The Story of Homer the Hummer

I just had to tell this amazing story surrounding one of our favorite books, The Far Flung Adventures of Homer the Hummer.  My Mom gave this book to Grace a while ago.  She had actually received it from her sister, Sue, years ago, before Grace was even a thought in our minds.  My Mom, of course, loves birds, particularly hummingbirds, and so do we.  We've been really enjoying reading this book together lately.  Grace's interest in it has sparked since watching hummingbirds come to our own flowers and feeder.  But the real story behind this book begins in Muskegon, at Aunt Kay and Uncle Joel's house, just a couple weeks ago.

It was after Granny Jean's memorial service, and we were all gathered at Kay and Joel's for dinner.  I happened to notice a picture on the wall of their family room.  It was of a hummingbird, and it looked very familiar to me.  Aunt Kay explained that it was an original print drawn by an artist friend of theirs, Catherine McClung, and that it was actually a page from the book, Homer the Hummer.  Coincidental?  Yes-and it didn't end there.  The garden in the print was actually the artist's rendering of Kay and Joel's garden at their old house.  At the time the book was being put together, she had come over to their place to draw inspiriation from their beautiful back yard.  Amazing, huh? 

So there it is- the real story of Homer the Hummer.  I think we're going to have to work on getting a copy of this special print, especially now that we have "connections."