A View of the Valley

by Linda Schwanke Wouldn’t it be nice if holidays always fell  on weekends? At least kind of? Take Valentine’s Day, for example. It’s on a Monday this year, the coming Monday in fact. Since it’s not a federal Monday holiday we don’t get to take the day off. In many ways, it’s just another Monday. For most people Mondays are a pain. The beginning of the work and school week and it’s rush, rush, rush, push, push, push all day.  For me and daughter Gwen, Monday is the Home News deadline (for news) so Monday is the rush-iest, push-iest day of the week. Which isn’t all that fun most of the time and means that we do not have the energy to do anything like celebrating on Monday evenings. We’ve gotten in the habit of cooking meals on weekends that will make good leftovers so we don’t have cooking dinner hanging over our heads on Mondays. (And I just learned that this is a pretty popular thing to do. After talking to one friend about making meals on weekends to have leftovers for the week, I asked a couple other friends about it. Almost all my working friends – some friends are retired but they don’t count for this discussion – do the same thing. I had no idea I wasn’t the only one who is often too pooped to cook meals every single night of the week, although it shouldn’t surprise me.) Fortunately for all us who go to work on Mondays, the whole weekend seems to be set aside for celebrating Valentine’s Day because it is not the kind of holiday that absolutely has to be celebrated on the day itself, like Easter tends to be. Restaurants will have special dinners for the weekend. All the shops in the Valley, including the ones that sell food, have something special for gift giving for the holiday.   Chocolate is a popular Valentine gift. “The Valentine’s Day tradition of giving a box of candy was started in the 19th century by Richard Cadbury, a scion of a British chocolate manufacturing family. With a new technique recently established at the company to create more varieties of chocolate, Cadbury pounced on the opportunity to sell the chocolates as part of the beloved holiday,” according to history.com Which is not a bad thing unless you’re on a diet, I suppose. But having a cheat day on Valentine’s to eat chocolates and be a little decadent sounds like a plan.  Flowers are a great gift,  not that I’m hinting...  Not just chocolates are popular. “The iconic chalky heart-shaped candies that have been passed out lovingly every Valentine’s Day started out as lozenges. According to the Food Business News, pharmacist and inventor Oliver Chase created a machine that would quickly create the lozenges before switching to using the machine to create candy—later known as Necco Wafers. Chase’s brother came up with the idea to print messages on the candy in 1866, and the candies got their heart shape in 1901, appealing specifically to Valentine’s Day sweethearts,” I also read on history.com On a hilarious note, “During the Victoria Era, those who didn’t want the attention of certain suitors would anonymously send ‘vinegar valentines.’ These cards, also called penny dreadfuls, were the antithesis of customary valentines, comically insulting and rejecting unwanted admirers,” history.com continued. My mom once sent a guy who was interested in her dead flowers because she was not at all interested in him.  There are many, many ways to recognize Valentine’s Day, for those you love or not. You could watch Valentine’s Day the movie. It got a 5.7 out of 10 rating on IMDb but with a huge cast that includes hunks Patrick Dempsey and Bradley Cooper, who cares if it’s good? (Julia Roberts and Jessica Alba are also in the movie to make the guys happy.) Then again, February is Black History Month. The recent death of one of my all-time favorite actors, Sidney Poitier, reminds me that it’s the perfect time to indulge in a marathon of his movies. Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner has romance. Lilies of the Field is a personal favorite. In the Heat of the Night has to be part of any Portier watch-list. To Sire, With Love has always brought me to tears. It’s hard to know where to begin. Portier’s acting was powerful, the messages true and strong and timely. Even if you don’t have time this weekend, I can’t recommend watching any of Portier’s films enough.  Stay in touch. My phone number is (608) 574-3159 – call or text me anytime. You can also email me at homenewseditor@newspubinc.com or write to me at the Home News, P.O. Box 39, Spring Green WI 53588. Visit our website at homenewsrv.com Get in touch with Gwen for sports or features at homenewssports@newspubinc.com. If you need a display ad, Dave Pronold can be reached at homenewssales@newspubinc.com or by calling him on his cell at 588-4777. Display ads, or ads that are in boxes, are due by 1 p.m. on Wednesdays.