Happy Valentine's Day

I looked for hearts today. 

 Found some on my Valentine card from Bill.

He also has a pretty metal heart-----filled with Mrs. Fields' chocolates.

We've never tried Mrs. Fields' chocolates, but if they're as good as her cookies, Bill will be happy. 

I found these hearts on the front of the latest JC Penneys catalog.  

I shopped there yesterday and bought a little something for my mother for Valentine's Day.

Anyway, to one and all who read this blog, I hope your celebration of this day of Love is special however you celebrate it. 

It's a lovely day here in Selle with blue skies and sun.  Again, Mother Nature has been good to us this winter, and we're very thankful.

This morning I listened to the Schweitzer Ski Report, and they're still pinching themselves for the good fortune of having some pretty good skiing/boarding conditions compared to most of the other ski resorts in the West.

Speaking of Schweitzer, my friend Florine commented the other day when I wrote about my visit with Colleen Wormington Neu, whose dad Sam was the first manager of Schweitzer, starting back in 1963.

Florine remembered a story about "the winter" of 1968-69 when the snow kept most folks home for a week, but a nurse still made it to the hospital, aboard her horse.

She thought it was Colleen's mom Elsa.  Sure enough it was. 

Colleen shared the following with me yesterday:  

Yes, that was Mom on Mickey.  Ross Hall took a nice photo of her beside the old Post Office.  

She put a couple of flakes of hay inside a horse blanket on the back of her saddle, tied him outside the hospital and went to work.  

She was director of nursing at that time.  

That was the 68-69 winter.  

Such dedication or just a chance to go for a ride:)

One more reason Colleen's mom Elsa was "quite a lady."  

Elsa's story is one of the many that can be told about "resilience," which is such a trait of the folks who live around here. 

And, speaking of resilience, I listened to a beautiful speech yesterday at the annual Girl Scouts USA luncheon.

First, the event was wonderful.  I loved the participation of the "girls" as they presented and retired the colors and told personal stories of their Girl Scouting journeys thus far. 

We also watched a Girl Scout-produced video honoring the 100th anniversary of the organization.  Its official birthday is March 12.

Keynote speaker yesterday was Kate McAlister, our local Chamber of Commerce CEO.

Using the theme "BE STRONG," she eloquently told a little about her life story where "being strong" helped her make it through some tough times.

Twas a very moving speech, and it reminded me of the many times we need to remind ourselves to "be strong." 

Good job, Girl Scouts on an enjoyable luncheon!

I'll leave you with something that has struck me so often in life---how the little things can make such a difference.

I just read it in the Steve Jobs biography.

Jobs pointed himself in a myriad of directions while searching for his niche in life.

After dropping out of Reed College in Portland, he selected classes at the institution that he wanted to take, rather than those required of him.

One of these was calligraphy because he loved seeing it used on some campus posters.

Calligraphy led him into ambitious studies of type faces and their effectiveness for different uses.

He pointed out later that if he had never taken that calligraphy class, chances are that Apple computers may not have made the breakthrough in providing users with so many choices of creating graphic effects.

Little things.  Big differences.  

Yes, I like the typeface I use in this blog, and this morning, I thank Steve Jobs for making it so easy for me.

Happy Tuesday and Happy Valentine's Day from the LOVEstead.