JulieLeung.com: a life told in tidepools

Opening a door can mean making a discovery.

Last Monday I opened the door to an antique shop and discovered new things inside myself.

After visiting downtown Poulsbo, over the bridge from the island, I decided, at last, to peek into the antique shops beside the parking lot. From the outside, their wares had looked less than desirable, stacks of overpriced garage sale goods in need of paint and repair.

But inside the stores we saw treasures. Old cash registers, for sale for thousands. I found items I’d only seen in museums or books. Powder horns. After all her Chronicles of Narnia reading, Abigail was amazed to see a bow and arrows – and to realize how large they are. Kodak Brownie cameras. Coins.

There were also items I recognized from my childhood: toys, stacks of 45’s, kitchen patterns and clothes.

So many objects and so many stories. I wondered what tales they could tell if they could talk. What kind of lives they had lived. Who had loved them. Held them. Abandoned them. Fascinated, I nearly forgot the camera until we were almost finished with the store.

An old scale promised to provide “Your Wate and Fate”

An old globe. Based on Yugoslavia and Germany, I’d guess it is from 1930s – 1950s.

Any one (European readers, history students) able to help?

On the way home, we stopped at the new Rotary park that now welcomes visitors to the island. It had opened only two days earlier. There we marveled over the mosaic glass map of Bainbridge. The artists and students who assembled it poured attention into details, creating colorful and thoughtful portrait of this place we call home, using the little things to make a big picture.

Here are the girls standing on the map, for perspective.

Our beloved Frog Rock and sidekick Ladybug

The ferry terminal at Eagle Harbor

It was a sunny afternoon, a treat in this Northwest November. Maple leaves glowed gold, in the sky and on the ground. The kids ran around on the grass while cars passed on the freeway. If it hadn’t been time for lunch, I would have stayed there at the park. We had sunshine. We had happiness.

It was a memorable Monday, for many reasons. We explored the mysterious antique stores. We also enjoyed a new piece of public art on the island.

I realized I liked discoveries. I like going into the unknown and finding the new. I like opening a door and walking inside an adventure.

I was glad to find treasures in our community. I now know more about this place where we live. And I also know more about myself. I discovered that I like discoveries. I like adventures on sunny afternoons. I like explorations.

And I realized that I like taking pictures of the places we see. Sometimes I use a camera and sometimes I use words to share these images. This too is a part of me, who I am, what I love, what makes me feel alive. In an antique store and in a mosaic by the side of a freeway, I found a piece of my fate.