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Sunday morning and the cat's tail is swishing back and forth across the screen like a furry windshield wiper. If I can tune it out I can pretty much see what I'm doing. He's fixated on something outside the window– thinking that he wants to be outside, but not knowing that it's -15 F out there and he would be shaking each of his little paws and trying to warm them up.

Yesterday was lovely, with flowers and pizza and cupcakes and drippy, messy candles and broken glass, but it was perfect, really. If I had it to do over I wouldn't change a thing. In fact, I think it should be an annual trdition.

I gave R a checkerboard that I made. It sounds silly, but it actually turned out pretty cute. I painted a 12×12in square of plywood and glued squares of pretty paper all over it. The checkers are little painted wooden hearts. She got me a beautiful silver bracelet with a little silver heart and a little pearl from sundance. I've been wearing it since then and I love it.

There should be more weekends like this, and there should always be more time for cuddling. And less time for work. Which is probably why love doesn't run the world– nothing would get done.

we are for each other; then
laugh, leaning back in my arms
for life's not a paragraph
-e.e. cummings

Happy Valentine's, sweetheart.

I was singing to myself this morning– Catch a Falling Star, by Perry Como. That song always makes me think of my grandma. When I was in college we would write back and forth, and she would send me tapes with titles like "Your Hit Parade of 1942." We would write about all of her favorite singers and performers, people she listened to when my grandpa was away in England and then at Normandy during WWII. She had the most beautiful handwriting of anyone I've ever known. Later, after she died I dug through boxes of old photographs and saw that neat handwriting labeling the back of each one. I saw their wedding photographs, too. She wore a simple suit, and he wore his army uniform. I don't know why Catch a Falling Star in particular reminds me of her. Maybe it was one of the first sweet old songs she introduced me to, or maybe it's just one that's especially endearing.

The stars were bright last night, too, and there were the most beautiful auroras I have ever seen. They traced the entire sky in a 180 degree arc, splitting from one strand into two and then four. They were really dancing, swirling and swishing with their bands of vertical light. It made a week of -40 worth it. Really. It looks a little overcast right now (it's after five and not dark yet, hooray), but I'll be looking again if it's clear.

What are you doing for Valentine's? We're making pizza (from scratch) and cupcakes. We talked about it, and that's what we want to do. The cupcakes were my idea. I'll tell you all about R's Valentine present next week.