February...

Above:  Pieces:  My (chopstick) paintbrush holders - T. Youngblood

February is my favorite month.  My birthday is the 25th.  And I've loved Valentine's Day since I was a child, when on that day friends and neighbors would ring our doorbell and run, leaving sweets and sweet notes for our family.  A little mystery, magic and sentiment.  And of course, there's the water sign Pieces (the Sun is in Pisces roughly from February 20 to March 20, ending on the moment of vernal equinox by definition), the two fish swimming in opposing directions, the wise old man of the universe and the mutable dreamy romantic.

Above:  The back room last winter - insulated and furnished, but construction not complete! T. Youngblood

We are shooting (like cupid) to have the back room interiors done by my birthday (on the 25th).  Yesterday I purchased the paint for walls and ceiling.  I think the accomplishment of having the room completed for occupancy is reason for celebration and if it is done in time for my birthday---I want to have a blowout---and everyone is invited!

An art history professor of mine once said that "romantic, is anything of another time, not the present---and any other place, not where we are now."  I kind of get what he was saying, in that we tend to romanticize the past and sometimes the future, and we tend to romanticize other places...probably the reason we want to take vacations there.

Today I'm posting photos of romantic sofas (like my drop cloth covered old sofa "Rosie" shown in the photo above) to celebrate design of the past and the first day of February, the month of romance.  (Oh!  And did I mention that my birthday is on the 25th?)  P.S.  Does anyone know who the nice person is who gave me a year's subscription to Veranda magazine, the first issue of which I received in yesterday's mail?  :o)

Above:  "Rosie" patiently awaiting her room...