional movie characters or real couples, it is just sweet to see the smiles on people's faces. It makes me smile. I don't wish to be in their places. Though, just knowing about all the not so good stuff out there, it is comforting to know and to see, even for just a day, that people can be so kind to each other and caring.

My other guilty Valentine's Day ritual, on the funny side, is watching bloopers of people kissing. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside but also smile and laugh, too.

I haven't read the novel, but one of the most amazing movies I have seen that will inspire you to get up, do something, and change the world is Cloud Atlas. It is such a long movie, and you might have to watch two or three times to fully understand it, but it is so worth it! One couple, recurring in various forms throughout time, surviving, and making an impact no matter how bad it gets. Such a sweet and powerful movie!

Thanks, Burra, for the opportunity.

My husband does something a little different each year. This year he wrote me a poem. And he told me I could share it.

To Valerie

I tried to write a poem
but every line seemed pat
I knew you wouldn't mind
(you'd never tell me that)

I tried to write a poem
To Valentiney you
an angle new on love
I wrote my fingers blue

Tried to write a poem
like Shakespeare, Shelly, Keats
or T.S. Elliott
or William Butler Yeats

I pondered deep on love
how it can end in tears
neglected, sold or lost
or last ten thousand years

Love makes a wise man foolish
and makes the foolish wise
you knew it all you life
but it came as a surprise

I tried to write a poem
I'd even plagiarize
from others I had read
but came to realize

8 letters (mostly vowels)
win no Pulitzer Prize
yet like arrows to the heart
or lightning in the skies

They shatter emptiness
and birth the world anew
Please stay my Valentine
and know that I love you.

Judith Browning wrote: Did I miss what kind of tree? I know it's the 'valentine's tree' but is it a cherry or plum in disguise maybe?

It's an old almond tree. It was the only one left on the property when we bought we bought it, and for the first three years we had no clue what it was because it would flower but never fruit. Then I managed to communicate with the neighbours well enough to talk about what was growing on the farm and they all seemed surprised that I didn't mention almonds. Apparently this was a very productive tree in it's youth, and in their youth I think they all used to scrump off it, too. We've planted more almond trees since, but they flower later than this one and we still haven't had any almonds off it.

It's also the tree under which I dispatch the poultry, and it's definitely become something verging on a sacred tree in our minds, looking on over cycles of love, life and death, participating in the life of the village, the generation and continuity of traditions, providing beauty for us and food for the bees, and connecting us deeply with the land and the generations that have past and the ones to come.

Oh, and that cactus garden he was making. I was wrong. He was making me a flower garden...



What can I say?

Burra Maluca wrote:
Oh, and that cactus garden he was making. I was wrong. He was making me a flower garden...



What can I say?

I'd say that's a perfect ending to your story, Burra!

A wonderful person just posted this elsewhere:

A less than well known symbol of this day is Valentine's Key - so may each of us find that special key that can unlock our own heart to make sure it works; and then unlock the hearts of others who seek wisdom and love.

And then linked to a wikipedia page about Saint Valentine's Key.

I like this. IMHO, opening our hearts to love improves and deepens so many aspects of how we view everything - including nature, animals/husbandry, pollinators, etc. not just relationships.

"Honey, I was going to buy you something special. But I spent all afternoon in the 99 cent store and couldn't find anything I thought you'd like."

I used to write poems to my wife, here's my favorite.

How Do I Love Thee?
I Love You in the Morning Before You Are Up
I Love You When You Share The Stuff in Your Cup

I Love You For Fixing All That Grub
I Love You For Giving A Good Back Rub

I Love You Near And I Love You Far
I Love You Here And in The Backseat of Our Car

I Love You Before And After a Fight
I Love You Mornings And I Love You at Night

I Love You in Iowa And Right Here in Phoenix
I Love You When I Sneeze And You Pass Me a Kleenex

I Love You When Work Has Made You Sore
I Love You When Baseball Makes You Roar

I Love You For Being My Beautiful Wife
I Love You For Sharing The Parts of Your Life

I Love You For Being Oh So Tall
I Love You For Anything And Nothing At All

One of my favorite old Valentine postcards that my grandma received from one of her young students back in the early 1900's.
I'm sure that the literary meaning of blithely was intended......."in a happy or carefree manner"....that's what our day was like here

This year my husband wrote a Valentine Waltz for me. We haven't recorded it yet but once we do I'll put it up here.
I made him a card but it's too personal to share here.

That is just delightful!  Well done!  That was my era, too!
(We still don't have that song recorded.  Maybe next year.)

Last night my older daughter asked "So, are you guys doing anything for Valentine's Day?"
I looked over at Eliot.
He said "Um, we got some cows."
Which is true - we just got some Dexter cattle: a 3 or 4 year old cow, a yearling bull and a yearling heifer.

Julia Winter wrote:Last night my older daughter asked "So, are you guys doing anything for Valentine's Day?"
I looked over at Eliot.
He said "Um, we got some cows."
Which is true - we just got some Dexter cattle: a 3 or 4 year old cow, a yearling bull and a yearling heifer.

Haha! So you counted cows instead of bees; metaphorically speaking.

Wishing all my favorite permies peeps a day (and more) to love on, count, observe, and appreciate all the beings and things around your homesteads!

Leave no tender word unsaid
Love while love may last
The mill will never grind
With the water that is past

The Valentine's tree blossomed a little earlier than I expected this year, and already has new leaves growing.  



It really is such a special tree for me, though I admit to a few tears in my eyes looking at the memories of it here from the last few years, and the sadness of this time last year, followed by the unexpected blooming as my new partner is settling in.  He's a bit shy, so maybe no photos of him with me until next time round, though just between you and me he is a member here...

I turned the photo into a jigsaw puzzle for you all, too.  

The tree seems to be getting lovelier each year, if that's possible.  No new traditions here.  And thanks for the puzzle!  Fun!