Here’s a blast from the past – a Valentine’s Day chat with my good friend Kim Stilson Powers on BYU SiriusXM 143 radio – listen for some really good Valentine ideas to share with your loved ones.
Image by Julia Usher CookieConnection.com Rilke wrote in his Letters to a Young Poet,
“…only love can touch and hold them and be fair to them…”
Mothers, and fathers may wonder if our efforts to provide meaning and enrichment to our children has value or merit. The hours and the resources we spend to give them experiences that demonstrate our love, is it all worth it? There are those who will not or cannot sacrifice for their family, what does a lack of enrichment mean to a child? I read an article by a mother who doesn’t “do” leprechauns or elves or Valentine boxes. It is a sad thing to be child in that environment.
I believe that every act of kindness and love is counted in heaven and in the heart and that it helps build a defense against the cruelty of an indifferent and competitive world.
A person’s value is not counted like the dollars in a bank account, nor is it related to worldly wealth, in his letters Rilke writes:
“For the creative artist there is no poverty—nothing is insignificant or unimportant. Even if you were in a prison whose walls would shut out from your senses the sounds of the outer world, would you not then still have your childhood, this precious wealth, this treasure house of memories? Direct your attention to that. Attempt to resurrect these sunken sensations of a distant past. You will gain assuredness. Your aloneness will expand and will become your home, greeting you like the quiet dawn. Outer tumult will pass it by from afar.”
Criticism fails to “touch a work of art.”
So go ahead and bake those heart-shaped sugar cookies and read one more bedtime story. You are filling the treasury of your child’s soul and building a defense against the “outer tumult (that) will pass from afar.”
Happy Valentine’s Day
Wondering which romantic movies were peoples’ favorites, I conducted an unscientific, biased survey to which about 250 kind and generous people responded. Here are results of the favorite G – PG 13 romance movies from the respondents. I am not endorsing these and have not even seen many of them, but for your romantic viewing pleasure here is the blooming crop. I’d love to know if investing 2 hours watching them does increase your happiness and makes you more open to loving. That is another survey.
Top voted movies receiving over ten votes each:
While You Were Sleeping (19)
Somewhere in Time (18)
The Notebook (15)
Pride and Prejudice (13)
The Princess Bride (12)
Ever After (11)
You’ve Got Mail (11)
The Scarlet Pimpernel (didn’t have over 10 votes but the fans were wildly
profuse in its praise) All of the nominated movies; grab a tissue and box of chocolates girls and guys…A Walk in the Clouds, A Walk to Remember, Always, An Affair to Remember, An American in Paris, Anne of Avonlea, The Beautician and the Beast, Beauty and the Beast, Bed of Roses, Casablanca, Charade, Charley, Cinderella, Circus World, Clueless, The Cutting Edge, Dan in Real Life, Dances With Wolves, Dear John, Dr. Zhivago, Ella, Enchanted, Emma, Enchanted, Ever After, Family Man, 50 First Dates, French Kiss, Ghost, Ghost Town, The Glass Bottom Boat, Gone With The Wind, The Goodbye Girl, Grease, Heaven Can Wait, Hello Dolly, Hiding Out, Hitch, The Holiday, Hope Floats,Jane Austin, Just Like Heaven, Kate and Leopold, A Knight’s Tale, Labor Day, Lady Hawk, Lake House, Leap Year, Legally Blond, Letters to Juliette, Lorna Doone, Love and Basketball, Love Story, Maid in Manhattan, Maid of Honor, Mamma Mia, Man From Snowy, River, Meet Joe Black, Message in a Bottle, Miracle on 34th Street, Miss Potter, Moulin Rouge, My Best Friend’s Wedding, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, My Fair Lady, Never Been Kissed, North and South (British), The Notebook, Notting Hill, On Golden Pond, Only You, The Other Side of Heaven, Out of Africa, The Parent Trap (both versions), Penelope, The Phantom of the Opera, The Philadelphia Story, Pretty in Pink, Pride and Prejudice, The Prince of Persia, The Princess Bride, The Princess Diaries, The Proposal, P.S. I Love You, Pure Country, Return to Me, Romancing the Stone, That Thing You Do, The Runaway Bride, Sabrina, Safe Haven, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Sense and Sensibility, Serendipity, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Shadowlands, Sissi, Sleepless in Seattle, Somewhere in Time, Sweet Home Alabama, Superman, Ten Things I Hate About You, Titanic, The Tourist, The Vow, Two Weeks’ Notice, The Wedding Singer, West Side Story, What’s Up Doc?, While You Were Sleeping, White Christmas, Wives and Daughters, Your Foolish Heart
You’ve Got Mail
This Cinnamon Crunch Popcorn is a spicy, delicious treat to munch while you are enjoying your romantic movie marathon
Cinnamon Crunch Popcorn
Preheat oven to 250 degrees, lightly butter a large roasting pan.
Pop in a microwave oven
4 bags extra butter microwave popcorn (should yield 16 C)
Remove unpopped kernels and place the popped corn in the buttered roasting pan. In a large saucepan combine
1/2 C butter
1 C sugar
5 oz. cinnamon candies
1/4 C light corn syrup
1/2 tsp salt
Cook over medium high heat, stirring frequently until candies melt, about 5 minutes. Pour over popcorn, stir to coat. Bake for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. Let cool, store in an airtight container. You’re welcome.
Here’s a cute Valentine for your littles over 3. Sew a tic tac toe game on a scrap of felt, use buttons for Os and small squares of felt with Xs sewn or drawn with a permanent marker. Glue a small heart in the center square.