Valentine’s Day is just around the corner

Legend says that St. Valentine left a farewell note for the jailer's daughter, who had become his friend, and signed it "From Your Valentine".

Pope Gelasius set aside February 14 to honour St. Valentine, and this became the date for exchanging love messages and St. Valentine became the patron saint of lovers. Sending poems and simple gifts marked the date.

Think of five or six names of boys or girls you might marry, as you twist the stem of an apple, recite the names until the stem comes off. You will marry the person whose name you were saying when the stem fell off.

If you cut the apple in half and count how many seeds are inside, you will also know how many children you will have.

In the Middle Ages, young men and women drew names from a bowl to see who their valentines would be. They would wear these names on their sleeves for one week. To wear your heart on your sleeve now means that it is easy for other people to know how you are feeling.

In Wales wooden love spoons were carved and given as gifts on February 14th. Hearts, keys and keyholes were favourite decorations on the spoons. The decoration meant, "You unlock my heart!"

But in Southeastern Michigan they celebrate Valentine’s Day by contacting our daughter Suzanne Squier at the Candy Bouquet in Walled Lake and ordering a beautiful bouquet made from the finest chocolates and candies. So give her a call at 248-669-4480 and get your order in NOW!

Remember, Flowers are nice... Balloons are Okay...But for a lasting impression send a Candy Bouquet!

The proceeding message was paid for with hugs and kisses from my grandkids

Upchuckchoobee, Florida

Well we spent a month in the Naples – Cape Coral area and had a chance to visit with all our friends that live in this area. The weather was great for most of the month and to our joy the HONEY BELLS were in, these are the sweetest and juiciest oranges that you will ever taste.

We had a great home cooked meal (even though it wasn’t Italian Bill) with probably my oldest friends and by that I mean friends that I have known the longest, of course they are getting up there a little in years. (Just kidding Raglob’s) I love the hat.

A boating picnic that took us down the Caloosahatchee River through Pine Island Sound and into the Gulf of Mexico where we anchored right off the shore of Captiva Island to enjoy a few hours of sun, friends and food. On the way home we ran into something that you don’t see everyday a floating Dairy Queen, you just tie up along side and place your order and there was a line of boats waiting to get in.

We would have liked to stay a lot longer but the court order states that Cathy cannot remain in any one jurisdiction for over 30 days, (don’t ask) so we had to move on.

Right now we’re in Upchuckchoobee and will be exploring this area for two weeks. Correction they just sold the lot that we’re on and told us that we would have to move to another lot, to which we replied, “Gimme my money back and we’ll move to another park. This worked out pretty good since one week of Upchuckchoobee is about all we can take, we just went to the store and anyone of the people there could be playing Dueling Banjos, if you know what I mean.
Here is a sample of the Upchuckchoobee People

This is our schedule for the next few months: If we’re going to be near you give us a shout and we’ll try to get together for lunch or something.

Okeechobee, Fla Jan 25 – 31

Waulachua (sp) Feb 1-7

St Marys, Ga Feb 8 – 10

Elko, Ga Feb 11 – 13

Chattanooga, Ga Feb 14 – Mar 15,

With a road trip in the car to Wixom, Mi Feb 17 - 25

Jim n Cathy