A Little History of the Valentine’s Day Greeting Card

Valentine greetings have been popular since the Middle Ages, a time when prospective lovers said or sang their romantic verses. Written valentines began to appear after 1400. Paper valentines originated in the 1500s, being exchanged in Europe and being given in place of valentine gifts and oral or musical valentine greetings. They were particularly popular in England. The first written valentine (formerly known as “poetical or amorous addresses”) is traditionally attributed to the imprisoned Charles, Duke of Orleans, in 1415. While confined in the Tower of London after the Battle of Agincourt, the young Duke reportedly passed his time by writing romantic verses for his wife in France. Approximately sixty of the Duke’s poems remain and can be seen among the royal papers in the British Museum. They are credited with being the first modern day valentines. (credit: www.novareinna.com)

What you may not know is that many of the Duke’s letters stashed among the British Museum’s royal papers were mimicked in the ’40s and ’50s by the earliest commercial greeting card companies. It was a shameless ripoff, really, but the Duke was long gone, and . . . whatever.

One of the Duke’s little-known talents was his ability to put caricature and color on paper, making him popular among the local printers as he forged a brand new industry that still lives on today.

The Duke envisioned a time when motor cars would replace horses. Genius, he was. His earliest work later went on to be the flagship design of a line of cards featuring Creepy McCreepster, who was known about town for delivering clever pick-up lines and making construction paper hearts in his mother's basement.

Word on the street is that the Duke was overheard shouting, "You may be the duchess, but that gives you no right to wear a skirt and ride Western style." There was no holding back his feelings when he sat down to write and draw in his prison cell that day.

In the Duke's later years, he was known for imbibing in the mead to the extent that it really came to hinder his copywriting skills.

As the Duke honed his artistic skills, he also grew fascinated by androgyny, often highlighting it in his work.

The tradition of exchanging cards and greetings on Valentine’s Day continues. You have but nine shopping days remaining. Pay tribute to the Duke, and get to work.

Saints vs. Colts; Fans vs. Rotel

Back in 1992, during Super Bowl XXVI as the Redskins played the Bills, I was but a few days shy of the 40-week mark in my first pregnancy. I got tired of negotiating the full 12 feet between the couch and the host’s dining table, so I pulled up a chair to the table and helped myself to Rotel dip from the Crock Pot. It was the real deal variety of Rotel dip, with chunks of sausage and enough Velveeta to kill a horse. By third quarter, the Crock Pot was nothing more than a shell with a crusty residue, and I was licking the spoon. My husband looked across the room and shouted above everyone, “My GOSH! Are you still eating that?” Observant and honest.

Super Bowl XXVI was played Jan. 26, only four days before my due date. Rotel dip, with all its chilies and spices, was to be my Pitocin in food form. In the end, it only caused other problems. That baby was so filled with sausage and processed cheese that she just stayed there for another 13 days, missing her due date and darn near missing her first birthday. I was miserable, but she probably was, too. What else could she do but lie there? She just stretched out and put her arm over her face and hoped for the best. On Feb. 9, provoked by a Waffle House breakfast consisting of scattered, smothered and covered hash browns, she sighed and said, “OK, that’s about enough of that,” and she came into this world, screaming and whining about heartburn and reflux.

Rotel dip was at its height of popularity back in the early ’90s, but has it ever really gone out of style? I think not. Rotel dip is the kind of timeless, sodium-packed cheese dip that caused my friend Rachel to overindulge in during this most recent Christmas break. She woke up the following morning with eyes so swollen she couldn’t see. All she could say was, “How much dip did I eat?” She was suffering a cheese dip hangover. And that’s saying something.

Today’s entry is a reader service, complete with photo and recipe.

Rotel cheese and sausage dip is a real crowd pleaser, but remember: moderation is key.

ROTEL DIP
1 can Rotel tomatoes with green chilies 1 lb. box Velveeta cheese 1 lb. sausage 1 bag nacho chips Brown and drain sausage, add small pieces of Velveeta cheese until melted. Add drained Rotel tomatoes and green chilies. Simmer until hot.

The Writing on the Wall

Hormones, stress, childbirth (no matter how long ago) and a host of other conditions can cause a person’s hair to shed. Especially while in the shower.

Years ago, tired of hearing about the “small animals” being pulled out of the drain, I resolved to smack my stray hairs on the shower wall in order to keep the peace. Like puffy clouds in the sky, the hairs occasionally form shapes without any assistance whatsoever, providing the opportunity to daydream and analyze. While showering. Multitasking, you could say. This morning, for example, I scored a platypus, a squid and a capital “A.”

But none of those even come close to this, sent to me by my sister:

The e-mail reads: “I’m attaching a picture of a hair on our shower wall…if you look closely, you will see that it resembles Homer Simpson, or Bender from Futurama.”

Sure, she may hold a Ph.D., but you tell me who seems smarter right now–the one who knows all the Matt Groening characters and takes pictures of her hair on the shower wall? Or me?