With the advent of spring, we have greeting cards that express the joy and hope and peace of the season.
One collection, Garden, has four close-up color photos (by Kathy Eder and Sally Savage) that enable us to enter the world of the flower.
There are two cards each of a columbine, a peace rose, tulips, and a daisy. They are blank inside, and on the back is a quote, such as Ralph Waldo Emerson's "Earth laughs in flowers."
Blossoms is a four-panel impressionistic watercolor that folds out to show off an exuberant garden. Along the bottom are the words, "If we make our goal to live a life of compassion and love, then the world will indeed become a garden where all kinds of flowers can blossom and grow."
Peaceful Afternoon, from a painting by John Beerman, brings our gaze to an empty rowboat on a tree-lined, still lake. The inscription inside says, "Within our days may we find our places of simplicity and peace, calm and beauty."
Monarch Butterfly is a large card (8.5 by 5.5 inches), and a colorful one, showing the butterfly (in a photo by Doug Hofstetter) feeding on a fluffy yellow flower. Inside is a description of the monarch 's amazing journey of 5000 miles, and likening it to the human species journey, toward peace and justice and hope.
We all experience loss. One card, Amaryllis, has been particularly poignant in helping people through that. The front of the card is from a watercolor of an amaryllis blossom by Jean Treat Tozer, and inside is a quote from Helen Keller, the great humanitarian pacifist: "What we once enjoyed and deeply loved we can never lose, for all that we love deeply becomes a part of us."
Lord of the Dance is a simple and colorful painting by Mary Ann Lederer of people in a farm community dancing around rows of what they're growing. Inside is a stanza from the popular folk song "Lord of the Dance."
Sunflower shows four stages of the life of the sunflower blossom, from formation to final explosion. These are captured in photos by Doug Hofstetter. The cards are blank inside.
Each packet costs $10, including shipping. There are ten cards and envelopes in each packet, except for Blossoms and Garden which have eight cards and envelopes.
We also have a couple of postcards appropriate to the season. Prayer of the Heart intertwines earth symbols and figures with the words "I pray these things never end: the sand and the sea, the rush of the water, the crash of the heavens, the prayer of the heart." Artwork is by Jody Richards, words by Hannah Seneth. Love Without Borders is a photograph of the blue earth against a black sky and in the right hand corner are the words from Pablo Casals: "The love of one's country is a splendid thing, but why should love stop at the border?" There are ten postcards to a pack for $6, including shipping.
You can order these cards and more online at www.forusa.org/store, or by sending check or credit card information to FOR Bookstore, P.O. Box 271, Nyack, NY 10960, or by calling (845) 358-4601. |
