Hearts

Updated September 6, 2009

I finally got my I love Alaska Hearts. While we were in Juneau we went on a Zip-Line. It was so much fun! After the zip we had lots of time waiting for the boat to come back and pick us up. So we played fetch with one of the dogs that were there. After a while we noticed that the tide had gone out quit a ways and that the boat was going to have to come to a different place to pick us up so we went down to the beach to wait for the boat and to explore. The beach, I use beach liberally, was all rock but we found some wonderful examples of Heart Shaped rocks. Then also someone had collected tons of glass and metal that was left from when that place had been a mining camp. As we were looking through the stuff I found this perfect little chip out of a milk glass jar of Mentholatum. I love using Mentholatum in the winter to sooth my nose when it gets sore or my lips or just to help me breath better. Looks like someone else must have felt the same way years ago.

Updated September 4, 2009

This time I took my camera on my walk and didn't have to go back home to get it. I did meet my friend Shelly on my walk and she was kind enough to slow down her pace a bit to walk with me. I think I walk about 3 to 4 miles an hour but she goes at an unbelievable 5 miles an hour. Here are some of my fun pictures.

Just a thought, I have found 3 different heart shapes in cut off limbs of olive trees. It seems that the olive tree is the best at creating this phenomenon. Today it struck me, the Savior suffered for us in the Garden of Gethsemane. The garden was one of Olive trees. The greatest love and offering ever made for us was given in a Olive garden. So each time I see an Olive tree with the symbol of a heart I think I will always think of that great sacrifice.

Updated September 3, 2009

I have started this exercise program with my sisters. We are trying to "waist away." So far I have done pretty well. I get up each morning and walk about one and a half mile. It isn't much but I am hoping to build up to more. I have also been much better about what I eat, not eating after dinner and so forth. Yesterday on my walk I noticed all kinds of birds and some of their habits. Today I found five different heart shaped things. I had walked only a short distance when I saw this the first one in the sidewalk and at that time I thought, "when I am done I'll go home and get my camera and come back and take a picture." So I kept walking. I got about another half mile and I saw another heart but it was in the cut off limb of an olive tree, I thought, "OK I'll get on my bike and come back for this one and the first one." I kept walking and another mile more I found yet another heart in a oil stain on the side walk. By this time it was too far to go back and get all the pictures so I decided to just get the closest pictures today and then go back and get the others tomorrow. So I went home, got my camera and asked Samuel if he wanted to go for a short walk with me to which he said yes. I told him what I was looking for and so he had his eyes on the sidewalk. He found a spot and said, "is this it?" Oh my goodness, no but great eye! He found a totally different heart then I had. So we took that picture and started back home. On the walk back home I have my eyes peeled out for something else that is interesting and fun and then I found this cute little frog. He isn't a heart but he was hard to spot down there in the grass. I dropped Samuel off at home and kept on walking but decided to take my camera so I could get all the images that I see when I see them and sure enough I found one more. The first time I saw a heart shaped prickly pear cactus I thought it would be the last one I would ever see and then here it is one more. I had a great walk and it was fun finding so much love. I love my walks and look forward to what I will find tomorrow.

Updated August 14, 2009

My sister Peggy found this tiny little heart shaped feta cheese. She said she was eating lunch at the hospital when she found it. Peggy said she was so excited when she found it that she whipped out here cell phone and started snapping away. People must have thought she was crazy! How funny, I can just imagine a crazy lady taking pictures of her empty salad bowl with the enthusiasm of finding gold! I think it is so sweet that she sent it to me and that she was thinking of me and remembers how I find hearts everywhere and how happy they make me. It made her especially happy to find one herself also. And what a perfect heart.

Peggy sent this picture heart today the 14th and then tonight I got another wonderful message from a long lost friend. She was the friend that taught me to love feta cheese. She is my one Greek friend that every time I meet someone Greek I tell them that I have a Greek friend like maybe they will know her or that I am special for having a friend not named Jones or Smith or something. Anyway my friend Evelyn wrote me today to tell me that she has gotten married. I am so happy for her. I know that she has to have married a really great guy because she really deserves to. She is one of the funnest people I know and I am so glad that she taught me to love foods like, feta, hummus, gyros, tabbouleh and more. I miss cooking with her, doing yard work, going to the gym and just having fun. My heart feels a little "Fuller" today.

Updated August 6, 2009

I know there is a potability that this looks gross, I hope not. This is the skin of a tomato that I peeled for dinner. I love tomatoes, I like making dinner, I love my new cutco knife but mostly this picture portrays the love that I have for my father. Samuel and I don't care about tomato skins, we can eat them or not. But, my father really does not care for them. He never says a thing if I don't peel the tomatoes in our salads or on a sandwich but I know that he prefers no skins. My mother always peeled the tomatoes that she served and as I was fixing dinner preparing a tomato and broccoli salad I thought, "I should peel the tomatoes. Daddy would appreciate that." So I did. As I was cleaning up after dinner, the peels were still in the sink, and so I was pushing down the disposal and cleaning the sink. There it was this pretty perfect Dolly Parton shaped heart. I really do love my father and I would do anything for him, even something as little as peeling a tomato has it's rewards.

Hearts: updated on July 27, 2009

Can you see it? It is a heart shaped gopher hole. Do you remember the song "Muskrat love?" The muskrat's names were Suzie and Sam so when ever I see a heart shaped gopher hole I think of that song and smile.

Samuel opened a brand new bottle of Yosido sauce. this was the result of him trying to get the crazy paper lid off. It really tore just like this with no extra help form him, or me. Really.

I know some hearts are really hard to see and sometimes they are a stretch but for me this one was supper obvious. Clarissa and Logan found it when we were making Indian fried bread at Seiter's cabin. I love the Navajo tacos that we make and I love going to Seiter's cabin!

I Love this random heart. It was just in the middle of a rolls of garbage bags. I love to clean and throw away garbage so this little heart really fits my needs.

I have been finding hearts in some fun places for a long time. Actually I think it started when Samuel and I took our first cruise. We were shopping and I saw a huge heart shaped diamond. Of course we could not afford it and so it remains a dream. But, soon after that, Samuel Sr. started bringing me heart shaped rocks when ever he would see one. This is one he found at Camp LoMia. (Samuel Jr is holding it, taken in 2005) Samuel has developed quite an eye for rocks. I started noticing hearts in nature, and so I started taking pictures of them. I would like to share my hearts with all of you a few at a time, so here are some to love. This is one of my favorites because I was really sad one day thinking about my Mother who had recently passed away. It was just about 6:00pm in early spring and the sky was full of clouds. I love cloudy days and so I went outside to enjoy the weather when I looked directly above and saw this little dark heart shaped cloud. It just made me think that I was being thought of too and that I was loved.
This is another one that I just love, Samuel and I were on vacation with his parents and Clarissa. We had a lot of fun while on this trip but the heart shaped cactus just made me think, "Sometimes love hurts." I have actually written a book for my family all about what I have learned from hearts and that is one of my quotes.

These are two of the inside rings of an onion, I love onions but sometimes they make me cry, I don't care I keep associating with them often anyway.

I have so many more pictures and I am excited to share with with all who want to follow my blog. I welcome your comments. Love, Susan