Dear Twangers,

I’ve recently fallen in love.  The other day I experienced for myself the expression printed on Twang & Pearl’s handbag tags: “I swear,” she said, “the handbag flirted with me first”. From the moment I first laid eyes on ‘Sheila’, newly arrived this Spring from Hobo, I was smitten. What began as an innocent flirtation quickly escalated into a full blown crush. Sheila’s unassuming beauty, classic coolness and rich buttery caramel coloured leather felt like an extension of myself.

I immediately phoned Jana, the woman responsible for bringing her to Salt Spring Island, into Twang & Pearl, and therefore into my life, and breathlessly asked her if I really had to put my new love on the floor where she was sure to flirt with another woman.  She said sorry but yes I had to give Sheila a chance to win over some new fans with her buttery vintage black leather twin.  I reluctantly did as  I was bid and hesitantly posted her picture on Twang & Pearl’s Facebook Fan Page.  Several ‘likes’ and excited comments later, one lucky Salt Springer’s husband arrived to purchase her as a gift.

I tried to rationalize, “oh well, I guess it wasn’t meant to be, there’s another woman, I’m sure they are better off together”.  A dull ache remained until two weeks later when my heart was sent a flutter again upon opening another shipment from Hobo.  And now, Sheila and I are together, reunited, inseparable and happy.  I dare you to come in and try and resist her.

Twang & Pearl Salt Spring Island

As a little girl, I never did quite believe in the Easter Bunny.

The Tooth Fairy made sense somehow, especially as I was told my baby teeth would be used to build their little fairy houses (also incentive to keep my teeth clean by the by). Santa Claus also had a measure of magic realness, since folklore told me Santa Claus began as Kris Kringle distributing toys at night to children in a dark land where toys were outlawed. But a huge basket-toting bunny hopping around on two bunny feet instead of four hiding coloured eggs just didn’t seem plausible even in the realm of magic. I mean what useful or altruistic purpose could the Easter Bunny possibly serve? Not to mention, I’ve never really had any fondness for ‘pastels’.

So for me the Easter Bunny has always been more about a herald to Spring in all its bunny cuteness and daffodil glory. If you’re looking for some gift giving alternatives to chocolate for Easter, we have some irresistible bunny cuteness in store. Handmade in Thailand with love by a husband and wife team that we’ve come to genuinely like a lot over the six years we’ve been purchasing their critters, these bunnies will steal your heart.

Hop on down to Ganges town for your own dose of bunny love.

Introducing my new favourite Twang & Pearl bangles.

Love is all around you.

All kidding aside, if there is anything that travelling has taught me, it’s to count my blessings. And this chilly-in-January island home is one of them. Though I’m cold, my community fortunately is warm. Not in temperature, but in temperament. Warm like Indian spice. We at Twang & Pearl couldn’t have reached this first winter milestone without you. Indeed, it is you all that keep my home fires burning. So here’s to you local Twangers. I wish for you a winter of endless toast. (Unless of course you are gluten intolerant. And if so I wish for you endless toasts of cheer).

P.S. Though it may be grey and dull outside, the store has just been bedecked with our first shipment of new ‘shiny & bright’ jewellery from India. So pop a vitamin D and come on down.

As we alighted in Vancouver from our float plane, Saint, Salt Spring Air President and co-passenger on our flight,  wished us well on the rest of our journey with the words: “Stay Safe.  Share the Wealth.”  These words struck a chord with me.  Sharing the wealth is a concept I try to embrace in both my personal and professional life, in my own community and in the global community I so dearly love exploring.  While traveling we try to patronize small family owned businesses where ever possible and when purchasing for our stores  we try to seek out other companies or individuals  with a similar conscience to buy from.  In this way we’ve been building lasting friendships as well as business relationships over the last seven years of our travels. In India and Thailand we’ve been purchasing from some of the same talented folks since our first trip.

From flying with our friends at Salt Spring Air to purchasing beautiful handcrafted jewelry and shawls from our Indian friends our first week here, I like to think a ripple effect is being created.  When you shop at Twang & Pearl you can rest assured that your purchases are not only putting food on our table, they are also putting food on the table of many of our friends in our own community and around the world.   

Stay tuned here for “Share the Wealth” posts profiling the talented members of our Twang & Pearl community.

This week was probably the first time (and hopefully the last) that I dabbled in Christmas decor while sporting a witch costume (apologies for foisting the seasonal glitter upon all of you who caught me in the act – but at least I had candy too.)  The reason: our fast approaching overseas buying trip and my want for seeing Twang & Pearl looking its best for its first holiday season before I head out.  First stop, New Delhi, India.  Arrival time: 2 am.  I can almost feel the murky blanket of diesel perfumed air and the throng of rickshaw wallahs waiting to greet us.

This will be my seventh trip to India, and I’m sure it will serve up its predictably unpredictable dish of magnetic charm and  frustrating vexation in equal measure.  India for me is like Christmas: gaudy yet beautiful and rife with contradictions. There is crushing poverty set against a backdrop of incredible riches. There’s hair-pulling inefficiencies, coupled with mind-blowing bureaucracy, yet most Indians I’ve met posses a tenacity of spirit found in very few Westerners I know. The scenery is visually stunning but strewn with garbage, and chocked with diesel fumes. It’s considered fair play to lie and take advantage of tourists to every extent they will allow it, yet Indians can be more gracious and giving than any culture I’ve encountered. It’s the full meal deal, minus the all beef patty.

To prepare myself, I’ve been playing a little game in my head that my husband, ‘Joe’, and  I started one starry night in a tent on the Ashnola Forest Service Road long before we were married. It’s called “Ten Things I Love About You.”

So, India, here’s my list in no particular order:

1) the oh so subtly expressive head bob
2) tandori chicken tikka
3) a chicklet box of colour everywhere I turn my head
4) the excitement of a new beautiful find for Twang & Pearl
5) dosa … mmm dosa
6) life being lived fully, everywhere, full stop
7) the hilarity of the traffic circle in Jaipur
8) daily, sometimes hourly, ‘Did I just see that?’ moments
9) butter mushroom masala
10) drinking chai with our Indian friends

Here we go. India November 2011.  Stay Tuned.

P.S. Thanks to those of you who bought some of my seasonal glittery bits before the passing of Halloween.  You assuaged my guilt over breaking my ‘No Christmas before November’ rule (which before I became a shopkeeper was my ‘No Christmas before December rule’).  Proof is indeed in the Christmas pudding.  Put out the beautiful decor, no matter what time of year, and folks will still make merry.

Today Facebook was a flutter with friends making pies, friends making yams, friends saying “Thanks, you are awesome,” and some friends just happy with the giant shiny orb that situated itself in the sky despite the dour wheather forecast for this Canadian Thanksgiving long weekend.

Myself, I have a few extra things to be thankful for this year, (alongside my friends and family near and dear, not so near but just as dear, our health and the incredible good fortune of being able to call Salt Spring Island my ‘home’).  This Thanksgiving I am also thankful for a successful first summer season at Twang & Pearl, for each and every person who came through our door offering their own thanks and encouragement, and for our incredible staff (Bonnie, Heather, Amy, Miles and our newest team member Lynda) for being so supportive.

I’m also thankful for Michele Macdonald, our graphic design guru who is responsible for our beautiful wood block print inspired logo and who makes all my vague creative  visions come to life with such beauty and patience.  Also for Caprina of Caprina Designs for making such a skookam website for us.  Cudos!  And this our first blog post, I’m thankful for that too.

In otherwords, as my three beautiful nieces (whom I’m very much thankful for) sing before each meal: “Blessings on the blossom, blessings on the fruit, blessings on the leaf and stem, and blessings on the root.”