Shop of Curiosities

Here we are at the entrance to The Old Curiosity Shop, the finest little museum with the most unassuming of shop fronts. No matter how many times you visit, it's always a surprise to cross that modest threshold into a space busy with so many wonderful things, like finding the gem inside the stone. Before we begin, let's pause for a brief wind-down exercise. Tonight's exercise is a really simple breathing exercise. So when you are 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 are 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 . Now 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. As you might expect, the Old Curiosity Shop is full of curiosities. But if there's one thing it's particularly known for around town, it's the salt and pepper shakers. I was at the Old Curiosity Shop the other day. One neighbor might say to another, "You know, that place with the salt and pepper shakers?" The owner has been collecting them since she was a girl, and she now has over 1,000 since, that displayed in a long cabinet that takes up nearly a whole wall. So many colors and shapes. A local kid named Arnold once did a report about the salt and pepper shakers for his school newspaper. He was going to make an inventory of the collection. He's an avid list maker, but then he and his family moved away. He still has the beginnings of the inventory in an old notebook somewhere. Pair of porcelain tomatoes, red and green, 20th century, collected in Dorset, England, silver carriages, Japanese, 1930s, plastic corn on the carb shakers, yellow and green, 1960s, souvenir from diner in Aurora, Indiana, Victorian four-footed shakers, antique, ceramic kangaroo pepper with baby salt in pouch, 20th century, found in flea market in Berlin, Germany. Each entry is accompanied by a sketch of the shakers in question. Arnold is already an accomplished artist. One day, 5 or 10 years from now, he'll finish the inventory and make it into a comic called "Shake" that he'll sell at scene fairs. The comic will, in its turn, become collectible. Two large stone leopards stand just inside the entrance to the old curiosity shop, not far from the tape player, with its...