Happy Valentine’s Day!

SHALL I COMPARE THEE TO A SUMMER’S DAY?

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

Thou are more lovely and more temperate.

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.

Sometime too hot the eyes of heaven shines,

And often is his gold complexion dimmed;

And every fair from fair sometimes declines,

By chance, or nature’s changing course, untrimmed.

But thy eternal summer shall not fade

Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,

Nor shall Death brag thou wand’rest in his shade

When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st.

    So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,

     So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

                                  —–William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

 SUDDEN LIGHT

 I have been here before,

   But when or how I cannot tell:

I know the grass beyond the door,

   The sweet keen smell,

The sighing sound, the lights around the shore.

    You have been mine before, –

How long ago I may not know:

    But just when that swallow’s soar

Your neck turned so,

    Some veil did fall,–I knew it all of yore.

Has this been thus before?

    And shall not thus time’s eddying flight

Still with our lives our love restore

          In death’s despite,

And day and night yield one delight once more?

                             —Dante Gabriel Rossetti 

Lastly, as we are digging ourselves again out of another winter storm, I can’t help but posting this well known and among my favorite poems of Robert Frost.  We are never too old or too young to appreciate Frost’s beautiful verses!

STOPPING BY WOODS ON A SNOWY EVENING

Whose woods these are I think I know.

His house is in the village, though;

He will not see me stopping here

To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer

To stop without a farmhouse near

Between the woods and frozen lake

The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake

To ask if there is some mistake.

The only other sound’s the sweep

Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY! 

Don’t hesitate to enjoy some treats such as dark chocolate, now that you know, from Dr. Serrin Gantt’s blog on chocolate, that chocolate can bring good health… IN MODERATION AND WITHOUT A LOT OF SUGAR.  Remember how Dr. Gantt has a row of DARK chocolate a day, not a “Three Musketeers Bar”! 

I also want to send a big HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY TO MY FELLOW BLOGGERS AND BOOT CAMPERS!  YOUR FRIENDSHIP HAS ENRICHED MY JOURNEY!  I AM GLAD, TOGETHER,WE ARE HELPING OUR COMMUNITY TO BE MORE HEALTHY!

Lastly, I have to “single out” and thank my friends and fellow bloggers Dr. Marsha Seidelman and Jody Miller, who took time today and quickly sent out a blog on how to safely shovel snow, while I was busy in the hospital bringing a few new lives into the world.  Marsha and Jody performed a great service for many of us who had to clean up the more than a foot of snow this morning (ahem, that would be my husband, not me). As many of you know, shoveling snow can be a dangerous activity.  It requires a lot of cardiovascular work and appropriate posture.  With poor posture when shoveling, you can keep your physical therapists and chiropractors busy! Also be aware of the freezing temperature outdoors and reread Marsha’s frostbite article when needed. 

Lastly, for those who stay mostly indoors and spend a lot of time in front of the TV watching the Winter Olympics (Aren’t the snowboarders crazy?  The kind of things some humans can do with their bodies and balance amazes us!), do not forget to review Marsha and Jody’s exercise blogs to keep yourself in shape in between the commercials. Prolonged watching the Olympics games without exercising can be hazardous to your health! David and I are in that phase of hibernation in front of our TV watching the games.  We marveled at the figure skaters with their jumps and spins while we ourselves cannot balance for a few minutes on the ice.  That is why WE are in Potomac, Maryland while THEY are in Sochi, Russia!

AGAIN, ENJOY YOUR VALENTINE’S DAY!