I "Heart" You

I recently saw an art piece on display at a local art gallery. It was a framed collection of

heart shaped rocks of various colors, sizes and textures. I voted for it for a "people's choice" award. I'm not sure if it won the award or not, but it reminded me of the various heart shaped items in nature that I have taken notice of.

This rock, I found on the beach in Oregon. I love collecting rocks at the beach. I always seem to lug a few pockets full home with me. I used to collect shells, but rocks just seem to have more meaning to me. What meaning? Who knows! I just bring them home and add them to the shelf. The shelf in the family room that houses all the little things of nature. The dead bug carcasses, the sticks, the piece of shedded snake skin, the hornets nest, the big beetle, the bee, the leaves. Weird? Maybe. But, someday, I'll use them in some sort of shadow box collage and it won't seem so creepy.

Then, there is the big oak tree in our sloped, front yard. When we moved in, it was hidden and dwarfed by the cedars and the pines. You could only see the tippy top of the oak. So we made the decision one day to hire the tree surgeon to cut down the surrounding trees so we would just have this one tree as a focal point. Little did we know, it would reveal such a beautiful tree.

After all the trees were cut down, my mother's husband asked, "Why would you cut down all those trees and leave just one old scrub oak?" Well, the answer to that is - we love our oak! Especially in the fall when the colors are this brilliant and it looks like a big yellow heart!

I think the oak is happier too!