Greeting Cards
Greeting Card - Newton Chapel African Elephant
$ 6.25 USD
A standard 4.5” x 6.25” greeting card with a blank interior.
From the back of the card: Newton Chapel African Elephant was born with a curiosity about music. Understandably really, as he watched the herd respond to seemingly inaudible sound vibrations from many miles away. Or felt the thunderous drum-like beats reverberate to his core when running with the clan. As a toddler, he would rummage through his parents' music collection with pencil in hand, unwinding every cassette tape they had in the hopes of finding the music it held. Its abstruse and ethereal nature only furthered his fascination.
To celebrate his second birthday, the herd saved its pennies for something very special. It arrived in a huge shipping crate, weeks early, which gave him plenty of time to investigate. Running his incredibly sensitive sniffer along every crack and seam, Newtie hoped the treasure would reveal itself. It did not. Accompanying this was a second box, especially for him from his parents, very beautifully wrapped, and clearly a partner to the peregrine present.
When his big day arrived, it took Newtie all of ten seconds to break into the box. Silence. He looked at the odd thing, and then at his family and friends, and back at the odd thing. Helping him open the smaller parcel, a collection of classic records, they placed one onto the turntable of the odd thing and flipped a switch. Newton jumped back in surprise. Music resounded from the odd thing’s nose. Instinctively, and to everyone’s amusement, he trumpeted back a reply. They had gifted him a gramophone and, after explaining just what it was and how it worked, Newtie was in love.
While he no longer tries to find where the music hides, he’s enthralled with this magical device. It continues to gift him with respite, strength, inspiration, revelry, reverie, comfort, connection and, paradoxically, moments where he can both lose and find himself.
Greeting Card - Whitby Valentine European Hedgehog
$ 6.25 USD
A standard 4.5” x 6.25” greeting card with a blank interior.
From the back of the card: As Whitby Valentine Hedgehog ambles along the overgrown trail, he starts thinking about how many times he’s made this trip into town and back: every day, year after year, since he could walk. He doesn’t scurry along as he did when he was just a hoglet; he doesn’t even move along briskly. No, these days, it is definitely a meander, and he is just fine with that.
As he heads into his twilight years, Whitby may have less might and dexterity but at least the universe gifts him with a growing reserve of wisdom and patience to offset. His eyesight is fading, too - a more difficult adjustment - but Whitby figures it is simply an opportunity to see with the heart rather than the eyes alone. True, he now listens better and speaks more thoughtfully, and even though he had a beautiful spirit before, he now connects with others more deeply and wholly. As Whitby rounds the final curve of the brae, gingerly treading up four low, wide stairs before reaching his house, he steps squarely on a fire ant hill. Totally unintentional, of course; his eyes being dim, he couldn’t see. But those ants, protecting their formicary, alert Whitby of his misstep by nipping at his legs straight up to the knees. Unbeknownst to him, James Willoughby Red Squirrel, a stained-glass artist by trade, had been perched in a nearby tree and saw the entire debacle. As Whitby bumbled home to soak the sting away in an herbal bath, James returned to his studio, inspired to help. Being ever resourceful, he found some old pop bottles and, from their bases, was able to chisel two thick magnifying lenses just the right size. He fitted them into makeshift wire frames, and they fit perfectly.
Whitby Valentine loves his new spectacles and wears them proudly; he is eternally grateful. So are the fire ants. But, from time to time, he’ll leave them on his console table as he heads out just to remember what it means to really see.
