What you have done is out there 

and what you have done remembers 

Valentine Heart Tanika

 

If I was a Londoner, rich with complaint
Would you take me back to your house
Which is sainted with lust and the listless shade
If I could have held you once more with that light
It's nothing to you, but it keeps me alive
Like a Valentine's Day, it's a Valentine's heart, anyway

The king and the ages, they fall by the plan
It's always the tired and the ordinary man
(It's the) challenge it's funny and such
I want to see you again
I want to see you again
It's so simple and plain
But I'll come back and see you again

The lie is the angel, it doesn't exist
I tell you it's funny but you like just to twist all my words
It's a shame you're so young
My word, it's a shame I'm so dumb
I figure a house with the smoke and the fence
The people round here would be pleased
Take my word on this

I would believe just in you, just believe in you
And five days to catch me around with my ring
As I visit the friendships which meant everything to the girl
With the clown's face, to the girl with the clowns face, round here

Valentine Belinda

 I made a rule about you

I made a plan
For getting my feet back on the ground.
Bury my face in the clouds
For hours on end
But time only flies when you're around

It was cold and dark the last time I saw you.
Your hair was long and falling in your eyes.
You said my hands were warm and that I was special
To you

Valentine,

You say that it's complicated
But baby you're wrong
There's nothing more obvious to me.
That we're on a trip together
33, 000 light years long
And I'm hurting so bad 'cause you don't see

The night you walked me home, I gave you a picture
Of Eden's trees falling to the ground
And now I feel, I feel like you're a perfect stranger

Without you
Valentine,

Valentine,
You know that I'm fighting this love in vain
The sun's been shining for a week
But it still feels like rain
Valentine.
I know you're not mine
Your'e somebody else's flame
But when those hearts and flowers fade
Oh my darlin', look my way

And I don't know why you stay
But when those hearts and flowers fade
Oh my darlin', look my way

Valentine T'Pau

 

Songs for my valentine

Give the game away
In rhyme I make mine
Sing all that I cannot say

I know mine are the tears I never cry
I know mine is a love I must deny

We go our separate ways
With nothing but a smile
Hearts break in many ways
Oh how, you've broken mine

I know mine are the arms you'll never hold
I know mine is a love remains untold

Hey, hey, hey!
Sunny valentine
Come on shine
Your love my way

 The February fog,

Turns all into blobs,
Orange street lights,
To Valentine's Night.

Wednesday February 12: Snow Moon

called the snow moon — a nickname inspired by the heavy snowfall typically seen in February in parts of the United States,

The full moon offers an opportunity to sit in the fullness of your life. It is a time to feel deep gratitude for the many blessings you have and experience. It is also a powerful time to recommit yourself to the projects and relationships that mean the most to you.

Names for this month’s Moon have historically had a connection to animals. The Cree traditionally called this the Bald Eagle Moon or Eagle Moon. The Ojibwe Bear Moon and Tlingit Black Bear Moon refer to the time when bear cubs are born. The Dakota also call this the Raccoon Moon; certain Algonquin peoples named it the Groundhog Moon, and the Haida named it Goose Moon.

Another theme of this month’s Moon names is scarcity. The Cherokee names of Month of the Bony Moon and Hungry Moon give evidence to the fact that food was hard to come by at this time

 

Why does February feel 

like one big Tuesday?

  

 If only life's variables were as cut and dried as the rules of mathematics. 

If only there were clear answers, certainty, clarity, right or wrong. 

But all you can do is eliminate as many unknowns as possible. 

Then pick an answer and hope. 

Hope that at the end of the day, it's an answer you can live with.

 On average, a healthy heart beats 115,000 times per day. 

When excited, the heart rate can double. 

The heart pumps 2,000 gallons of blood through your entire body 24 hours a day. 

It never rests.

 The heart is the hardest-working muscle in your body. 

But when it’s damaged, it’s just like skin. It scars, and scar tissue can be very dangerous in a heart. It weakens it. And eventually, a heart full of scars stops working.

 Scarred hearts don’t heal, but over time, the scars can change. 

They can become smoother, softer. 

And some scars can even fade away.

  

Life doesn't owe us a thing. 

It just is. 

Like a river, it goes where it goes. 

You can try to fight against the current. Or you can learn to ride it. 

 All day, every day, we fight against the current.

 Sometimes we lose, sometimes we win. 

Sometimes, the current carries us exactly where we need to go

. And sometimes, it slams us right into the rocks.

 24 hours. 

1,440 minutes.

 86,400 seconds. 

 One day can bring you back from the brink, change your entire life in one heartbeat, one single breath.

 That's all it takes to save your life. To change your life. 

One single day can pull us from the depths of despair.

 And one single day can fill us with more possibilities than we could imagine.

 Have you ever had the starring role in a play? 

A solo in a recital? All eyes on you. Waiting for you to do what they came to see. Feeling the incredible pressure to perform. 

There was a time when they used to call operating rooms an operating theater.  Scores of people get ready for the show, the sets are arranged, there are costumes, masks, props, everything has to be rehearsed, choreographed, all leading to the moment when the curtain goes up. 

You know what they say about Carnegie Hall? There is only one way to get there.

 If only life was just a dress rehearsal... And we had time for do-overs... We'd be able to practice and practice every moment until we got it right. 

Unfortunately, every day of our lives is its own performance. 

It seems like even when we get the chance to rehearse and prepare and practice, we're still never quite ready for life's grand moments.

 The human body is designed to compensate for loss. 

It adapts, so it no longer needs the thing it can't have. 

But sometimes the loss is too great, and the body can't compensate on its own. 

They say the inability to accept loss is a form of insanity, it's probably true. 

But sometimes, it's the only way to stay alive.

Carpe diem

 Carpe diem. 

How annoying is carpe diem? 

How are you supposed to plan a life, a career, a family, if you're always carpe-ing the diem? 

We'd all be too busy, living in the now. Whatever that means. 

I'll admit, the Romans had a point. You gotta live life. And living means that every morning, when you wake up, you have to choose. 

It means seizing what life offers in the moment and forging ahead, no matter the weather

... or closing the curtains, and shutting out the day.

 

Turbulence. 

It means anything from a few little bumps to a catastrophic weather system that could knock your flying tin can right out of the air. 

We've hit a snag, a bump in the road. 

Turbulence. So, you know, you better buckle up.

 One of the most unpredictable things about encountering turbulence is its aftermath.

 Everything's been shaken up. Undone. Turned on its head. 

So, if you have the choice to avoid the plane crash, do you take it? Do you play it safe? 

Or do you get on board and take your chances?

 We are forced to acknowledge the mysteries of life. 

We're forced to acknowledge that certain kinds of magic exist. 

And that history, and memory, and the ghosts of our past, are sometimes just as tangible as anything we can hold in our hands.

 Just like we need food and water, humans need each other. 

A brain study revealed that when placed in an MRI, a patient's reward center lit up when another person sat in the room.

 Neurons fire when we talk to someone, think about someone, and they go haywire when we hold someone's hand. Our brains and bodies are actually programmed to seek each other out and connect.

 So then why do so many people prefer being alone? Why do we often run for the hills when we feel the slightest connection? Why do we feel compelled to fight what we're hardwired to do?

 Maybe it's because when we find someone or something to hold onto, that feeling becomes like air. And we're terrified we're going to lose it. And trust me, you can get pretty good at the alone thing. 

But most things are better when they're shared with someone else.

 Most people believe that who they are today is pretty much who they will still be in the future.

 Our minds trick us into thinking our entire history, every choice, every change and chance, has led to this specific moment, 

what we call now.

 

The reason that God 

made February short a few days 

was because he knew 

that by the time people came to the end of it 

they would die if they had to stand 

one more blasted day

 

Why does February feel like one big Tuesday?

  In Japan, when a piece of pottery breaks, some potters fill the cracks with gold. 

The potters, they see the repair as something beautiful. They know that the unexpected happens. Change happens. They know that nobody gets through this world in one piece.

 That doesn’t have to diminish us. The cracks are part of our history. They will always be with us. They made us better. They made us stronger. 

They made us something new.

 

the truth is gonna come out sometime. 

And the one thing you can't do with the truth is hide from it. 

Because the truth is gonna come looking until it finds you.

Time

 

Time is a strange thing. 

When you're waiting for something good to happen, it can feel like time is dragging on. 

But when you want it to slow down, it goes by in the blink of an eye. 

The odd part is time isn't real. It's a concept imagined by scientists based on the imperfect movement of the Earth around the Sun. 

So why do we put so much importance on something that's just a theory? 

Because it's all we have.

 There's never enough time. Work. Kids. Life. Death. Something always cuts our time short.

 So our best bet is to make the most of the time we have. Or make up for lost time. 

But sometimes, if we're really lucky, time stands still.

phlebotomy

 

Before the advent of surgery, many illnesses were treated with phlebotomy, also known as bloodletting. 

Bloodletting is the withdrawal of blood from a patient to prevent or cure illness and disease.

It was one of the most common medical practices performed by surgeons from ancient Greece until the late 19th century. 

The practice has largely been abandoned because we now know that in the overwhelming majority of cases, the use of bloodletting is harmful to patients.

 And yet, we did it as a standard medical practice for over 2,000 years. 

It wasn't a blip in the history of medicine. It was an era. 

For decades, many doctors were convinced that bloodletting was harming more than it helped. But just as many were convinced that it was the only cure. 

Doctors, like most human beings, are risk-averse. They prefer the safety of what they know over the thrill of new innovations. 

 change requires incontrovertible proof, which is not always easy to come by. 

It has been theorized that surgery itself is just an era that will pass. But that's a long way away.

 And in the meantime, there are eras within eras. 

We discover new science, we posit, prove new theories. And then we bang our heads against the wall trying to convince ourselves to actually change our practices in line with what we know.

 Because the end of an era is easier said than done.

 

I used to try to decide which was the worst month of the year.

 In the winter I would choose February

 Even though February was the shortest month of the year, 

sometimes it seemed like the longest

 The day and time itself: late afternoon in early February,

 was there a moment of the year better suited for despair?

 February is a suitable month for dying. 

 the winter hateful, hanging on too long

February

 

February

 

February

I am lustration, and the sea is mine! 
I wash the sands and headlands with my tide; 
My brow is crowned with branches of the pine; 
Before my chariot-wheels the fishes glide.
 
By me all things unclean are purified, 
By me the souls of men washed white again; 
E'en the unlovely tombs of those who died 
Without a dirge, I cleanse from every stain.

• Wednesday February 12: Snow Moon

The day and time itself: late afternoon in early February,

 was there a moment of the year better suited for despair?

February is a suitable month for dying. Everything around is dead, the trees black and frozen so that the appearance of green shoots two months hence seems preposterous, the ground hard and cold, the snow dirty, the winter hateful, hanging on too long

Why does February feel like one big Tuesday?

Even though February was the shortest month of the year, sometimes it seemed like the longest

I used to try to decide which was the worst month of the year. In the winter I would choose February. I had it figured out that the reason God made February short a few days was because he knew that by the time people came to the end of it they would die if they had to stand one more blasted day

The Polar Intuit of northwest Greenland, the northernmost people, call February ‘seqinniaq’, “the month when the sun appears

The February fog,
Turns all into blobs,
Orange street lights,
To Valentine's Night.

When the wind strays,
Fog's mantle is grey,
Laying misty bouquets,
On barren, muddied days.

The daffodils of March,
Can cheer up Plutarch,
Adorned in Kelly green,
No sign of foggy screens.

Light a fire in flinty February,
As the evening time comes down,
Welcome all the family home
With shopping bought from town.

Hear the logs crackle and roll,
And the sparks pop and hiss,
A storm roars down the chimney,
To deliver its tempestuous kiss.

Drowsiness in the living room,
As the expiring embers fade,
Up we go to those clean sheets,
And beds so neatly made.