I had one of those odd attacks that seem to only happen at multi-dealer antique malls. A brief rift in normal shopping where something takes over me and I find myself buying things I would have never normally purchased let alone even noticed!
The attack happened in the "JAR" booth (dealer tag name) at Coxsackie Antiques Mall. Maybe it was triggered by the collection of bowling themed items at the entrance, or maybe it was due to some unknown coagulative force seeping through the motley assemblage of brick-a-brack — a sticky collective syrup of misfit object souls...
Whatever the reason I found myself completely absorbed by each item housed in this tiny space between a glass case and two shelving units. With determined purpose I took on the task of looking at — and contemplating — absolutely every object in the booth.
As these things go, this acute moment of attraction resulted in many objects being imbued with a kind of magical quality. A tiny china figure took on totemic weight, a decal of salami became retro art of the highest caliber, a blue glass owl seemed to be nothing less than a symbol of the deepest importance, a set of miniature Japanese lacquer bowls filled me with an intense delight.
And... I had to have them all.
Postscript
The blue glass owl proved to be the first in a series of five owls that randomly popped up during the course of the rest of the day:
#1. The blue glass "JAR booth" owl
#2. Right afterwards I was looking at bird books for Mark Dion, I randomly opened the page on owls
#3. A fake owl perched on a street sign-post, at a cross-road that marked where we got lost that day
#4. Before dinner Jeffrey read a passage from David Sedaris' "Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls"
#5. During dinner we talked about a runcible spoon, and I realized I had learned what this was by reading "The Owl and the Pussycat"
