Women appreciate a little tenderness in their men. Which is to say, thoughts of themselves that inspire men to demonstrate not only in a tactile, emotional way that they fully appreciate how much the woman in their life complements their needs, but in other, tangible ways.

Some women appreciate receiving floral bouquets to augment the verbal bouquets.

Most women look forward to receiving trinkets of some value on special occasions through which the men in their lives can demonstrate what they perceive as the value to them of their shared and reciprocal emotional ties.

There are gifts of lesser value, but almost equally appreciated, like boxes of chocolates, tickets to concerts, and on a more costly scale, getaway vacations.

Perhaps because of my age, though I truly do enjoy receiving gifts of jewellery from my thoughtful husband who doesn't need a 'special occasion' to surprise me with something out of the ordinary, I also am truly touched by his thoughtfulness in surprising me in other ways.

He headed out yesterday afternoon for the purpose of purchasing furnace filters. He planned to clean the furnace to prepare it for another winter of use. He did bring back two new filters. He also picked up a set of wrenches that were on sale, to augment his fix-it workbench tools.

Among a few other items, he selected fresh corn on sale at a nearby supermarket, and thoughtfully shucked them of their extraneous natural wrappings, presenting to me fresh, ready-to-go corn on the cob for that evening's meal.

And, to my delight, he had dropped in at the local bulk food store. Offering me a large bag of fresh walnut halves, another of mixed nuts and yet another of large, crisp Brazil nuts, all of them roasted, unsalted.

A gift to melt my heart.