The SweetheART City

I've written at least twice before about my town and the fact that it is famous worldwide for Valentine remailing. We have been called the Sweetheart City and the Valentine Capital of the World. Interestingly, the name, Loveland, came about not for romantic reasons at all, but was named after the railroad tycoon who was responsible for the tracks going through the new town, aiding in its growth into the city it became. It was still a rather small town when I moved here in 1971(around 10,000), and is probably small in comparison to many of your homes. We rather wish it had stayed a bit smaller than it has become. But that's beside the point.

So - the Sweetheart City nickname came because of the Valentine remailing program, which really put us "on the map." Visitors have always delighted seeing the traditional heart shaped signs posted throughout the city thanks to one of the service clubs.

Since I'm not an artist in any sense of the word, I'm not sure exactly when the other aspects of the "art" reputation began taking place (I guess I could research it), but we began to have more and more sculptures appearing around town. We have several artists right here in town who have international reputations. We began having entire parks full of sculptures, and eventually a week-end in August dedicated to that form of art - with people coming from all over the world to bring their sculptures to sell. I still intend to do a post on my favorites of those pieces.

Today visitors to Loveland can find hearts throughout the city regardless of the time of year thanks to our friends at Engaging Loveland. In 2007 Engaging Loveland began a project called Loveland: A City with HeART that creates monumental hearts made of fiberglass and stand five feet tall and four and a half feet wide. Each heart is individually designed and painted by local Loveland artists with businesses and individuals sponsoring a heart of their selection. Many people make a game of it and hunt down all of the hearts, with the aid of a map they downloaded or picked up from the Chamber of Commerce. I enjoy discovering one I haven't seen before. Here are a few of them. They represent some aspect of our town important to the artist.

This one resides in front of one of the realtor's offices. I love the details.

The next two are the two sides of the one in the yard of the nursing home close to my house. It is very close to the lake.

This one is at the entrance to the assisted living/senior apartment/nursing home complex where DC's mom lives.

This one is by the side of the highway heading north on the property of a new large church. It represents the history of our area as one huge cherry orchard. I regret that most of the cherry trees have been replaced by houses or businesses.

I discovered this one when DC was in the hospital last week - it is the logo of Banner Health.

This one seems to represent the Valentine Remailing Program, as it is the cache that was on one of the more recent stamps that are put on the envelope of the Valentines that arrive here by the tens of thousands for remailing all over the world.




This one is placed outside the building that used to be the Lego factory and offices - a once booming business, sadly no longer in existence here. It was a huge boon to our town, along with Hewlett-Packard.

The rest of these I haven't actually located myself, but found them on line. I hope to hunt them down one of these upcoming nice summer days and take the kiddoes on a treasure hunt. The one below represents so many historical aspects of Loveland - I want to look at it closely.

Recently a new "art" popped up around town. It has caused a great deal of controversy. Local artists could apply to paint one of these electrical boxes. I thought it would be fun to show them to you - some consider them very tacky, others enjoy them. I'm kind of on the fence - some are very well done and some do qualify for the "less than lovely" category.

I got a charge out of this one, front and back - definitely an "Old West" theme.

No clue on this one!

Sorry for the lack of focus - I found this one by the lake.

I watched the artist do this one for several days as I picked up the kids for various things. She did all 4 sides representing the 4 seasons.

Last but not least - ?? But cute.

I'd love it if you would come and visit me - we'll take a tour around town looking for these pieces of "art" - art is in the eye of the beholder, as I am always told when I don't like something. But I rather enjoyed finding these things - kind of makes our town different from the rest. We'll also go see the lovely and not-so-lovely (in my eyes) sculptures.

Have a great week-end!

Monday Musings

Thank you so much for the wonderful birthday greetings. It was a good celebration. Feisty was so cute. She kept asking me, "When's your birthday, Grandma?" I kept telling her it was going on as we spoke, but I finally realized she was talking about my party. It's just not a birthday without a party - or a cake. She asked me, with her big brown eyes looking so concerned, "Is Mommy getting your cake, or are you getting it yourself?"

It turned out that Kristen brought lunch over for us, and then decided to fix us dinner as well. Then DC took me out to On the B*rder Friday evening. They have a healthy section on the menu - but it's those chips and salsa before the meal that are diet killers! We didn't have cake - fine by me.

DC wanted to buy me something after dinner. I am truly a terrible shopper. We didn't find anything that worked for me - or for him! I am a firm believer that they make mirrors in dressing rooms especially to make one look the worst possible. I can't understand why, but it seems that it would do for anyone what it does for me - makes me run screaming from the store! Give me a catalog any day.

I received the most lovely card from Denise at Sentiments by Denise. She does the best work! There is so much detail that doesn't show up well on this photo. She should go into business!

Today we had a lovely gourmet dinner at Wendy's with a bunch of friends from church. Wendy was even there taking orders! Kristen has so much homework (you know the professor who thinks his in the only course that counts?!) so after lunch, Grandpa took the big girls to a new park and I took the babes for the afternoon. We took a little ride and a nice walk.

I drive by this property frequently, just a few blocks north of our neighborhood, but only recently discovered the horses that live there. I knew it was a feeling of country in the midst of the growth of our town - somebody had refused to sell their last bit of property for the almighty dollar and more houses.

This guy (or gal?) came over to greet me.

It's not a large area, but it's their own.

Directly across the street to the north is this fancy housing area.

The corner to the northwest - open area ripe for more houses.

To the southwest - lots of houses and room for more!

We headed back south and parked the car by the lake. Remember the dry lake bed a few weeks ago?

I'm not sure where the water came from, but the lake is back again in all its beauty.

People were having so much fun on this late September afternoon - perfect weather - who knows how soon the snow will fly?? They were fishing --

Water-skiing and relaxing on a pontoon boat --

Jet-skiing --

Feeding the geese -- who are really fun to watch and feed, but who then wreak havoc on our sidewalks! They have begun flying overhead and honking - definitely a sign of fall.

The American Coots were bobbing around on the water --

There is a nice large family of pelicans who call this lake home, but today this lone pelican was resting on the lake - joined by a little Coot. Earlier in the day we saw one in very graceful, beautiful flight, make a perfect five-point landing - unfortunately we were in the car, so couldn't get a shot.

I'm pretty proud of this shot~~

Then I happened upon this lovely sculpture --

And this one - I love this one. I felt like I was interrupting story time and had to be quiet.

I especially love the title and memorial plaque on this one --

This is in front of the fire station by the lake -- it is entitled "Under Control"

I wish I knew the story behind the bouquet of roses someone left --

Speaking of fire stations - did any of you happen to see the movie "Fireproof" this week-end? Oh, my goodness - I don't go to movies and I rarely rent them, but this is one you don't want to miss. I only saw it advertised within the last week and had to drive 30 miles to find it, but it was worth every mile and every penny. The message of the gospel comes through loud and clear, and beautifully.