I absolutely love this book. Page after page of beautiful hearts created with flowers, leaves, spices, crayons, an amazing array of materials. Born out of sadness, it is a celebration of life and creativity. Here is how creator Page Hodel describes the origin of the hearts:
When I met Madalene, we fell instantly dizzyingly in love. We each felt we had found the love we had searched for all our lives.
Every Sunday night after work, I would make a little heart on Madalene’s doorstep out of leaves or flowers or buttons, anything pretty I could find. I wanted her to find a sweet little “ i love you ” waiting for her when she went out the door to go to work on Monday morning. To start her week with a visual reminder of our beautiful love.
Seven months after we fell in love, Madalene was diagnosed with advanced stage ovarian cancer. What followed was her unbelievably courageous determination to fight and ultimately her her brave, graceful surrender to this savage disease. Madalene died four months later. She was 46 years old.
A few days before she died, I promised Madalene that I would continue to make my hearts for her, for the rest of MY life, as a way to show her I would never forget her. It is a way for me to express the river of love I have inside of me and to maintain the continuity of my connection to her, to keep her in my physical world.
You can view small images of some of the hearts at the website, Monday Hearts for Madalene, as well as get information about the book and a card series.
2 comments:
I love these. Very reminiscent of Robert's Snowflakes. So sad, but so beautiful. You may want to check out In the Heart by Ann Turner, but with embroidered art work by Salley Mavor who is from Cape Cod. Her fabric illustration goes right to the heart.
Oh My! what a beautiful book!
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