Harvesting Hearts

Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.

14th Dalai Lama

Time to harvest some hearts.

First of all, some monochrome hearts. This is one of my favourites, spotted by our son in a manhole in Donegal. So romantic!

A foot print in the Jardin du Luxembourg.

Another romantic one, a chewing gum heart.


A weeping heart.


Now for a little colour. A giant love lock. I'm curious to know what the barcode would reveal. 'Made in China' perhaps?


A surprise heart inside a butternut squash.


Mosaic hearts hidden within a mosaic work of art up in Belleville, Paris.


A simple pink heart.


A bold pink heart at the end of the Villa des Tulipes, Paris.


Small red hearts.

Bigger red hearts.



A bold multicoloured heart in the Stravinsky Fountain by the Pompidou Centre.


The same heart viewed from the other side...a beautiful rich red.

Heart gathering ventures from previous years can be found here.

Magical Monday - Two Hearts

Every Monday, Magical Monday, I post a photo that is hopefully puzzling, fantastical or unexpected.

More photos from the Magical Mondays series can be found here.

Heart gathering season

The way is not in the sky. 

The way is in the heart. 

(Buddha)

'Tis the heart gathering season again. Here are some monochrome ones I found.

This is an accidental heart.


A scribbled red heart.


A blue heart. In the Bois de Boulogne.


One edible heart.


Two edible hearts.


A sneak peek of a red heart in the sculpture fountain by the Centre Pompidou.


Edible red.


A gift from the tooth fairy.


Gifts from nature.



Happy Valentine's Day.

More hunted hearts can be found here and here.

Heart Hunting

Last year on Valentine's day I went heart gathering. I put together a collection of hearts I had gathered around Paris over the preceding year....Gathering Hearts.

This year I went 'heart hunting'. I had an hour to spare, I had the Cimetière de Montmartre, and my objective was to find some hearts. This was not as easy as I'd hoped, though I did find some rather beautiful wrought iron hearts.

One heart.

Three hearts.


Fine hearts.



Glass heart.


I also looked for words.


Mosaic heart (there is a heart there...just).


A moss heart.

Just as I was leaving the cemetery I saw this. Hmmm...amouroux amoureux. Not quite right, but close.

Happy Valentine's day.

More hearts can be found here (thumbnails) and here (slideshow).

Gathering Hearts

"Aimer, ce n'est pas se regarder l'un l'autre, c'est regarder ensemble dans la même direction."

"Loving is not just looking at each other, it's looking in the same direction." 

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry,1939

Over the past year I have been collecting hearts. My favourite is this one. I found it while giving my daughter a leg up onto a tree in Parc Monceau. I would never have seen it without the leg up.

Easier to find are the ones hidden in the bark of Parisian trees.

Then there are leaf  hearts....green ones.

Red ones...

Edible hearts.

Chalk heart.

Sacré Cœur's heart balancing act.

And finally another of my favourites, the puddle heart. Only noteworthy in the rain.

Oh! Look what my amoureux just brought me.

More hearts can be found here (thumbnails) and here (slide show)