Won't you B my Valentine?

Apparently they will. They did. They came. I cleaned. I cooked. I vac'd. I dusted the wood between the railings. I cleaned up the mouse turds. I drank loads of water. I sent a condolence card.

Condolence card. I keep a copy of all the letters I write but since this one was hand-wrin, I photograffed it instead.

Peggie the Clotheshorse.

Peggie the sink cleaner. She brought her famous cheesecake to the party. Extra-creamy, topped with cinnamon. Since I ate Gerri's pound cake for breakfast, I'll have the cheesecake for lunch.

Nick Breslin, our Monday and Wednesday phone greeter, who brought scrumptious stuffed mushrooms. Nick is a deck-builder. I asked him to look at my kitchen window, the same one Peggie's standing in front of. I want to enlarge the window so I look out at the backyard w/o standing on a chair. He said he could do it. Nick is the father of 8, grandfather of 21, and a new great-granddad of "a biracial child." Welcome to America, Nickie!

Here's Gerri, pound-cake maker, and husband Jay. Boy I sure wish I could've heard Jay and Scott talk about working at SEPTA. "We're of the same mind," said Scott. A poorly run outfit. No one knows except the employees.

A couple things I noticed about Elena. She moves really fast. If anything needs to be done, she's at it in a flash. I guess she tired out her boyfriend Noam, who's in the middle, and of course there's Mike who's famous in our crowd for organizing....Bill's Hikes. Ooops, Mike's hikes. We reminisced how much fun we had last week at the art museum.

Here's Tracey the birthday girl. 35 years old. I wish I were the kind of person who floats a sign saying Happy B'day Tracey, but I haven't learned how to do dat yet, so I put up a sign on the front door, handprinted in red.

Sarah's behind her. A great quality about Sarah is her straightforwardness. No beating around the bush.

Veyonna is an imposing-looking statuesque young woman. I wanted get a great shot of her. Maybe next time. Sarah, in the background, is in her class at Montco. They study together at Barnes and Noble: medical records. Gerri takes the same class at Manor Jr College, where Barry Cohen teaches English.

Ah, here's Barry now, with wife Claudia Beechman. I kept staring at Barry's face and thinking how interesting it was. Altho when I sat next to Claudia I thought the same. I guess I'm just really interested in faces. Everyone's except my own. I'm trying to love my wrinkles and falling eyelids.

Everybody loves Fontaine! Earth mother to us all. She did the honors of carving my roasted chicken w/stuffing which turned out to be dee-licious!

Claudia Beechman, Le Chanteuse. See what I mean about her face? Tres plein de charactre.

Joann and Ellen discuss weighty world matters in the kitchen. Ellen had just seen the Mamet play Race which she said was overrated. Joann had frustratingly navigated the backroads to my house and found it with no help from the GPS or me! BTW, Mamet was in my class at Goddard College.

Here's cat-lover Claire who made me feel great when she said she liked my shrimp salad.

Claudia said she wants a new Facebook photo so I was trying to accommodate her. Not with this photo, you're not, Ruthie.

I always worry how 20 people can fit inside my house but you know what? They figure it out. Linda, on the left, read one of her poems to us. This very clever woman had one of her poems printed on a magnet. When I came into the kitchen this morning, there twas hanging on my fridge door! Light and Dark Paths.


Claudia sang from the Jacques Brel songbook, one of thousands of songs written by the Belgian composer. Her teleprompter was my laptop.

May all your wishes come true, Trace!

Barry Cohen's onion tart was a big hit with our valentines.

Hey is it time for Peggie's cheesecake yet?