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Or....How a Romance Writer and History Nut
Spends Valentine's Day
So, when your Beloved clears the diary of all obligations and promises a simple but 'all day' Valentine's Day, what can a girl expect?
Well, here's a snapshot of my special February day. Not only in honour of the shrink-wrapped, over-priced rose bouquet variety. But a day to remember the moment we went from 'single' to 'taken.'
Our slow breakfast in a Healesville second-hand book shop would have been perfect on its own, but my Beloved added to this, a morning walk through Maroondah Dam Reservoir and Park, with a long stop on the picnic blanket to watch the sun through the gum trees.
And could a beautiful nature park offer a more delightful children's playground, than this all-wood (no plastic, yay!!) row of houses and dainty chapel? Yes, the symbol of the little church with bell-tower didn't escape us. So cute and very Little House on the Prairie. But it was not the only symbol we found.
A long lunch, a potter in antique shops, and old books purchased by me would have been more than enough. So would the gluten free cake and coffee stop on the way home.
But this day was to be filled with simple tokens, and I was thrilled to discover my antique treasure, an old Australian book of poems, held a secret smattering of dried rose petals pressed between its musty pages - left there by a previous owner and fellow lover of romance, I like to imagine.
But the best surprise was a simple find at our feet. A perfect heart shaped leaf. Already golden and hinting at Autumn, it stopped us in our tracks. I thought my Beloved orgainsed this day, but I guess God wanted to play too.
And so the leaf joined us on the road home. Pressed in the pages of a book of old love verses and faded rose petals.
Yes, he promised simple. And he delivered.
Simple... and perfect.
Simple... and perfect.
