OLD BISHOP VALENTINE AND THE CELEBRATION OF LOVE

Old Bishop Valentine didn't intend February 14th to be the celebration of love in his name. He was executed on Feb. 14th because he secretly married Claudius' soldiers against the Emperor's wishes. To read the contradictory history of Valentines Day, with the Pagans beating young women to insure their fertility for the year; Shakespeare alluding to mating birds...cupids running amok...and St. Valentine? None of it makes any sense. So, who said love was sensible? To the contrary, wise sages over the years have difficulty defining love. Love is blind...As love increases, prudence diminishes...Love never reasons...A miser in wealth but generous in love...No cord nor cable can draw so forcibly or bind so fast, as love can do with a single thread...It is a beautiful necessity of our nature to love...but, absence in love is like water upon fire; a little quickens, but much extinguishes it...Ah, the contradictions of the intoxication called love. Maybe, its best to forget the origins and definitions and just be happy that one day of the year is devoted to lovers. For sure...take away love and the world would be palsied. Aren't we fortunate? Happy Valentines Day from Mary and Jim.

Roosters,Virginia Adair, Salt Free Drinking Water

We wake to roosters every morning, a condition I adore. I once had a rooster named Fat King Crow. He was a magnificent specimen of all colors having Buff Orphington, Road Island Red and who knows what else? The turquoise feathers juxtaposed with the black and buff present a fine cowl, a proud tail; add to that a thick attractive comb and wattles. Handsome as a prize. His picture is not available from Yuma, but I promise to dig it up when I return home. On another subject, locally, Brownie’s Restaurant, (opened in 1946) is a hot spot. They offer internet which is soooo nice for the traveler. They have a local sausage, (I hope I spell this correctly,) called a Kamanan Sausage. I decided to try it. A winner!!. The waitresses are personable, efficient and have a sense of humor, besides.
An anomaly about Yuma is the many stations to buy salt free water. I’m assuming the ground water here has salt intrusion. Just over the hill is the inland sea and vast sand dunes. I haven’t researched it for accuracy yet.
I’ve a book of poems by Virginia Adair that I love. Consider the following in the wake of the recent Santa Ana Fires that destroyed so much of Southern California-

In September
The Sant’Ana

Makes dogs tremble
Arsonists go mad
Lovers bite in bed

At all hours
sirens howling
Into the foothills

Along the ridges
Rows of hideous suns
At midnight

Trees burst

Insane deer
Run with the horses

She writes with a hard, true edge.