. . . . some of this.

I don't think I can find any seeds for delicious chocolates, but maybe for some of the other "eye candy," as Bill called this morning's Valentine gift.

I cleaned off the lazy susan yesterday and made room for a more noticeable blooming violet. 

'Til then, the violet had become lost within the Thanksgiving centerpiece that has graced the lazy susan for two years.

Then, my sisters came by with the orchid.  This morning, Bill added the daisy and fresh flowers.

Guess who gets the box of chocolates!

Anyway, we've had our early-morning Valentine gift exchange.

We'll top off the day with a home-cooked porterhouse steak and home-grown baked potatoes with 2010 garden beans.

Yesterday we went for the first relaxing drive since our drive back and forth to Coeur d'Alene for Bill's surgery three weeks ago.

We took off toward Bonners Ferry and ended up turning around east of Troy.

We keep wondering when that fancy fly shop and outdoor guide center near the rest stop on the Bull Lake-Hwy 2 corner will ever be open.

Somebody put a lot of money into the log facility, but neither of us in our trips past have ever seen it open for business.

West of Troy we slowed down to let some turkeys decide if they wanted to get to the other side of the road, but they appeared to be too chicken.

Along the Montana stetch, we spotted about a dozen deer on the southern-exposure, bare hillsides.

Bonners Ferry and the Kootenai Valley are about ten days ahead of us on spring, as usual. Very little snow in that area.

At one of the fields south of Elmira, we saw four elk.

It was a typical early, early spring drive and very enjoyable.

Last night,  Bill got a full dose of Lady Ga Ga. 

We watched her on "60 Minutes," and he even stopped tying flies to come and watch when he heard her performing on the Grammies.

Except for her admitted use of drugs for when she writes her music, I rather like Lady Ga Ga.   

She's true to herself and brilliant at "presentation," as they call it in fine dining.   

I've listened to her in two different interviews, and it appears that she is in complete control of her off-the-wall flamboyancy.

What made me happiest, however, on the Grammies were two segments.  

First, I loved the segment with the two guitar groups and topped off with Bob Dylan. 

Phenomenal!

And, ol' sentimental me----I almost teared up learning that Miranda Lambert's "The House That Built Me" had been nominated for two awards.

It seemed a bit ironic to learn this news after my "out of the blue" decision to post a photo of "the house that built me" on yesterday's blog. 

Thinking about the songwriter's ability to actually walk around that house and remember made me sad.

While she was still singing, I grew especially teary, thinking of the image in Willie's bedroom several years ago when I looked out the window to see the flames from the house that built us reaching high into the dark sky.

It was a planned fire for firefighters to get experience after torching the then abandoned house.  

Still, it was heart-breaking to watch our childhood memories floating into the night air. 

No longer can we go there and point to our early history. 

Back to Valentine's Day and happier thoughts.  

May you all have a day filled with love for family, friends, pets, fellow man and the Earth.