As many of you know, I aspire to be the Guinness Record holder for the world’s largest heart object collection.   I have been collecting hearts for 15 or 20 years.  My best guess is that I have about 2,000 objects in my collection.  There are so many, I had to pack them away in boxes.

Last year I moved to a house where there’s tons and tons of storage space, and ever since January I’ve been on a mission to get them unpacked, organized, documented and counted. Really, it’s a daunting and sometimes overwhelming task.

The joyful part is rediscovering so many beautiful hearts that have been given to me over the years.  The bowl displayed above, for example, is from my sister and brother-in-law, the fab Judy and not-so-bad Ted.  I packed it away so carefully and so well, would you believe the potpourri still looks fresh and the scent is still strong?  The heart press to the right was given to me by my cousins way back in 1998.  It was a keepsake to remember my beloved aunt, the late and very great Bertha Reppert, herbalist extraordinaire, founder of The Rosemary House.