My Valentine and I took our daughter Kelia, and her sister, out for Indian as a late birthday present yesterday. On the way back we stopped at the local grocery giant, ostensibly for tea and bananas, but I had an ulterior motive. They have a good selection of flowering plants there at all times, and they would certainly, I was sure, have beefed it up for Valentine’s Day. And they had. This lovely lily is my Valentine’s Day gift to my Valentine. On the way out of the store she commented on how good the flowers smelled and stuck her nose in close enough to pick up a good smear of that very orange pollen. We laughed. When she got to the car and the rear-view mirror, she did a good job of smearing it over most of the tip of her nose, without removing any of it. Sticky stuff. “Engineered to stick to bees’ behinds”, as my daughter Kelia helpfully pointed out. At home it did come off with soap and water, so my Valentine is no longer branded, but if you see us together you will still, very likely, be able to tell she is mine. My Valentine.

And so the tale of a love is told, one funny little story at a time.

Canon SX50HS at 24mm equivalent and macro. Program with iContrast and Auto Shadow Fill. f3.4 @ 1/20th @ ISO 800. A mix of pre-dawn window light and incandescent. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness (with some defocus and desaturation on the table cloth and the radiator in the corner to make the flower dominate).

And a very happy Valentine’s Day to you and your Valentine. May you have your own funny little story to roll out the tale of love.