Bobbie - gold star and a box of chocolates for you!!! Bang on! 1. In 1868 Richard Cadbury produced a heart shaped chocolate box to celebrate Valentines day and this became an instant success. He personally designed the boxes with the idea being after you had enjoyed the chocolates you would keep the box to store mementos in such as love letters and gifts. The boxes grew increasingly more and more elaborate until World War II when sugar became rationed. This resulted in Valentine day celebrations being scaled back. Today however, More than 35 million heart shaped boxes will be sold around the world on Valentines day. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico and Central America. Its earliest documented use is around 1100 BC by the Olmecs in south central Mexico. The majority of the Mesoamerican people made chocolate beverages, including the Mayans and the Aztecs, who made it into a beverage known as xocolātl , a Nahuatl word meaning "bitter water". The seeds of the cacao tree have an intense bitter taste, and must be fermented to develop the flavor. 3. The first European contact with chocolate came when Montezuma (then tlatoani of Tenochtitlan) introduced Hernán Cortés, a Spanish conquistador, to xocolatl in the 16th century. Antonio de Solís, Philip IV's official Chronicler of the Indies, described Montezuma customarily taking a chocolate beverage after meals, as part of a sumptuous daily ritual: He had Cups of Gold, and Salvers of the same; and sometimes he drank out of Cocoas [i.e., coconut shells], and natural Shells, very richly set with Jewels.[...] When he had done eating, he usually took a Kind of Chocolate, made after the Manner of the Country, that is, the Substance of the Nut beat up with the Mill till the Cup was filled more with Froth than with Liquor; after which he used to smoak Tobacco perfum'd with liquid Amber. 4. Roughly two-thirds of the entire world's cocoa is produced in West Africa, with 43% sourced from Côte d'Ivoire, where child labor is a common practice to obtain the product. According to the World Cocoa Foundation, some 50 million people around the world depend on cocoa as a source of livelihood. In the UK, most chocolatiers purchase their chocolate from them, to melt, mold and package to their own design. 5. Jack B. Oruch writes that the first recorded association of Valentine's Day with romantic love is in Parlement of Foules (1382) by Geoffrey Chaucer. So there you go!! For Bobbie: For TM, Annette and Cynthia: A for effort. Thanks for playing, see you all next week!! Nancy.

Hi Everyone, Sorry I didn't make it to the swap today.With everything that's been happening and going on with the weather,I totally forgot today is the day.I really was looking forward to seeing you all.We're really trying to clean up everythng and waiting for help getting things back on the house.We have lots of missing shingles to get back on and the back down spout is laying in the back yard still yet,Not to mention pieces of siding blown off are in the far back yard.And of course a very large tree limb thats too heavy for either of us to move plus all the broken tree limbs and trash that comes along with the ride.But we'll get it done.We were without electric and water from Sunday to Wed.I'm very thankful it wasn't any longer then that and no one was hurt.I'm sorry to hear some of you are still in the dark,But know it won't be long now.I'm very grateful to all the workers who gave up time being with their families and loved ones to bring our power back on. I had so many plants to bring today,But like I said"Totally slipped my mind". I guess I will save them for the Spring Swap.I hope to see you all then.I will miss you all so very much!!Hope you had a good one!! I know you did!! I'll be reading when I can get on line to see what you all swapped for and had to eat. Granny57x

Rosewitch, England was definitely one of my favorite places I have ever visited. My folks took me there when I was 14, and I remember bits and pieces the Crown jewels, walking amongst the Stonehenge stones (roped off now, vandalism), Stratford upon Avon. Time for me to take my own 14YO. Im trying to think how I can get over there for a whole summer, LOL. Dlynn, I could have worked so much more. I didnt really look at night time stuff and there was loads to do. Greece: cant help you, but shoot Yasou a line, she went a few years ago. LOL Annie! Teresa, well go together. I wanted to explore more cooking and food shops/stores but didnt get to. Terri, here is more a link to Pictures of England, a website pointed out to me by Denise. I started it on Bourton on the Water, where we stayed for a few days. Thanks Sharon, I was actually thinking how can I even come close to posting her quality of travel guides, I dont do the pictures she does LOL. We might have sat at the same table in the Cheshire Cheeses dining room! Sawdust still there, but we didnt make it to the cellar. I missed a lot of the British Museum. It has changed.check out the new atrium. I couldnt keep up with DH and DS16. Afternoons, when I planned museums, I crashed. Next time! Pam, lots of people did more than we did per day! Theater every night, more attractions, I cant imagine. Gina heh heh yeah I need another vacation like a hole in my head. Speaking of whichDH has another week off in August. Nooooooooo! Kathleen, DH says he took an average of 200 pictures a day. Yup. Me, I just buy the post cards or Google the images, same thing (DARFC from the photo bugs here) Cathy, thanks for giving me the War and Peace moniker heh heh. Next time I go with CF friends! LindaC, I know. Im still exhausted. Speaking of the V&A, did you know there was a Dale Chihuly chandelier in the entrance room?

My dad was a big fan. We went to a lot of games. Bay Bomber fans although one of the guys from our speed club skated for the New York Chiefs. LOL I had a bit of a crush on him. Now thse games were wild, like old hockey games. The fights, the spectators getting into it, people throwing things. Now days you'd be thrown out. Our world has gone so PC. My brother went to the training club once in a while. i couldn't wait 'til I got old enough but stuff happened by that time. I got kicked off the floor at the second rink often for playing roller derby. In fact I had a nick name. I was small,fast and fearless. Played with the guys 6+ older than me and they showed no mercy nor I them. I would low and quick and come up from below get them just above the knee on the side. can you say charley horse? LOL Lots of people thought I could have a career with Roller Derby at the time. I was only around 12 then though and too young. I still have my Snyders both my dance pair and my figure pair. I also have my old speed skates. They were Hyde boots with with a single action plate and wood wheels with free bearings. None of the hi tech speed stuff they have today. We skated without helmets or guards. Just jerseys,shorts and tights. If you had a real uniform the only padding was light weight at the knees. Anyone remember the powder on the floors? We used to have to work it in before sessions. Then if you fell you got it all over yourself. During artistic practice most of the boys wore black pants. No jeans back in those days. Lot's of spotted pants at the end of the session. LOL Girls skated bare legged in those short skirts. Pleats for practice most of the time. Most of us had some ugly floor burns healing most of the time. By the time DD started skating the floors were "roll on" (the blue stuff and no more powder. Outfits got stretchy and the girls wore hose. I remember putting her in Leggs Sheer Energy size A pantyhose because they were small enough to fit over her little 5 and 6 year old body. Actually she wore the same size all the years.