February efforts.

Valentine's Day has now come and gone, and we are half way through the month of February! I think holidays like Valentine's Day are one of the ways the folks of the northern states make it through winter. These holidays are calendar talismans that you can grab onto to haul yourself through a few more weeks of grey, and sleet, rain, mud, snow and vicious wind. Valentine's Day gives you cheery reasons to draw hearts on paper and give them to your loved ones, an excuse to buy chocolates and put fresh flowers in a vase. Love, blooming life and mood elevating chocolate- a big tug through February. Then it is shamrock plants, green beer and comfort food- potatoes, corned beef and hunks of soda bread with butter to get you through March. After that it is a bit of a northern state roller coaster of spring days of warmth, wet and snows into April. But by then, we are feeling the sun, and the birds are back, and the forsythia is showing off...

So, as my garlic and cross to ward off the doldrums of winter, by the end of January, the heart plates come out of the cupboard. The dining tables get pink and red gingham cloths, sparkling crystal and the glint of silver plate. I love silver plate with its sneaky combination of shine and dinge.

This year I also made a tree.
To be honest, I made the tree for next Christmas, having seen a version of it in a December magazine. I liked the tree, and so, whilst trying to fall asleep one night in January, I built a version in my imagination. On one of the many snow days of January, Youngest and I gave my imaginary tree a real try.
But, Christmas is a long way off, so I decorated it for Valentine's Day to see if I liked our efforts.

 I set it up on an old chippy blue-green tramp art dresser I pulled out of my Gram's garage before it melted into the ground.

The tree is wood, with a Swedish style.

For Valentine's Day, I decorated it with hearts! The antique tatted hearts are resurrected from the trash pile in my other Grandmother's house. They were covered with some substance. But, I snatched them out, and here they are, cleaned up a bit. I do like a little dinge...
The other hearts are made from my Great Aunt Lib's sheet music,  pink watercolor and white cotton hearts.
I made a paper garland, and then hung some Dutch speculaas cookies I had made that have lambs under a tree.

It looked lonely on the table. So, I cozied up a stack of pink china plates and small pink books. The smallest of which is a herbarium guide I wrote in the 80's of plants in eastern Virginia.
I am not sure I am crazy about having decorated "trees" outside of Christmas. When I am ready for the next handhold tug into March, this tree of February will get stored with the Christmas decorations for next year.
This year my Valentine tree will help keep me afloat in February, with it's soft colors and anchors to the women of my past. They all understood the winter and did something to haul themselves through. Knitting, tatting, playing music, baking..gifts for themselves and the ones they loved.