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Day Two Hundred Sixty Eight, October 17, 2011

luck and chinese fortune sticks

In almost every culture in the history of the human race, you find appearances of links to the esoteric worlds. From the Tarot of Ancient Egypt, to high priests, fortune tellers, oracles, the research of astrology, numerology and the list goes on and on down to religious beliefs and different faiths around the globe.

At different times, humans ask questions and look for answers in the unseen worlds rather than the seen. This aspect of life continues to tickle the interest of Lea as she asks her daily “beyond the beyond” questions.

photo taken: Lea reading the luck for the day from a stick she picked out of a Chinese Fortune Sticks box we bought in a Shanghai antique market.

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Photography

Day One Hundred Forty Five, June 16, 2011

looking back

Something in us seems to have a great fascination with the past. We are very curious about people who lived before us, about their stories, her-story, his-tory. Yes, history is fascinating to most. There is a great nostalgia that we feel when we walk by an antique; we try to imagine who used it, what they were like, what they felt, what their secrets were. The past did happen and is concrete, so the discovery of its events is thrilling. Whereas the future is a daunting unknown that we tend to shy away from and to relegate to the realms of the unexplained and the out of reach. Maybe this is part of the reason we hang on to antiques, collect them and  treasure them and look forward to the stories that they may tell.

photo taken in Dong Tai Lu antique street ~ Shanghai

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Photography

Day Sixty One, March 24, 2011

If only statues could speak...

I walked with Lea this afternoon in different Shanghai streets and ended up in Dong Tai Lu, the antique street market. It is a street that is a must see, but not necessarily buy in when in Shanghai. Thousands of different so called antiques fill up the streets where vendors are extremely friendly and lovely to deal with. We saw these statues that tell a story of parts of the historical events that China has gone through. I have never lived anywhere as enigmatic as China. There are so many levels yet to understand and so much history to wrap my mind around. I love this place.