Happy Hearts Day 2017

Today is Valentine's Day and we hope that wherever and however you spend the day, that's it's a lovely one (pun intended. 

As I was unsure as to whether or not it was strictly a U.S. celebrated day, I checked online and learned that Valentine's Day is celebrated in Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France, and Australia. And that it was celebrated in Sweden under the name of "Alla hjärtans dag" but don't know the English translation. Additionally China, Japan Korea Formosa, Turkey and the Philippines observe a similar day to express love. 

"Beatrice" and "Grenville" are represented in the figures in this post and are displayed in our apt. These are also the aliases we used when we first created this blog. Now, we use them interchangeably with our actual names, Dorothy and Patrick.

Beatrice and Grenville are part of Boyds Bears. While I searched online  to learn why these names (and others) are selected, there was no information available. Maybe they are chosen from family or friends surnames or perhaps, more likely, selected at random.

Years ago we bought the Beatrice and Grenville "True Love" shown above. It was our first joint purchase and we had displayed it on our wedding table. Afterward, we came across the other two: "Best Friends Weather Any Storm" and "Best Friends." 

All three pieces were purchased in our native NJ and have "lived" with us in NJ, VA and now NH. They just seem to fit how we regard our love and relationship. each piece has a quote on the bottom.

True Love:  “The great secret of successful marriage is to treat all disasters as incidents and none of the incidents as disasters.” – Harold Nicholson

Best Friends: "There is only one happiness in live, to love and be loved." George Sand

Best Friends Weather Any Storm: "Love comforteth like sunshine after rain." Shakespeare

In case you didn't know (and why would you?) Boyds Bears is named after the Maryland town where the business was started. Company founders Gary M. Lowenthal and his wife, Justina Unger, left merchandising positions in NYC to relocate to Boyds, Maryland in 1979. They opened an antique store out of their partially restored Victorian home, but found the business to be costly and unprofitable and switched to resin figurines and later stuffed toy bears. The first bear was named "Matthew" after their newborn son, later a "Bailey" bear was named for their daughter. The stuffed toy bears, rabbits, moose and others as well as resin figurines (Boyds Bearstones, Folkstones, Wee Folkstones, Nature's Woodland Fairies, Dollstones) were widely popular for years and are still collected by many. However, the collectibles market is not the way to make one's fortune (think Beanie Babies).  Enesco acquired the company in 2008 and in 2014 discontinued the Boyds Bears product line stating in an email to retailers that . . . "a decision has been made to place Boyds into hibernation."

We will continue to enjoy our small B & G collection which also includes this card.

Perfect for Today & Always