It's Kismet that a Jaunty Post Day falls on Valentine's Day, so this Birdy is making the most of it! Sending you all warm n' fuzzy thoughts of hearts, flowers and plenty of smooches and air-kisses. Valentine wishes to all you sweet darlings who visited the Jaunty Magpie today, amid the holiday rush of making sure your dinner reservations are set or a last-minute rush to find a gift for your sweetheart. Even if you're not with a Special Someone on this day, don't ignore the opportunity to reach out to a loved one -- all holidays should be a great excuse to celebrate an open heart. Yes, even Arbor Day, if the mood strikes you.

To inspire you on this J'adore-worthy Valentine's Day, here are some quotes you can jot down to impress your date tonight:

Oh, if it be to choose and call thee mine, love, thou art every day my Valentine!
- Thomas Hood

Many are the starrs I see, but in my eye no starr like thee.
- English saying engraved on poesy rings

Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs.
- William Shakespeare

Who, being loved, is poor?
- Oscar Wilde

As a special treat for all you Anti-Valentine's Day folks or for those who are as much in love with the site, Handmade Ryan Gosling, as I am, here's a peek at a special Handmade Valen-RyanGosling-tine I made for a friend. We often peruse the craft supplies and say with our best Ryan Gosling voice, "Hey, Girl..." whenever we see baker's twine, glitter or a super-pack of gluesticks. Don't take the note too seriously, I still think Bradley Cooper is cute, it just sounded really funny. 

Jaunty Fine Print: graphic design by Denise Sakaki, quote by John Lennon

As mentioned before, this Bird is off for a few days to spend time with family and friends for a mini summer vacation. For this short parting of ways, I wish the Jaunty readers sweet summer wishes and thoughts to carry them through the lazy evenings of smoldering sunsets and the wafting of a floral-painted paper fan.

Then followed that beautiful season, Called by the pious Acadian peasants the Summer of All-Saints! Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light; and the landscape Lay as if new-created in all the freshness of childhood. - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

In summer, the song sings itself. - William Carlos Williams

The summer night is like a perfection of thought. - Wallace Stevens

There shall be eternal summer in the grateful heart. - Celia Thaxter


Jaunty Fine Print: photos by Denise Sakaki

 

Sometimes this Bird is prone to Moody flights that find her lost in misty morning skies. My mind wandered to the notion of spirits when taking this photo, so I'll let others' words guide this day's Mood of restless spirits. (As a Jaunty side-note, this Bird is happy to report that the Project 365/Picture a Day is still going strong -- this one was one of my favorites taken in the middle of Westlake Center in Downtown Seattle)

The lawn
Is pressed by unseen feet, and ghosts return
Gently at twilight, gently go at dawn,
The sad intangible who grieve and yearn...
T.S. Eliot, To Walter de la Mare

For who can wonder that man should feel a vague belief in tales of disembodied spirits wandering through those places which they once dearly affected, when he himself, scarcely less separated from his old world than they, is for ever lingering upon past emotions and bygone times, and hovering, the ghost of his former self, about the places and people that warmed his heart of old?
Charles Dickens, Master Humphrey's Clock

Jaunty Fine Print: Photo by Denise Sakaki, also on my Flickr account