Speaking of Love, and We Certainly Were Offended

Speaking of love (which technically we weren't, but in another sense that is really all we have been speaking of), it was soon evidently the case that, our having been so overjoyed at the Heartbeam Spot and the Heart-Shaped Stump, the Northwest Woods independently determined to virtually deluge us with hearts.

At first we were quite charmed. We began finding heart-shaped rocks on every trail.











And then before we knew it we were finding heart-shaped leaves,





and heart-shaped holes in trees,





and heart-shaped places where branches were cut,



and heart-shaped pieces of bark.





We even found twigs that had dropped in (improbably) heart-shaped relation,



and alder catkins that dropped (most improbably) into a heart-shape in the mud!



After awhile it seemed we couldn't step outdoors without finding something heart-shaped. We collected so many heart-shaped rocks we began to make hearts of them,



and to line them up in order of size.



It was quite an embarrassment of riches.

But then, when we began to find heart-shaped pieces of foil in the parking lot,



and heart-shaped scraps of paper from someone's water bottle,



and even heart-shaped puddles of water from someone's water bottle,



well, we began to be a bit... suspicious.

We began, in fact, to suspect that the Northwest Woods were having a bit of fun at Our Expense.

Being assaulted with heart-shaped figures in the woods was one thing, but when we were (evidently) followed home and met with a heart-shaped petal when we washed out the flower vase, we decided we had had altogether Too Much.



This was clearly a mockery, and we were offended.

It is one thing to be of a Cheerful and Largely Salubrious Disposition. It is quite another Not to be Appreciated for It, or, worse, to be publicly (insofar as that could be construed in the middle of the forest or the bowels of one's home) mocked for it. Admittedly we may have waxed a trifle too gushingly over our heart-shaped discoveries, and clearly we dance treacherously on the Edge of Treacly at times, but to be mocked, to be disdained... well!

(Here, by the way, speaking of waxing, is a Waxing Monkey Tree Frog from Brazil that quite captures our mood of the moment.)



We were, to put it baldly, in a Major Snit, and seriously considering ordering that Medusa wig.

Finally, it was Karma the Beloved Dog who at last suggested that perhaps we were merely Being Teased, in a loving sort of way.

Well, it does seem that we each have a tendency to see what we are looking for, which, like choice of love objects, urges considerable caution in one's expectations. And gradually we began to be persuaded we had Taken Offense where None Was Intended. We hope you will learn from our experience.