Visitors

Today was a day to record. I didn't. But I wish I had recordings of the conversations I had with my visitors today.

One man told me how he and his brother blew their inheritance while their mother was still alive and very sick, on sending her with her best friend of 75 years to a grand world tour cruise on the QE. She died a month after it ended. I implored him to write this wonderful heartwarming story to share with the world. It never occurred to him.

My favorite Canadian grandmother, 82 and counting, invited me to the opening of her art show. And she bought the only item I had for a woman in the shop - a full length fabulous dress coat. She looked so sharp in it, it was irresistible.

My favourite opera singer told me of his latest work, "War and Peace". They sing in Russian. I don't think I'll attend when they open...

And this lovely young lady completely blew me away by telling me she's a minister's daughter. I just had to take her picture...

Look At Me

"I wish men would stil dress this way" one visitor said of this costume.

New Quote

The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

Robert Musil - The Man without Qualities

I just got the second volume of this enormous book. I read the first volume many years ago, in Hebrew, and couldn't find the second at the time. I wonder if it will be as much a pleasure to read as it was when I was younger. At the time I fell in love with the man without qualities, who was so very charming, as with Musil's writing.

"...Man needs no more for his happiness; for what one achieves is what moulds the spirit, whereas what one wants, without fulfillment, only warps it. So far as happiness is concerned it matters very little what one wants; the main thing is that one should get it."

Dear Fred

Fred Astaire is the inspiration for my shop sign, and here he is in all his glory.

Dylan Thomas Reading a Poem

Click on the title to get there.




here's a picture of his writing shed - imagine that life.

What the well-dressed crime writer sould be wearing

I've been reading lately a series of excellent books by Philip Kerr, with a wonderful protagonist called Bernie Gunter. These are crime novels set in Germany before, during, and after WW2. Highly recommended for the quality of the writing, the style, and most of all for Bernie himself, a witty, cynical but good-hearted, sexy private detective. While searching for an image of Mr. Kerr I found this amazing photo of him and other crime writers posing as their characters. Isn't it just beautiful? He is second from the right.

New Quote

Only two things are infinite, the Universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.

Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

The Rosenberg Trio - great music

I put their CD on in the shop often. One of my regulars, a musician, asked me what it was, and was very appreciative. He says I always have good music on. What a nice compliment.

Book Report

OK, I finished reading "The Kindly Ones" by Jonathan Littel (see my original post about it in July).
Reading this book is hard work. It's very long, and loaded with details that are hard to follow. It took me longer than usual to get to the end, and I forgot what's in the beginning, so I'm starting it again to see if I can get more out of it now that the war (WW2) is over.
It raises so many difficult question about this "episode" in human history.
One that is hard to swallow is the implied complicity of the victims in their own destruction, and is referred to the Jews mainly, not so much to the other groups. Some readers, I'm sure, will find this outrageous, judgmental and cruel. I haven't made up my mind yet.
There is a point early in the story where one of the Nazis asks a colleague how they managed to collect so many Jews so fast, and the guy says it was so easy, all they had to do is post a notice that the Jews should come to the town square by a certain time, and that was enough, they came by the thousands. The Nazis thought it was funny that people are cooperating so well.
The protagonist, Max Aue, says at another point, towards the end, that the Jews had to be destroyed because they were so German, and the Germans hated them for it. And that those Jews who will survive will be more German than the Germans. If you know Jews and Germans, you know there's some truth about that last bit.
There are parts of the book in which Max tells his own personal, tragic family history. He talks about his incestuous, hopeless love to his twin sister. It's sad and crazy, yet gripping in its emotional and sensual intensity.
I'm curious to read what readers here in Canada are going to make of this unusual book.

What We Wear and Why

So many W's in one sentence...

I wanted to post something thoughtful, a cheerful reflection on what I do for a living, and looked for inspiration on Google. Big mistake.
Most of the listings there refer to dress code for religious purposes, while I was looking for something that would reflect more on the creative, inclusive, wide range of the way people dress. What I found was the opposite - a lot of rationalizations of the restrictive code that some people who have negative relationship with their bodies try to enforce on the rest of humanity.

What I tell people who come to my shop is my simple way of using clothes: Wear what you feel comfortable in, mentally as well as physically. Look at yourself in the mirror and if you like what you see, go for it. Use your gut reaction, believe yourself. Use the image you have of yourself in your head and make it happen in reality, if you can afford it.
The nice thing about a shop like mine is that you can afford a look that's closer to the image in your head. It works for me, and it works for those who come to shop.

I try not to judge those who leave the shop when they realize it's second-hand (sometimes only after shopping - because my stuff is so good sometimes they can't tell the difference). But I must admit it's not easy. I tend to think it's somewhat narrow minded not to shop second-hand on principal. Am I wrong here?

The Frogman

Something fun I found today.

Clarence "Frogman" Henry - Ain't Got No Home

New Qoute

It is never to late to be what you might have been.
George Eliot

I Was Here

It was hard to come back to the city.

A Mannequin Story

There was a little boy in the shop today, his mother was browsing and he got board, so he started to roam around the shop, crowded as it is, and ended up talking to the mannequin, carrying on a conversation. One of my regulars (See him in the picture, wearing this lovely shirt he bought here) happened to be there and heard the little boy's chat. He told me this story:
"When I was a boy this age, my mother took me to a large department store and I got lost. I walked up to one of the mannequins thinking it was my mother and took her hand in mine, and the whole arm came off!! I screamed like I've never screamed before..."