Last Chance: Enter Patch's Cutest Couple Contest

Valentine's Day is the deadline to enter and win a free meal, courtesy of Patch, for you and your sweetie.

Classic Books to Share with Your Children for Valentine's Day

From Charlotte's Web to Where the Wild Things Are, share these classic books with your children and encourage their love for reading.

“Where’s Pa Going with that Axe?” The Enduring Quality of Children’s Classics By Anita Silvey Courtesy of James Patterson's Read Kiddo Read Foundation The opening line of E. B. White’s Charlotte’s Web— “Where’s Pa going with that axe?”—has now been read by adults to eager young listeners for more than 60 years. Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time and Ezra Jack Keats’s The Snowy Day have been picked up with enthusiasm for more than 50 years. For 75 years, parents have shared The Hobbit, and this year Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are turns 50. These books and others like them (Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Virginia Lee Burton’s Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, and L. M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables) bring …

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Oswego Photographer Hosting Valentines Portrait Sessions to Benefit Plainfield Boy Battling Cystic Fibrosis

Julie Mettler, owner of Mettler Portraits, is putting on "Valentines for Nathaniel" to raise money for his care for Cystic Fibrosis.

Roses Again? Valentine's Day Demands Exotic

If you consider the traditional dozen red roses ho-hum, consider these options suggested by five local florists.

A rose is a rose is a rose. And never is that truer than on Valentine's Day, when roses rule the day and thinking outside the flower box, if you will, is rare indeed. Oh, sure, some guys will get a little creative and opt for a lavendar or peach hue. Some will get a little daring, forgoing the traditional long-stemmed red roses for a mixed bouquet of cut flowers or maybe a posy of daisies. But when it comes to the exotic, forget about it. Which is what prompted us to think, what would a florist -- who's surrounded by flora all day long -- pick if the choice were up to her. Here's what five of them told us. 1. For Aimee Evans, owner of the Village Flower Shop in downtown Plainfield, the answer was easy. She likes gloriosa lilies, in part …

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A Little Romance: Top 10 Romantic Movies

For Valentine's Day, we share our picks for some of the best romantic movies. These films shoot an arrow right through our Patch heart.

Valentine’s Day for some couples is all hearts and flowers. For others who have been in long-term relationships it may seems more like amateur night. While many couples may feel compelled to spend the night out dining, others may prefer to stay home, cook and snuggle up with a good movie. When it comes to romantic movies, they can be a dime a dozen. The most recent release this Valentine’s Day, The Vow has received less than glowing reviews. Other than Channing Tatum’s abs, the film is apparently a bit bland. Unlike this year's V-D flick. Some movies, make a lasting impression.  Whether they are considered chic flicks, love stories or romantic dramas, we have compiled a list of those romances that hit us with a big red arrow in our Green …

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'Balmy' Weather Warms the Heart on Valentine's Day

Funny how your perspective changes as the Blizzard of 2011 starts to melt away.

Six months ago, temps in the 40s gave us the shivers.  Come Valentine’s Day, the 40s felt like the fresh breath of spring.  Drifts shrank down to piles as we got glimpses of ground that just days ago was lost in a deep sea of snow. My mailbox has popped back up from the snow bank and, from the driveway, I picked up a two-week-old Sunday paper, now soggy old news buried by the Great Blizzard of 2011.  Folks all around town ventured out of their winter lairs to breathe in air that didn’t ice the lungs. Tots ignored melting snow mounds lingering around playground equipment at Eaton Preserve Park on 135th Street late Monday afternoon to make the most of that extra hour of daylight we’ve earned back over the last frigid weeks. One young …

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