With a lapidary artist in the family it’s no secret rocks are a huge part of our lives. Even before Chitter started polishing and cutting them for a living she adored rocks. Chatter always had a fondness for rocks too.
I never thought about cutting or polishing rocks when I was a girl, but I sure liked to pick them up from the creek. I’d look for small ones that had been smoothed by the tumbling waters. I still have a few of them from those days.
The girls were about eight when Chitter got her first heart shaped rock. I wrote about it and an amazing song Paul wrote here.
Over the years both Chitter and Chatter have kept their eyes out for heart shaped rocks. It seems they always find one when we’re all together.
I remember the last family hike we went on before Chatter and Austin were married. We had such a good time and it seemed extra special that day when the heart shaped rock was found.
Over the weekend Chitter, The Deer Hunter, and I went over to Chatter and Austin’s to help them get some work done in their garden areas. Even though it was cold with the wind howling we still had a good time.
It seemed especially fitting that when we were finishing the last chore of the day the girls found the heart rock in the photo.
I know it’s only a rock. But the heart shape always seems to put a stamp of approval on the love our family has for one another.
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Appalachia Through My Eyes – A series of photographs from my life in Southern Appalachia.
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I have one that I keep in my kitchen window. Everything I am washing dishes I look at it and think how much I love my family.
Ya’ll are such a sweet family! When you are blessed with a good one, there is nothing like it in the world. You and the deer hunter and Katie going to help Corie and Ausin was so special. That is what family does. Help each other out and be encouragers for one another. I have always loved rocks too. There is nothing to compare to finding a heart shaped one. I remember teaching Bible school one year at church and for some special outdoor time, we had the little kids find a special rock and they got to clean them with toothbrushes and shine them up and you when they were finished, I wish you could have seen the joy on their faces!! They were so proud of them. I think it’s the simple things that give us the most memories! Have a blessed day everyone!!
I thought the rock looked like the shape of Virginia. Turn the straight side down flat and that is what it looks like to me.
I too am a “rock hound” I love it! Have quite a collection!!
Enjoyed this post Miss Tipper, you don’t see too many families these days that are as close as y’all’s are, especially with adult kids that still love to hangout with mom & dad. That says a lot about the relationship you & Matt have with the girls. Enjoyed watching your latest video of y’all working together as a family, then again I enjoy ALL your videos lol
Hope y’all have a blessed day!
A sweet story!
There is a lot of truth in the saying, ‘You see what you are looking for.’ It sorta works out as our eyes see what our mind is prepared to recognize. You all have minds prepared to recognize blessings large and small, plain and simple, near at hand and far away, glorious as a mountain sunrise or subtle as dew on a spider web. So you find them and see them and have a rich life. And every time I think of the word ‘riches’ I think of something I read in Reader’s Digest decades ago. On the subject of riches, someone said, “We’re already rich. Maybe someday we’ll have money. ” Thanks for the reminder. I needed it.
Rich?
Filthy rich?
A well rotted pile of chicken manure. Once filthy, now just rich!
Horses give richness, too! And cows, rabbits and even goats!
Filth plus patience = richness!
Stir the inner recesses of my mind and such as this emerges. Poop!
I have a collection of heart rocks in all sizes that my son Will collected before he passed away. Friends and family who knew of Will’s love for these rocks will still bring me heart rocks when they find them as a memory of him. I have them displayed in “Will’s Heart Garden” where I can look out my picture window and see. They are very special to me. I love your family’s appreciation of God’s glory. I read you every morning first thing with a cup of coffee. You have enriched my daily life!
It’s only natural that a family filled with such great love for each other and nature, would find hearts while together in nature. A friend I worked with in my past would say every time she found a heart in nature it was her loved one sending her love from heaven. I always thought that was so sweet. Now every time I see a heart shape in unexpected places, I like to think the same. I appreciate my friend for sharing her thoughts with me and all her many other friends. It’s a very comforting thought that helps when you’re missing a loved one who has gone on from this world. I followed the link to Paul’s song “Little Heart of Stone”. It is a good tune and I always enjoy hearing Pap and Paul sing together.
I love the rock. I’m on the lookout for heart-shaped rocks, too.
I like reading this story this morning. Outside of my relationship with God, nothing to me is more important than spending time with your family. I liked to look for rocks especially in creeks when I was a young boy and have a grandson with a small degree of autism that would carry a little bucket with him when he was younger and spend hours at a time looking for rocks or other things in the yard or fresh plowed ground. All though not heart shape, I have a large almost crystal clear rock that belonged to my grandparents and was used to keep the front door open in their old home. Just read an old blog from April 14, 2020 about Dogwood Winter, it is 28 degrees here this morning with big frost here in southern Greenville county, SC. Some of the wild dogwoods and other trees had began to bloom, I guess all of the blooms have now been killed for this year.
Tipper, even though it was cold last weekend when you as a family worked on the garden at Corie and Austin’s, it was another memory made and stored for the future. I agree one hundred percent with the comment about what model parents you and Matt have been to the girls, fostering their interests and talents in music, gardening, rock hunting, soap making and various other hobbies all of you enjoy.
Most of all, I appreciate and cherish memories you stir of my own mountain heritage, both from Buncombe County and Watauga County. More and more I wish I could visit with my grandparents
just one more time and ask all the questions I didn’t ask when they were alive.
God bless you and yours.
You have a wonderful family, Tipper. I think you as a family are very hard working and appreciative of all the blessings you’ve been given. There are no coincidences in this life and I believe the heart shaped rocks are a visible sign to you all from above you are on a good and righteous path. When I see 111, I feel like it’s a sign from above I’m on the right path in this life. Everybody after a certain age and stage in life must have some signs they believe in…. I don’t know that but figure so… how about old man Winter making a brazen and blatant comeback!!! I heard it’s supposed to be a cold MAY too so it’s wonderful fun!!!! Good times!!!
Austin and Corie’s property was telling you all “Thank you! For taking care of me!”. It’s always a chore to get your yard established, taming the wild, but when it starts coming together – what a satisfaction and pleasure it is to see! Heart rocks are like four leaf clovers, God gives us just enough to make us shout with joy when we discover one, but He doesn’t give us so many that we become indifferent to them. I am always amazed at Paul’s talented song writing – so full of deep feelings when he was such a young man. His heart was just beginning life’s journey, and yet he could write with such deep understanding of humanity and get a clear meaning across. Your Dad and Paul resemble each other so much – not just in looks, but talents, and wisdom, too.
Donna. : )
Ruth Bybee Hill states in her book, HANTA YO that, ” the enduring remembering power of stone is strong medicine”. Rocks are precious. How fortunate to have a lapidary artist in your family of glorious artists!
I’ve heard that when you find a heart shape in unexpected places, it’s a smile from God. I have 3 heart shapes in the wood grain of my kitchen floor. A heart shaped bubble is in the cement in front of our church. I got a heart shaped potato chip and my favorite is a black heart shape on the bottom of my cat’s hind foot!
Love your posts!!
Have a great day!
I love this post. I love the way y’all cultivate not just the garden, but your family time as well. My parents are both in Heaven (just my sister and I are left) and I miss that sweet family time so much. Thanks for sharing this. ❤️
Tipper,
Being a relatively late comer to your channel, I had no idea that you were a folk artist…and a good one! I had wondered about a painting I had noticed in the background in one of your videos filmed in your kitchen/dining area. I wondered who had made it. When I followed the link in this writing and saw the greeting cards you had sold on Etsy I can now guess it was probably you! Your whole bloodline flows with talent!Your whole family is truly blessed with “heart”. Thank you for sharing your heart.
Rita-thank you! I don’t get to do any painting these days but would love to get back to it someday 🙂
Best not wait too long. I loved to do pen & ink drawings when in 30s. Now I am on north side of 75 and a few weeks ago, I sat down one day and realized that I have basically lost the steady hand I once had. Not sure if ‘practice’ will help but will continue to keep trying to recapture what was once a joy.
Tipper you and Matt have done well by those girl, they are sweet honest respectful girls and y’all should be proud, and I’m sure you are. I love their channel too. They are both so talented.
Your story is a good example of it’s more about who you spend the time with, helping each other and building memories, than the circumstances of the place or the weather. Cold, windy, and finding a little rock. It doesn’t get any better.
Thanks. Chitter is sooo talented. God Bless
What a sweet story . Just what I needed this cold morning!