My funny Valentine

Of all the zillion love songs in the world, it's around this time of year that I invariably hear My Funny Valentine.  It's not exactly the sweetest song.  The lyrics imply that the singer is a man in love with a dim-witted, unattractive woman who has a bad figure, but his devotion to her has little to do with her looks:

   My funny Valentine
   Sweet comic Valentine
   You make me smile with my heart
   Your looks are laughable
   Unphotographable
   But you're my favorite work of art
   Is you figure less than Greek?
   Is your mouth a little weak?
   When you open it to speak
   Are you smart?

It's amusing to me how this song is one massive backhanded complement.  I did get to hear it last night, too.  Cas and I went to see a Valentine's day double feature.  Ricki Derek sang some great, old crooner songs, then the Granada pulled down a movie screen and played Casablanca.  Ricki had promised that his set would be followed by a Jamaican Led Zeppelin cover band named Casablanca.  He corrected that error later in the show and said that it would, in fact, be a showing of a movie.

I had sincerely hoped Cas would enjoy Ricki Derek.  I had first seen the singer in my twenties, and he puts on a show that is funny and genuinely entertaining.

We had wanted to see his New Year's Eve show in Fort Worth, but it was sold out before we could get tickets.  This time, I bought the tickets for a mid-February show about a month early.  That's how we were assured a seat and wound up on the very front row.  The Granada decided to put in chairs for this one.  Smart move, in fact, as some of the other members of the audience were older.  

I had spent the morning working on newspaper pages and that is how I intend to spend the majority of my day today.  It was good to have a little break in there, and Cas really knocked it out of the park.  He arrived at my house with a grocery bag.  It contained the things he needed to make me his specialty dish- shrimp scampi.  He had mentioned his ability to prepare this dish previously, but he had never proved this claim to me until now.  Yesterday, he showed up at 4:30 and cooked me dinner.  

Gotta say, that was totally cool.  The food was fantastic and the cook was very good looking.  We ate a wonderful dinner, threw all the dishes in the sink and headed to The Granada.  

I haven't had a Valentine's Day date in a pretty long time, and this one was certainly the best one I have ever had.