Things I Love... and Things I Don't

It's been a brutal winter around here. Record breaking cold; steady snow and ice. And our own Pennsylvania weather prognosticator, Punxsutawney Phil, just forecast another 6 weeks of this nonsense.

We had another brief thaw yesterday, and Dear David headed south to the big model train show near Baltimore, so I decided to start at the flea market and then make the rounds of some antique shops I hadn't visited in a while.

There were still patches of snow on the ground at the flea market, and not many vendors had turned out, but I still made some discoveries. "Guy Who Will Not Bargain" was there and I filled a box with linens, smiled sweetly, and paid up without a quibble (his prices are still good, despite the non-haggling part). 

A great Farm and Chickens Theme Tablecloth

Beautiful Salmon Pink with Flowers in Medallions

But the real discovery of the day was at another vendor.

A big ol' stack of vintage greeting cards, including 30 1960s Valentines.

The kind we used to give in school to all our classmates.

As a re-seller, they would be much more valuable had they been unused, but these had been collected and saved by young Patty Ann Mowrey (or maybe it's Patti Ann--both spellings are represented), who was clearly in elementary school when she received these. 

They brought back so many memories!

Remember? 

Sometime before Valentine's Day, class time spent decorating an old Kleenex box with pink and red construction paper hearts, and writing your name on it? 

Lining up all the boxes on a back table, ready to receive classmates' Valentine cards?

Picking out just the right Valentine for each classmate, making careful distinctions among the messages so your friends got the "good" ones, and the cute boy in the next row got one that was just romantic enough to express your secret feelings--but not TOO mushy.

The bad Valentine puns?

Using your newly learned cursive handwriting?

And no matter how hard the teacher tried to keep anyone's feelings from being hurt, there were the kids whose families could afford to buy the more expensive, impressive Valentines.

Oh, but the joy of receiving a Valentine from that special boy in the class, and imagining that he meant every word!

Fast Forward to today, and I am still in the classroom, but on the other side of the desk, as a teacher.

And today this incessant snow and cold has brought us another snow day. A day that will have to be made up by sacrificing another school holiday. At this rate, we may be in school until July!