Tamino and Pamina

First and foremost: happy Valentine's Day everyone! I am not the biggest fan, to be honest, because when you are single today, it is depressing and when you are in a couple, it is stressful. All the same, let's celebrate, with first  picture I took in Vienna. You may recognise Prince Tamino and Princess Pamina from Mozart's Die Zauberflöte. AKA The Magic Flute. We stumbled upon this monument at complete random. I thought it captured beautifully their relationship. Of course, I could not celebrate today without Mozart's music. There's another reason why I wanted to share the picture: for me, their relationship perfectly embodies what true, lasting love should be. So here is their duet, or a part of their one duet in the opera, sung by my favourite Mozartian soprano Golda Schultz (don't tell the others) and tenor Ben Bliss. Mozart can be cynical about relationships, but not here. Yet he remains I think truthful: for love to work, it has to be teamwork.

Dites-le avec des sucreries

 Photo prise sur la page Facebook de Première Moisson. Si j'étais au Québec aujourd'hui, c'est leur Coeur framboise amandes pistaches que j'aurais acheté pour la famille afin de célébrer la Saint-Valentin. Parce que les roses fanent, les sucreries se savourent. Sinon, bonne Saint-Valentin à tous.

Une occasion pour du mousseux

J'ai pris cette photo dans un restaurant, le jour de la fête de ma femme. Ils donnaient un verre de mousseux gratuit pour l'occasion. Sans doute du prosecco, peut-être du champagne (je ne sais pas faire la différence, philistin que je suis). Depuis quelques temps, j'ai comme envie de reboire du mousseux, mais j'aimerais trouver un prétexte quelconque, une occasion à célébrer. J'imagine qu'il y a la Saint-Valentin dans une semaine. Ce sera sans doute donc ça, mais je préfère en général que ce soit un évènement heureux et inattendu, ce qui n'est pas trop arrivé récemment. Bon, ce sera donc pour la Saint-Valentin, si j'en achète d'ici là.

Concours des Bouquinistes pour la St-Valentin

 Annonce régionale pour ceux qui peuvent. J'ai appris via la page Facebook des Bouquinistes qu'ils ont un concours pour la Saint-Valentin. Les détails dans l'image plus haut. Les détails dans l'image plus haut. Sans farce, acheter pour 100$ de livres, c'est facile pour moi. Les lire, c'est une autre histoire. Et vous?

About Diamonds

Who said that local magazines were only about coffee shops, church sales and makeup. They can have quite interesting articles on hot topics. In this specific case, hot ice. I mean of course diamonds. So anyway, in February's editionof Round & About, they talk about diamonds. The excuse is Valentine's Day, nevertheless I learned a few things about mined and synthetic diamonds. Well, about diamonds in general. It's quite fascinating really. Anyway, did you ever buy diamonds? I think I only ever did it when I bought my wife her engagement ring.

Early February

 I will start this post by a shameful cliché: today is the first of February, in case you didn't notice it. A month mostly known for Valentine's Day and, well, that's pretty much it. Oh yes, there's Candlemas tomorrow, but it tends to be forgotten as well. Anybody doing something for Candlemas? Anyone? Anyone? I thought so. Anyway, I am not a big fan of February, but here it is, I'd like to know your opinion in the comments section.

Première Moisson en mode Saint-Valentin

Photo prise de la page Facebook de Première Moisson. Février n'est pas encore arrivé qu'ils sont déjà en mode Saint-Valentin. Je trouve que c'est un peu tôt, mais si je vivais à Montréal, c'est là que j'achèterais mon chocolat et mes desserts.

Dites-le avec un bouquin

Bon ben, vraiment, une fête chasse l'autre: j'apprends via sur la page Facebook des Bouquinistes qu'ils préparent déjà la Saint-Valentin. Ils ont même changé leur photo de profil le 15 janvier pour celle-ci, avec des pétales de roses pour faire plus romantique. Je trouve ça un peu tôt, mais je vais quand même admettre qu'un livre est plus original que des chocolats ou des fleurs. Donner un bouquin, c'est toujours une belle preuve d'amour.

Amadeus for Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day everyone. As it is sometimes a tradition on Vraie Fiction, I celebrate by sharing some love songs and I usually go for classical with Mozart. Because nothing ever put love in music as well as he did, whether it was its ideal and idealised aspects or its more problematic ones. So yeah, here is one love duet that is also a duet of deceit and unrequited infatuation, with Miah Persson and Gerald Finley. This is taken from Le Nozze di Figaro. For those who do not understand Italian, there are subtitles.

Dites-le avec un chocolat chaud

Tout d'abord: joyeuse Saint-Valentin à tous. Cette photo a été prise de la page Facebook de Première Moisson: un chocolat chaud choco-framboises. Vendu bien entendu pour la St-Valentin. Ils offrent vraiment des belles affaires pour la journée. Ma femme est une chocolique avouée et je trouve qu'ici le choix pour la Saint-Valentin n'est pas vargeux. Il faudrait vraiment que je célèbre à Montréal un jour.

Valentine's Day from the Bookshop

 It might be a bit early to think about it, but Valentine's Day will be here soon. During my last trip to the local bookshop, I noticed a fewromcom books on display. I could buy one for my wife, although I know she thinks we already have too many books. That said, I still encourage you to express your love with a book, purchased at your local bookshop.

Pain aux trois chocolats

Petite nouvelle bouffe et amoureuse sur la page Facebook de Première Moisson: ils ont un pain aux trois chocolats pour février et la St-Valentin. C'est décadent en tab...

Pink Latte

 First and foremost, I want to wish happy Valentine's Day to everyone. As my wife and Wolfie are with his parents on leave, I am celebrating it alone for the first time since, well, since the last time I was single, which dates back to 20 odd years. But we sort of celebrated this weekend. You remember my post about the The Mixing Jug? Well, we went to Marlow and had lunch there. I bought a Pink Latte for my wife, just because Valentine's Day was coming soon. That was a mistake: she didn't like it, it tasted too spicy, like a gingerbread coffee they sometimes serve in coffee shops round Christmastime. Because she was struggling to drink it and did not want to waste it (The Mixing Jug is an expensive place), she asked me to help her with it. I made the mistake to accept it. It was the first time in 15 years I drank coffee. I hope it is the last. But hey, that's love for you.

Say it with Mozartkugelns

In two days, it is Valentine's Day. I always find it a bit stressful. For my wife, it is kind of easier, because I only need chocolate and I am a happy man. Any will do, pretyt much. This year, I got spoiled: I found Mozartkugels in the local sweet shop that were shaped like hearts. My favourite
chocolates, now perfectly prepared for the special occasion. I had to tell my wife, who bought a box two days ago (yes, I know she bought it, but that's okay, I will only start eating them in two days. Nothing says I love you like these chocolates, or the music of Mozart. It is just so perfect. Oh and to start celebrating the day, here is an aria about love, from The Abduction from the Seraglio. Sung by Malin Hartelius. Unlike others that he composed, this aria does not show a cynical world view of love, but it rather idealises it. So yes, it is fitting.

La Saint-Valentin le Mercredi des cendres

 Bon, je me prends un peu d'avance cette année, mais bon, une chose m'a frappée il y a quelques jours quand je m'en suis rendu compte: la Saint-valentin tombe pile poil sur le Mercredi des cendres cette année. Quand j'étais un bon petit catholique, ça aurait créé la source d'un dilemne cornélien: anger ou pas du chocolat? Maintenant, plus vraiment, mais je trouve que ça indique que Pâques arrive trop tôt cette année.

Saint Valentin, le martyr

Je sais que la Saint-valentin était hier, mais j'ai trouvé ça sur la page Facebook d'un ami et j'ai décidé de ne pas attendre un an pour la partager. Il y a peut-être des célibataires parmi mes lecteurs et je sais que le 14 février n'est jamais facile pour eux. Donc...

Be original: say it with trolls

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone celebrating it and to everyone who thinks it is a painful day too. I found the picture of this lovely couple on the Facebook page of the Arensbak Trolls, which from what I understand is now called Trolls of the 5 Arts Studio (but I prefer the old name). If you want to offer something original today, why not trolls like these ones? After all, love means never having to say you're ugly (as this movie says), and this lovely couple is so darn cute with their tails wrapped together like that.

Say it with a book

 Well, Valentine's Day is coming soon and that means a lot of people in relationship must find something for their loved ones. For those who either don't like chocolate or find it too predictable (for the record this is not the case of my wife), may I suggest a book or two? Bought at your local bookshop of course, if you have one. I know I would love to receive a book on Valentine's Day.

Say it with a hammer (and chocolates)

Yesterday for Valentine's Day, I offered chocolates to both my wife and Wolfie. For my wife, I gave her a box from M&S with a twist: not only did he had a chocolate heart filled with truffles, it also had a hammer with it, so you could smash the chocolate heart. I thought I'd get something that would keep Wolfie interested, not just "boring" chocolate. So he had lots of fun smashing this heart with the hammer. You could even say that he broke his mother's heart. Of course, my wife had to share the heart and its content with her son. I guess boring chocolate would have been enough, just not quite as funny before. Moral of the story: once you're a parent, it's always about the children. And I'm glad it is.

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! This year, I thought I would celebrate it with a bit of video from The Simpsons, from the episode I Love Lisa. Back in the days when they were still hilarious, with just enough cruelty to be acidic but remaining pleasant. Every joke hits the mark and they are many of them. And is it only me, or does it look like many Valentine's Days we experience, as a child or an adult?