Looking for a Gift Suggestion? Part One.

Charles Harper (Charley) created amazing silk screens for Ford Motor in the late 1950's. Then, in clever prose, he wrote a paragraph about each bird such as:

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Hummers can fly backward, vertically and pause in midair. This is handy when you do your housebuilding in a tree. Mr. Ruby-throat checks out after the honeymoon and something tells Mrs. to start building the tiny attached-saddled nest, glued by salivary secretion to a down-sloping branch. It's made of plant down, lichens and silk borrowed from a neighborhood spider, whom she later has over for dinner -- hers.

Why did it take me until the summer of 2008 to discover this artist and his unique artwork?

It all started with this library book: I was hooked!

Zip forward to a recent issue of Country Living where a memory game featuring cards of animals (mostly birds, but a turtle, fish, and others are included) by Harper was highlighted as a gift idea. Right then and there I knew this game was meant to be had by the reader and I ripped the page out of the magazine, handed it to John and said, "This is what I want you to get me for Mother's Day!" And, bless his heart - that's just what he and Kari got for me - and I love the game! Perfect for adults and kids alike...and as we age, we should be playing games to increase our memories, right? Even the box the game comes in is a treat!

Here's a sneak peak of some of the playing card squares.

The "kids" seemed to enjoy playing the game with us...and I know we will play this when friends come over, too. So fun! Artistic cards and boosting memory capacity? A win-win opportunity!

(And, I didn't even mind being the loser each time we played.)

Thanks, Kari and John!