Rainday Antiques 2

When night is falling and the rain is coming down hard everybody knows there's no better place to shelter from the storm than our favorite 24-hour antique shop. And tonight it's as inviting as ever. Its windows are blurred squares of warm light, and the door opens to your touch on the brass push plate. Welcome back to Rain Day Antiques. It's good to see you again. In the back of the shop in a corner, a woman sits at a large oak desk holding a set of silver candlesticks. With a fine cloth, she gently polishes the silver. Its surface gleaming just a little brighter with each circular motion of her hand. The warm lighting within the shop reflects from the candlesticks so that streaks of golden light shimmer across the ceiling. Tonight, the shop feels both familiar and new. The happy result of running a store where the stock is always changing. As you know, you can get lost in this shop's treasures, but before you do, let's take a moment for a short exercise. Tonight's exercise is a really simple breathing exercise. So, when you're ready, let's begin. So, first, get yourself comfortable. Now, just bringing the attention to the breath, just noticing where you feel it. In the nose, the throat, the chest, the diaphragm. You're nice and relaxed. We're going to be taking a deep breath in for four, holding it for four, and then breathing out for six. So, are you ready? Let's begin. In for four, two, three, four. Hold it for four, two, three, four. Breathing out for six, two, three, four, five, six. In for four, two, three, four. Holding for four, two, three, four. Out for six, two, three, four, five, six. In for four, two, three, four. Holding for four, two, three, four. Out for six, two, three, four, five, six. In for four, two, three, four. Holding for four, two, three, four. Out for six, two, three, four, five, six. Great. Now returning the breath to normal. In the center of the room is a stylish mosaic coffee table. The mosaic tiles are the shape of leaves and the way they're laid together, white, yellow, and pale green, they create the effect of dappled light. You might pull up the footstool nearby and take a look at the album of postage stamps that has been left open on the coffee table. Even quick glance at this album would tell you that it's former owner must been a passionate collector, not to mention curator. The stamps are arranged by theme, kings and queens, landscapes, popular culture, animals. There's a Polish stamp with a bright orange crayfish in the foreground and an ocean liner in the background, a stamp from Guyana with a pair of toadstools drooping under the weight of their caps, an armadillo from Equatorial Guinea, and a 5 cent Canadian stamp featuring, of course, a diligent beaver. Most of them have the telltale half crescent postmark in...