Hearts of Stone

I've always liked hearts and have a lot of them in various forms. But today I was wondering how this particular shape came to represent love. A little research provided the following information.

When we experience strong emotions, our heart rate changes noticeably, sometimes even producing pounding in the chest that we can feel . 
The heart was once thought to be the center of thought processes, not the brain . Therefore ALL emotions were associated with the heart.
Why other emotions such as fear or anxiety are no longer associated with the heart is anyone's guess. 

There are various theories as to the origin of the graphic we associate with hearts, but I think the stylized version is just what people thought the heart looked like. 
Or perhaps it is because it resembles the shape of a leaf used either as an aphrodisiac or as birth control (!) Another theory goes that it could be inspired by a woman's breasts or buttocks, which makes some sense looking at my bowl of rocks.
 Depictions of that heart shape  go back as far as the ancient Greeks and can be found as a symbol of love in many cultures.

This is my offering of a little bowl of stone hearts that I have collected over the years. I have a friend who has a bowl of 'found' hearts...rocks that naturally have a heart shape. I have one or two of those too...somewhere.

After our Pilates class, I made a date to meet Maggie, our teacher at Peet's on the other side of town, where she showed us her pictures from her trip to the Galapagos Islands. I realized that my mental image of those islands was all wrong and that it is actually extremely varied both geologically and botanically. Many of the animals that can be seen there are unique because the islands are so remote. It was a pleasant interlude and a bit of a blast from our Berkeley past when we could walk to 'our' Peet's and went there every day. We were talking to the barista who said she used to live in Berkeley and went there often.

It was also a great people watching place as there were all kinds of characters (and one small dog) there.

I'm beginning to get a handle on the star coat. the front and back are sewed together and the collar is on. The end is in sight....