Faces in a Window

(click for a larger view - recommended!)

On my bike, I headed up the rue Rachel bikepath, through the Portuguese neighborhood with its afternoon smells of grilling chicken, bread baking, and coffee roasting. On St. Laurent I turned north toward Mile End, stopping a few times to look in windows. A small shop selling Portuguese pottery for baking (terra cotta colored, glazed, with raised white designs); Catholic tiles picturing Mary and the saints; soccer jerseys; all sorts of food from imported cheeses to olive oils and sardines. Up the street a little ways was this shop, which seduced me to the point of locking up the bike and going into the shop. It was packed and hung with thousands of dusty objects just like the window was, from floor to the dark high ceiling, and seemed more like an art installation than an antique shop: coins, jewelry, dishes, paper, roller skates, lamps, furniture, records, toys... The proprietor, in a cluttered square booth behind the window that seemed straight out of the 1930s, was talking to his neighbor about a picture he was trying to fix, and paid no attention to me at all.

The inspiration for this particular jaunt was to visit an Indian furniture importer, but the ride itself became its own reason: a tiny boulangerie selling organic breads; a local pottery shop next to trendy modern furniture; women pushing baby carriages and teenagers decorated with piercings and tattoos; the sun was out for the first time all week and so were we.

On a corner in Mile End, I waited for the light to turn. In the front window of a funky cafe on my right, a slender black man in a pink shirt sat in an antique French armchair, upholstered in yellow satin jacquard. He put on a studious-looking pair of glasses and took out a book. The light changed, and I rode off as he raised his coffee cup to his lips.

Comments

[dale]

(o)

[mary]

one of those perfect, serendipidous afternoons-
nothing like them.

[Robb]

Tena Koe Beth,
What an enjoyable afternoon! love that photo, especially enlarged, so much to look at and wonder about. Kia ora.
Ka kite ano,
Robb

[leslee]

Wonderful. It's like a movie.

[beth]

Yes! I keep looking at that calendar with the crossed-off dates...

[Anil]

How refreshing such rides can be.