is this thing cool or what ?..

summer

Brick-o-brak, time travels

I love antique shops. Not for the grand opulence of Persian rugs, grandfather clocks or flowery still lives in gilded frames. I love brick-o-brack. Chrystal ink pots, salt-n-pepper shakers, milk glass and kitchy jewelry. I am a comfort craving nostalgia shop junkie convinced somewhere in there is a lost treasure with my name on it. Pathetic.Weird cook books, travel guides, odd art work and anything else with a character -- I can't pass up. And I'm as likely to buy an old menorah as an unusual  challis and proudly display both on one shelf. Stillness and beauty of old personal things is very intriguing, and intimately inviting. I grew up surrounded by countless antiques, most of which are on permanent display in Pushkin Museum now as my mom couldn't get them out of the country, yet didn't feel right selling them. 16th century Maison china, Faberge figurines, emerald green silver-adorned wine goblets and elaborate petal-like tea services..How surreal was that to have these layers of time and wealth and history within one room in a communal apartment with a shared bathroom and one stove to serve 3 families..That china cabinet to me was a sunken ship full of treasures, in between times like my whole life in that room.  I'd dig it out and dust daily -- grandma made me..They were priceless and intimidating and cold. But the kitchy things I could really play with weren't. The sugar bowl of etched metal -- I saw one recently at a friend's house and felt like we are related. Certain books, coffee pots, old photos. Universal time capsules for those unfortunate lost souls thinking they can somehow capture magic in an old oil lamp, and it will take them to a happy place back in time. I have a rather distorted sense of time and place since I left Russia,  but I'm very aware of these signs that time itself leaves regardless of where I'd be. I racked through a totally foreign (Wisconsin !) antique store today only to discover it full of my own memories..I can't help it, I love my illusions, I love old, I love things, I love old things. I'd say this means I'm getting old, but I loved them since I was 5..Layers of time all around, magnetism of many such things enclosed in one space, out of sync with the outside world, like my old room..I feel home there.