February 9, 2018 – Heart motifs

         You can’t stop me from loving hearts.  Every single greeting card I have given my husband over the 40+ years has his name embellished in the middle of a hand-sketched heart. 

I only make heart shaped meat loaf – no other kind. [Blog: September 29, 2016.]

One of my Christmas traditions is heart shaped waffles for Christmas morning. [Blog: December 25, 2016.]

I stenciled my heart motif kitchen at Trojan Lane with French blue hearts once around the room at chair rail height in order to highlight the heart ring lace I had found for the kitchen window and the back door window.  I’ve collected heart shaped everything from measuring cups to mixing bowls, and heart shaped decanters.  My Mom and I were always on a quest for anything that I could adorn my house which included a heart shape anything.

I even begged my Daddy to make me some heart shaped curtain tiebacks, which he did.  Later he followed them up with a pair of handmade wooden country hearts to hold a pair of candlesticks.  Then when he made a pair of nesting wooden footstools for me as a Christmas gift,  he cut out a heart design in the legs. [You do know I will never toss those footstools out for as long as I live – now don’t you?]

Those heart earrings, that heart shaped pin, that heart shaped bauble necklace, the heart crystal bowls, the heart embellished vases, and the last heart motif item my Mom gave me, the heart embroidered table runner.  Oh my - I am surrounded by hearts and I simply love it.

The heart motif is everywhere in my house, I never tire of it.  And, since February is the best month to put the hearts on display for Valentine’s Day, I am digging everything out if it is put away yet many items stay out year round.  The heart shape is classic and fits into any décor.

Maybe I will make some heart shaped cookies for no reason at all or I will cut out sandwiches with my heart shaped cookie cutters.  Which reminds me of a little lunch picnic I did years ago on Valentine’s Day for a dear friend.

One of my friends was working in customer service at the time and I was in the “required sabbatical mode – I promise to write a blog about that situation sometime”. I was reduced to nothing but a “corporate wife” keeping the home fires burning, the white shirts starched and pressed, and being the delightful hostess with the most-ess behind the executive husband.  However, that got rather boring after a while since I had always held a full time job until then.

I had to find excuses to keep myself busy as I had already read every single gardening book that every library in the county housed.  One of my friends lamented that Valentine’s day was stuck in the middle of the week. The branch office she was assigned to that Valentine’s week was in such a poor location the “let’s do lunch” at a nearby restaurant or diner was simply out of the question.

Noting her disappointment, I jumped into action and said, “I’ll bring us a Valentine’s picnic,” which delighted her and delighted me as well.  I remember I had been to that out-of-the-way branch location with another friend, we’ll call her friend B.  Since I was rather new to the area, I wasn’t exactly sure I could find my way back there again.  Unknown to friend A, friend B, drove me out one evening a few days before the event to make certain I wouldn’t get lost and friend B lamented that she was sort of jealous about the whole thing.  [I filed that sentiment away for later.]

I created a Valentine’s picnic lunch, which included ham sandwiches cut out in heart shapes.  I took the package of ham, placed the large heart cookie cutter on the center of the entire package of Danish ham and cut through all the layers. [I used up the rest of the ham diced up in omelets.]  I did the same for the bread – no crust – just matching heart shaped bread.  I spread some lovely French mustard on the bread and assembled the heart-shaped sandwiches. Boy, they were a big hit when I took them out of the makeshift picnic basket.  I can’t remember what else I made for the picnic, but it was a great day and made for a great memory and also big-time jealously by friend B.

A few years later, I did a “replay” of the heart-shaped ham sandwiches for friend B and a friend of hers who became a new friend for me. [She had just become a realtor and came out of the gate selling houses like gangbusters and made the million-dollar club within 6 months.]  I remember that time I added a thin layer of alfalfa sprouts to the heart ham sandwiches, and for dessert I cut heart shaped brownies. They were more than delighted about their picnic lunch. 

Yes, heart motifs are wonderful in all forms, even edible forms.

I think I will spring the heart-shaped sandwiches on my unsuspecting husband this year – what better way to celebrate a Wednesday, Valentine’s Day?