11 June 2009

Hello everyone...

Things are starting to heat up at the Store - both literally and figuratively. It's that time of year for, a few weeks at least, it's not too warm or too cold in the building. Fireside Chats will run through June, however, they will be cancelled July and August and will resume in September. There is a Fireside happening tomorrow (June 12). As we do not have a facilitator yet, it will be an open meet and greet.

And in other news, we're starting to receive new and different products as well as new book titles weekly.

In the used books section we acquired a number of fiction titles most of which, according to Ed, are "girly". Interpret that however you will...

Trespasser Ceramics of Calgary just sent us a shipment of some rather amazing pottery pieces - really they're more art than craft. He works heavily with "sprigs" which are basically three dimensional stamps that cause an image to be raised on the surface of the piece. Be sure to have a look at the "Warrior and Dragon" bowl in the display case and you'll see what I mean. Other noteworthy items include the World's Largest Chalice (at least it's the *biggest* I've ever seen). And ceramic beads. 86 of them. All different kinds. And bottles, also sprigged, with matching "shot glass" sized cups (perfect for ritual wine...)

And...I discovered (finally!) where to buy those little wire cages for wearing tumbled stones as jewellery. They haven't arrived yet but I expect them any day now.

And speaking of jewellery, we've discovered a whole new line of pagan jewellery. They are made of sterling silver and many of the pieces have gold vermeil (a thick plating of gold) accent. Keep an eye out for them as we plan to get in a few new pieces each week (depending, as always, upon availability from the supplier).

Yesterday I picked up a number of Ganesha statues - many of them in cast brass and some of which are teeny-tiny and perfect for putting on one's altar. Ganesha is, of course, the Elephant God and the remover of obstacles (among other things), and generally the all-around jolliest of the pantheon. And he rides a rat...

I also managed to acquire some Lakshmi (Laxshmi) statues. They're cast resin and about two or three inches high as well as some small cast brass Durga statues.

I picked the best I could from the vast assortment of mostly identical statues. These statues are one of the few items I get to actually go to the supplier and pick out myself. It's a surreal experience being confronted by shelves full of boxes of hundreds of little statues. The only way to select them is to rummage through the boxes looking for the ones that are just right. I always do it as respectfully as I can (I mean, these are images of Deity, after all) but it's necessary to do it or else we end up with an army of one-armed Ganesha and headless Buddhas. And there was one box full of cast resin Ganeshas, Lakshmis, Buddhas etc with the odd Jesus head mixed in...our supplier really doesn't play favourites when it comes to God and Goddess statues...

And horseshoe nails lucky charms are back in stock. I was able to find a source for Really Big Nails. I admit I'm vaguely disturbed by the idea that there's a horse out there with hooves so enormous that they would require a horseshoe nail longer than my index finger and I confess I'm quite glad that horses are skittish herbivores because a horse that size, under the right conditions, could rule the world.

And lastly, I feel compelled to post a notice here with respect to the grassy area between Where Faeries Live and the dollar store to the north. Last week a guy came to paint the metal bits on the billboard. It is now a lovely chocolate brown. The painter, for whatever reason, left his extension ladder chained to the base of the billboard. At some point earlier this week, an unknown person(s) had a little "accident" right on the ladder which required the removal of some...er...badly soiled undergarments...which were left on top of the ladder as well as all around the ladder.

Now the ladder is still there in all its fragrant glory. I don't know whether the ladder's owner has simply not made it back yet or whether he came back, saw the condition it was in and just said "screw this, I need to buy a new ladder" and abandoned this one.

At any rate, the reason I mention it here is out of courtesy to those with weak stomachs as well as for health and safety: avoid the ladder and the grassy space between the buildings until this situation is resolved.