A Romantic Hodgepodge

This weeks hodgepodge falls on (supposedly) the most romantic day of the year, Valentines day so our host, Joyce, has asked questions around this theme. Make sure you visit her blog to see what my fellow bloggers have come up with for their answers - From This Side of the Pond.

1. When's the last time you had a heart to heart talk with someone? A change of heart? Experienced figurative 'heart failure?'

The last time I had heart failure was when we were packing our flat in London up and we thought our little black cat Muffin (RIP) had gone outside, somewhere she'd never been before in her life. It was about 6am in the morning in December so pitch black and we were wandering around trying to find a black cat. Thankfully we discovered that she was actually hiding behind the fridge - I think I nearly squeezed the life out of her when I got a hold of her as I was so relieved.

2. Champagne, chocolates, flowers...what's your Valentine pleasure? Any special plans for the day?

Chocolate all the way for me. We don't have any special plans for the day as I have to work until 7pm. Some years we've gone out to dinner but we just as often stay in. We always get each other a card and a small token of our love for each other. The funniest present that my beloved has ever given me was quite early in our relationship when I still hadn't aclimatised to the British weather so he gave me thermal underwear - it still makes me smile.

Here's what I received this morning when I woke up - my beloved knows me so well.

3. Are you a hopeless romantic or do you fall more in the category of practical and pragmatic? What's a gesture you find romantic?

I'd say I fall in between the two. I am hopelessly romantic but this is tinged with my natural tendency to be overly sensible. When it comes to my beloved I can't help myself when it comes to romance, as he inspires me to feel like this. If you want to understand a bit more about how I feel about my man then read this post I wrote for our 14th anniversary - 14 Years of Wedded Bliss.

I find all sorts of things romantic, especially the little things like my beloved bringing me a hot water bottle when I haven't even asked for one,

4. Do you ask a lot of questions in life or are you pretty content with what you already know?

I'm a bit of a question asker and I'm very good at yelling questions at the TV (no, I haven't gone totally crazy yet), especially when historic shows give facts about the past that I feel they have no way of truly knowing about. For example, they may be talking about the behaviour of dinosaurs to which I will sit here repeating 'how do they know that?' The I'll ask my beloved how they know that, before again asking the TV.

5. Your favorite power ballad?

So many to choose from and it totally depends on my mood for which one I'd want to listen to, but for today's post I've gone with Jeff Buckley singing Hallelujah.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

As we're about to become the proud parents of a new little black cat, I thought I would share two photos of our Muffin Monster who left us 15 months ago. She was a funny little thing that one minute could be extremely loving, including kisses on the face, and the next she could be very grumpy and scratchy. The first picture shows how we used to put the chairs on the sofa so that our old dog couldn't get on there when we were out, so the cats took advantage and made them into their special beds.

Do you like valentine's day or do you think it's an overhyped and meaningless day in the year.

Until next time we hope that all is good for you wherever you are in the world.

Pamela & Ken

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