There is a terrific store on Queen Street West called Old Faithful Shop, which sells really well-made things for the home. That's why it's called Old Faithful: because the items it sells are going to be around and working well, for a long time. They have some very interesting and well made light fixtures. One day it hit me: their pendant lights are the exact length to be perfect in my window. They're not exactly cheap, but I rationalized that they are in Canadian dollars, and I like supporting Canadian small businesses. So I did.
After the pendant lights were installed in the window, I turned my attention to the lighting inside the store. I love my store. The only thing I disliked about my store was the horrible Ikea track lighting overhead. It flickered like strobe lighting when I first turned on the lights and made everything look nasty. (I didn't buy the track lights; they came with the store.)
So one day I was trolling around on Kijiji and I saw an ad for a pair of very sculptural new schoolhouse-type pendants. I corresponded back and forth with the owner for a while, and realized these were high-quality light fixtures that would probably look perfect in the store ..... if only I had four of them. So I went to pick them up. When I arrived at the seller's home, she invited me into her kitchen, and there she had a whole row of these light fixtures overhead. I was just bowled over by how perfect they looked.
Sold! I scuttled off home with them, intending to search for more of them, and by a miracle I was able to find another two. The third arrived by courier yesterday, minutes before the electrician arrived. The fourth one won't be delivered till next month, but I love anticipation.
And then yesterday afternoon, while the electrician was installing them, I received a phone call from the gold platers to tell me that all the altar pieces I'm having repaired and replated for St. Volodymyr Cathedral were completed. I picked them up this morning and they look beautiful. You can see the ones made by Ivaan; they're the ones with the gemstones on them. This is my gift to the Cathedral this year, in honour of Ivaan.
All that glisters is not gold, said Shakespeare. The Bard was wrong, of course. Generally speaking, if it glisters, it's gold. I can already feel Ivaan beaming down on me, saying "Not bad!"
