Contains Lead. And soap.

Saturday, chasing blue sky, we ended up in Cloverdale. We stopped in, as we often do, at Red Barn Antiques. At the door, a hand-made sign gave us unwelcome news; after 40-some years, they are going out of business.

Looking backwards at the Red Barn

I've known the Red Barn for over 20 years, and always enjoyed visiting. Laurie looks for Japanese porcelain in the display cabinets up front, but I also like to wander around the back rooms, intrigued by the hodge-podge of battered oddities, decorations, and necessities that show up there.

There's colour:

Detail of stained-glass window.

Six of the seven dwarfs

1950's nostalgia

Pink pay phone. Yes, there is a slot for your dime. And it gives change.

Everyday household basics:

Canning jars and milk bottles

Rinso Soap and Salada tea bags.

New and improved paint. Dries overnight.

Traveller's needs:

Rooms for rent. With baths.

Gas pump. "To be used as motor fuel only."

Animals, wild and tame:

Real, live, chirping budgies in a carved wood cage.

Buffalo.

Can you identify this?

He's a dino-moose!

We went on to the Antique Mall, where I found this:

A vintage painting, with lamps reflected in the glass.

We didn't buy anything this trip. Near the closing date, the prices will drop; we'll be back.
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And a flood of Cheer and Loveliness spread ...

They promised us rain. We got snow. And more snow. It's snowing now, has been all night.

The snowman doesn't seem to mind.

I entertained myself inside, in the warmth, with a candle in an orangey glass and the camera.

This was all the lighting I needed.

I wandered around my darkened room with the candle, taking photos of small collectibles:

First, a self-portrait by candlelight.

An old, utilitarian tin with a pincushion lid.

Antique Japanese fabric, sandwiched between cardboard and glass, with a sewn-on cloth edging.

Reflection of the candle in a small table mirror that lost most of its silvering decades ago.

A rose Laurie cut for me, long ago.

"The toilet of good shoes." That's what it says. Meltonian White Cream tin.

"Just You and I" by Laurence Hawthorn. A Buzza Motto, 1927

This picture is one I inherited from my grandmother. I think she framed it herself; the backing is cut from advertising copy, an ad for the new-fangled electric lights.

I reproduce here the part my grandmother used:

"... into the Forest Haunts of Robin Hood. Now it leads us to this June Night in Provence, the land of the Troubadours. The Italian Wars were things of the past and men's minds so long burdened with horror now sought refuge in the pursuit of beauty. All the Arts gained a fresh impetus and artificial Light, heretofore strictly utilitarian, became recognized as a decorative factor, the stuff of which Beauty and Enchantment could be made.

What those far-away disciples of beauty dreamed has today become an established (real)ity. Gone are the messy, smoking lamps of that bygone age and in their place Science has produced the MAZDA lamp. More light than even our grandfathers thought possible is now concentrated in less space than their cumbersome, ineffectual lamps required and can be released and used for far less cost. The enchantment of light is now the heritage of all mankind: for the genius of Edison and the organized research signified by the mark MAZDA have not only produced light such as the fondest imagination never dreamed but they have placed it within the reach of even the most humble homes and the most limited incomes.

Beauty and Charm lie at your fingertips. Gloom and Glare, those twin enemies of artistic decoration, may be banished with a touch and a flood of Cheer and Loveliness spread ..."

No 7-second sound bites in those days! Unfortunately, this is where Grandma cut the paper.

The reverse has most of a 1926 calendar, and the header:

ENCHANTMENT
CANADIAN GENERAL ELECTRIC
COMPANY, LIMITED
Lamp Sales Department
TORONTO, Canada

The candle, again. The flame is reflected in the melted wax. I like that.

I just checked outside. It's still snowing, but it's very wet. Maybe ...
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