Date: Tue, 10 Jan 2006 22:51:01 -0500 From: Lawrence Prichard Subject: Tuesday Evening-Wednesday Morning 6 Disclaimer and all that. If you are under age to read male-male romance and sex, Begone! (Until you're of age.) Names, locations, and trademarks are fictitious, or used fictitiously. Reposting on sites other than Nifty is forbidden. The nearest airport to White River Junction VT, is Manchester NH. Another good date night dvd is "Bull Durham. He's "Crash" Davis, I'm "ANDY" Savoy! Thank Yous to : RimPig, George Gardner, Tim Mead, and MickeyS. A warm, special thank you to Drew Hunt. His "Rough Road to Happiness" in "Beginnings" is new and rather special. Copyright 2006 by Lawrence Prichard. _________ Tuesday Evening, 6:15, late early winter. Denys's turn. What can I say? It's just "Ordinary time." Things are going well at "Something Beautiful Flowers and Gifts," there are no disasters at home, and everyone is well, for now. Jerome cooked dinner this evening, it was his chicken chili, and he made it in the pressure cooker. He had cornbread, and a side dish of roasted red peppers and onions. I like most of Jerome's cooking, but we differ wildly on the matter of cornbread. He likes it sweeter than I do. We have eventually compromised on the matter. After I had cleared the table and loaded and started the dishwasher, we contemplated our offerings for Valentine's Day. Cleared the table, and put in the leaf. We had mugs, balloons, plush, wrapped candies, ceramic pots in Valentine heart shapes..... Valentine's Day is one of the biggest days on the florist's calendar. A good Valentine's Day can save your financial bacon for the rest of the year. We, like many other florists, offer several gifts with flowers. You've seen them....teddy bears (our favourites), or other plushies holding a rose or two, a mug with coffee packets and some wrapped hard candies with a daisy or two....you know the drill. People seem to like them, and we have learned that you offer people what they want, not what you want them to buy. It helps a lot to make up some of these gifts beforehand, and mid January is a fine time to do so. Jerome, Maria, and Bobby do a lot of these in the shop, but I like to do some at home in the evenings. Of course, you add the flowers on the day, or the day before, with water tubes. Don't get me wrong, we like most of our customers, especially the customers we see more than just Valentine's Day and Mother's Day. They don't have to spend a lot every time, but we like repeat business. Patronizing the same store, and building a working relationship makes it easier for both parties. We have more of an idea what you want, and we're able to serve our customers better. We try to provide excellent service to all our customers, but if someone we know needs a special effort, we are more cheerful about it than just someone calling or coming in out of the blue. We really like the guys who put more than 45 seconds of thought into it, like Dave Williams. He comes in a few days before, and chooses some items, maybe a piece or two of crystal, maybe a lotion from our Caswell-Massey selection, and sometimes a piece of Andra's jewelry, and then we collaborate as to how to package it, and what flowers to add. Last year, it seemed that Sheryl, his lucky wife, was into Gebera daisies, and we had several ready and tubed when Dave picked up on Valentine's Day. (What can I say? Jerome, Bobby, and I have all said that we envy Sheryl Williams. Dave is very handsome,---6'5", muscular, dark haired....and smart and thoughtful. Bobby has cracked to him that if he ever changes his mind to give us a call!) (We're not sitting all alone by the telephone, though.) Ever wonder about all the November babies you meet? If you were born in mid -to-late November, thank your parents' florist! Jerome glances at the clock on the microwave, and says "Jeeze. 10:35. Let's wrap up, knock off, and head to bed." "Bed? It's still early." "Did I say anything about sleep, Furball?" I think we're two ready teddies! ---------------- Feedback Welcome. OhioBear330@webtv.net