An Interesting Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day started with an exchange of sweetheart cards at breakfast. We were amused that our fondness for dogs surfaced in the cards we chose....his to me features a picture of Linus, with Snoopy draped across his lap, and mine to him shows a pair of golden retrievers, heads snuggled together.

After that, we both went about our busy day. Hubbie spent the morning at a Master Gardener monthly meeting, and I occupied myself with paperwork and computer business. Mother came over after lunch and we exchanged Valentines with her.

Later, Hubbie and I went to dinner at a local popular restaurant that overlooks the river. Dress is informal for this restaurant, but because it was Valentine's Day, I wore a red shell under a sparkly rust-color jacket as part of my outfit, and Hubbie wore a burgundy dress shirt for the occasion.

The restaurant tables, draped with red tableclothes, were inviting. The lights, turned romantically low, were a trial to Hubbie, however, as he grumbled and scrabbled for his eyeglasses to squint at the menu, deal with cracker wrappers, butter pat containers, sour cream tubes, and finally the tiny credit card receipt.

The meal of Chicken Florentine, baked potatoes, and make-it-yourself salads from the salad bar, along with hot rolls, was great, though. The portions were generous, and we should have had the good sense to eat half and bring half home. But we didn't. So we were too full to sample the dessert choices that included bread pudding with rum sauce, and creme brulee.

Following dinner, we went to a local church, which opened its fellowship hall to ballroom dancing from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Several couples from our ballroom dancing class were there, as well as others that we know, and we had a great time practicing our dance steps.

Members of the church provided a table laden with goodies, as well as cold drinks. There was no charge, except by donation. Members had also gone to the trouble of decorating the hall in clear miniature lights strung across the ceiling, and red hearts suspended everywhere. The lighting was low here, too, but we managed not to crash into other couples on the dance floor. Our dance instructor was on board, too, to help us fine-tune our dance maneuvers.

The church plans to open its fellowship hall each Friday night from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. for ballroom dance enthusiasts, and we plan to take full advantage of it.

It was a good day.