Valentine's Day Heartnotes

On the eve of Valentine's Day, Mother Teresa's quote is a message for the world: 

Spread love wherever you go. 

Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.

heartnotes are love's messages from one heart to another

cherished

thoughts

spreading

cheer

cherished

love

notes

savored

cherished

heartnotes are love's messages from one heart to another

©CVarsalona, 2025, skinny poem

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The following Poetry Friday writers joined me at my Heartnotes Padlet to send

their messages out into the world. I am grateful for their kindness:

Linda Baie 🩷 Rose Cappelli 🩷Karen Edmisten 🩷 Matt Forrest Esenwine

🩷 Michelle Kogan 🩷 Denise Krebs 🩷 Irene Latham 🩷Margaret Simon

🩷Susan Thomsen 🩷 Linda Kulp Trout  🩷 Tabatha Yeatts

🩷Avalyn, James, Marifay (Margaret Simon's Students) 

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Call  To  Action

beyond Valentine's Day

let your heart

reach out to others-

connections

open doors to human kindness

©CVarsalona, 2025

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Thank you to Linda Baie for hosting the Poetry Friday Roundup with her walk down memory lane  Love Is In the Air message. She offers a memory, music to accompany it, and a creative poem written about her playlist. Click here.

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If you would like to add a heartnote, inspirational quote, photograph, etc. please click here.

Poetry Friday Roundup Is Here!

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Let's gather to honor "love as the poetry of the senses"!

(Honore de Balzac)

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To honor Valentine's Day, a love note to the rest of the year (Jo Lightfoot), I offer you my heartnotes to savor. I also invite you to create heartnotes / love notes to add to my Heartnotes Padlet for public viewing.

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lift up your heart

residing within the soul

wrap it in love

©CVarsalona, 2025

This heartnote is a Love's Message postcard from 1912. There is no message on the back, just an address. I created the haiku based on an inspirational thought: Love in all its complexity, is the ethereal beauty that resides within the human soul.

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The above image poem/ekphrastic poem came from nature's surprise as I walked out the door. Voltaire wrote, Love is a canvas furnished by nature and embroidered by imagination. The photo is a heartnote to winter on a FotoJet canvas. My imagination allowed me to meld the photo and word choices into another love message.

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"Love is the greatest refreshment in life." - Pablo Picasso

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May everyone enjoy the A Gift of Love postcard sent in 1911.

Love is magical

Gift of one heart to another

souls unveiled

©CVarsalona, 2025

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Be My Valentine!

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Valentine's Day has always been a family day to pause and be grateful for love displayed and love given from the heart. For a couple of weeks, I've been under the weather with a lingering cold so this Valentine's Day was a different type of day. Only part of the house featured Valentine's decor with mementos from the past. The meal of choice, heart ravioli was postponed. Valentine heartnotes were on hold. Yet, the family was able to video chat with the grandgirls, watch them open Valentine cards from schoolmates, and eat a delicious-looking chocolate cake with raspberries. Sitting on my table were a beautiful bouquet of flowers and a stunning-looking card. The spirit of love endured.

My gift back to the family is different handmade heartnotes and a new date to celebrate family love. 

Lao Tzu's wisdom withstands time. 

Poetry postcards open the heart to lasting memories. Below are two more postcards that brightened my winter days. 

from Jone Rush MacCullock

from Robyn Hood Black

May the joy of heartnotes bring you winter cheer. If you missed last week when I hosted Poetry Friday, you can find more poetry heartnotes here. This week Margaret Simon hosts Poetry Friday. She offers two poems with contrasting thoughts. Love and grief stand side by side. 

Logo designed by Margaret Simon

Sweet Valentine Wishes

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Walk into my foyer and wrap yourself in sweet valentine wishes.

Postcards from the turn of the 20th Century adorn my flocked Valentine Tree.

            

Turn into the study for some digital inspirational graphics.  

 

Travel to my kitchen. Do you smell the aroma of cookies baking?

I honor the first  two generations of Italian bakers in my family and their valentine cookie cutters in the Note of Love poem below.

My 4-year-old granddaughter now makes the fifth generation of women bakers

who rolls the dough and carefully places cookies on a baking sheet for family delights.

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Five Generation of Bakers Speak Out

baking

our passion

take a bite

©CV, 2022

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It's Tuesday Slice of Life, the day after Valentine's Day this week.

I join Two Writing Teachers, a Meeting Place for Reflective Teachers,

with Valentine greetings for all.

Heart Sense

Valentine's Day, a day filled with love, is coming soon. My family celebrated early since the little grandgirls were with us for five days. There was a good deal of heartfelt love spread around during the grandparenting sitting time. 

The little grandgirls bubbled with happiness from the moment they entered. Love was in the air during conversations. Hugs and high fives were exchanged and imaginative play offered time to observe loving interactions. Even the girl's dollies got their share of love. Hearts were full. 

Using Joy Harjo's poem For Keeps as a mentor text, I pen a poem for the little girls. Soon, it will be tucked into their valentine cards and placed in the little mailbox we decorated for Valentine's Day. 

Morning sun opens a new day.

We listen for the birds.

None are heard. 

The house is warm and cozy,

This is where I want to be,

Close to you, sharing love.

At night's edge, we say goodnight.

Love surrounds us. 

Twinkling lights on the

little Charlie Brown tree glow.

I urge both of you

to stop talking,

listen to the night.

"Hush", I whisper

knowing that dreams will surface

and we will be one

for keeps.

©CV, 2022, draft

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Thank you, Elisabeth Norton for hosting Poetry Friday and leaving a light on so I can sneak in and place my post among the others in the community.

Love Comes Calling

Sometimes, I am oblivious to small details. I can walk into a room and not notice something even when it is in front of me. Is it that I focus on one idea and not take in the big picture or am I really unaware? 

Well, my focusing on a single to-do purpose botched my husband's surprise once again. I woke on Valentine's Day hoping for a day of peace amidst all the stress of moving and joined my husband in the kitchen. Expecting to start breakfast, I moved to the refrigerator but missed a sweet surprise.  My husband kept giving me darting looks.  Wondered why, I kept thinking what was it that was on his mind. All of sudden, I gazed toward the window and realized what I missed.

There it was, a sweet surprise of my favorites, flowers and dark chocolate The balloon was an added treat. My stunned look brought a good laugh followed by a great breakfast. 

Backstory of Chocolates and Roses

In his haste to find the right valentine moment, a grand plans was devised. On Valentine's Eve, my husband hid a bouquet of roses and chocolates in the garage, thinking that would be the safest place for his sweet treasures. Early on Valentine's Day, he woke to gather the surprise before I came downstairs. Having to go outside, he took one step off the porch, and went flying. A loud scream was heard but I thought he was calling to my son to help shovel. After no one came to his rescue, he managed to get up from the icy ground without falling again and thankful for not breaking any bones or landing on his back. Later, he recounted his story and added a heart tattoo as a visible sign of discomfort. 

We were shocked that the bruised blotch on his arm amazingly appeared in the shape of a heart. To remember his loving act for posterity, I created a heart tattoo graphic with love. How about this scenario for a reality show segment on valentine love?

love comes calling

with heart throbs and body aches

commitment

©CV, 2021

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I offer this short narrative for Slice of Life Tuesday at Two Writing Teachers

where writing fills the spaces of life.

March 1st starts the March 2021 Slice of Life Story Challenge.

Consider joining our community of writers for this event, SOLSC 2021.

I will be writing daily.

Valentine Vignettes

Valentine's Day is a special time of year to spread love because:

"Love is our true destiny. 

We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone -

we find it with another."
-Thomas Merton
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As a tribute to the spirit of love, each Valentine's Day, my house is decorated with turn of the 20th century Valentine postcards and heart mementos created by my mother. Breakfast is a ritual so this year I walked into the kitchen with a purpose, to prepare a Valentine's Day family breakfast with love. I immediately headed straight to the refrigerator without looking around the kitchen. Then, I heard my husband say,

 "Are you unobservant?" 

"What? Oh, my! 

Laughter commenced.
I was not paying attention to my surroundings. 
Determined to create breakfast,
I walked right past a lovely sight. 

While my husband does not write poetry, he certainly knows how to pick out just the right card with a beautiful poetic sentiment. A gorgeous bouquet of roses set in a crystal vase accompanied the card. The spirit of love was filling the room and I felt it.  

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A valentine surprise-

endearing love greeting,

romanticizing gift,

designed to make hearts lift.

At a special meeting,

two spirits share sweet sighs.

©CV, 2020

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The above poem is a Scupham Stanza made of a sextet, 6-lines, with a rhyme scheme pattern of a-b-c-c-b-a. Each line contains the same number of syllables. Poet and children's author, David L. Harrison whose new book, After Dark Poems About Nocturnal Animals, is working on a Scupham poem with three stanzas. 

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There was much love being spread on Twitter this Valentine's Day, so I decided to create a Buncee with one of their new templates. This one is for all of my Twitter friends. Let's continue to spread the love together. 

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I do not find the meaning of life by myself alone. I find it with family.

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Now it's time to spread the love of writing at Two Writing Teachers
for Slice of Life Tuesday and the 13th Annual Slice of Life Story Challenge
starting on March 1st.