LEAP DAY

It is that extra day in February that recurs every four years. Perhaps we should start a tradition and call it FREE DAY, when we can do anything we  want -- at least in our imagination.

I found the above picture on somebody's blog and I don't know where to give credit. Thank you whoever you are. I've always thought February needs all the help it can get.

Back to that "do-anything-you-desire" idea for Leap Day. What would you do?  One of my instant ideas is above. In my finest habit, I would ride a spirited mare down Rotten Row in London. Based on repeating things I have already done, my choice would be either a Venetian Gondola or a sailing yacht in the Greek Islands.

Or maybe something less nautical, like a free day in the London Library (below, l)? Or the British Library (below, r)?

What would be your choice, assuming you had no restrictions for time, complications, or price? The sky is the limit.  Or perhaps you had in mind another tradition associated with Leap Year. 

How about a lady's Choice for a dance, a date, or even marriage?  At my high school we had a Sadie Hawkins Dance every February, leap year or not, when the girls invited the guys. Sadie Hawkins is a character in Al Capp's comic strip stories of L'il Abner. But Sadie ultimately lost out to Daisy Mae. Other female choice traditions relate to St. Brigid's Complaint, an Irish legend associated with Leap Day. Altogether, these two version and others became entwined beyond my interest in untangling them. Nevertheless, you might like to fantasize about your ultimate quarry in the Leap Year/Sadie H. Day marathon. I have a couple of covers of my novels that just might do. 

Click on the thumbnails above for better images.  I'd take any of the above three, wouldn't you?  Or, as below, some of the portraits created by Sir Thomas Lawrence, who could do as handsome a male as he could gorgeous females. Pick your prey.

Top Row, L: William Lamb, later Lord Melbourne (1779-1848); R: Henry Brougham, later Lord Brougham (1778-1868); lower row, L; Hart Davis, Jr (1791-1854). R: Sir Charles Stewart, later Lord Londonderry (1778-1854)
     So with a bow towards our imaginations, contemplate your choice on Leap Day.