The Shadow Store
Somewhere north of Bishop, California, on I-395 (that's East of the Sierra Nevadas) is The Shadow Store. Yes, its theme is shapes, cut out of wood and painted black, and designed to adorn your yard or home. The Shadow Store is filled with a multitude of shadows: rabbits, men hoeing, single flowers, dogs, women and men bent over, cats curled up in baskets. For a few miles in either direction before The Shadow Store, one can tell that the neighbors patronize this store all right. Like little billboards in yards leading up to the ultimate of purchasable umbras. I love the specificity of the store--picture the wreath-weaving neighbor, desperate to sell her wares in a local store. 'Nope,' The Shadow Store owner tells her, 'only shadows here. But I'd be glad to buy a wreath pattern from you and make a few wreath-shadows and see if they sell.' My favorite was the Amish horse and buggy shadow featured prominently in the yard (near the shadow rock and shadow chickens and chicks and rooster and weather vanes and flamingoes). One realizes, you don't need yard ornaments at all!
Labels: Shadow stores
posted by Bernie at
6:29 PM
8 Comments:
Bernie,
It's Chris Cox jumping into the fray upon the invitation of your husband. He said I could play, but I want to make sure that he wasn't just setting me up like the studios set up Nikki Finke this week.
If he's not setting me up, let me be the first to pose this question: does the shadow store sell human shaped shadows? Would they be willing to do a custom job? I'd think it might be fun to have your own shadow positioned in your yard so that at just the right time each day you could you could cast your real shadow upon it. It could also be a convenient -if not depressing- way to track how one's shape is expanding over the years.
They certainly did have human shadows. Some appeared to be caricatures- like the farmer with his pitchfork, a sherlock holmes-type with a pipe, a fat lady in a dress, fifties-style. I honestly don't know if they do custom-jobs. I assumed when I got home, I could find them on the internet, or at least a mention of them somewhere. No dice. They truly are a Shadow Store!
I think a line of Chris Coxes birth- to -present in your yard would be a fine line of shadows.
By the way, I realize you did mention that the store sells men and women bent over shadows, but that is a very specific shadow position, and one which I'm not entirely sure I can support placing in my front lawn. Our neighbors are prickly enough without us erecting lawn shadow porn to ruffle them further. I'm strictly interested in wholesome, upright shadows, waving or holding gardening shears and wiping their brow.
I like the "Evolution" of Cox idea. It would be especially gratifying to expose the world to 14 year old Chris Cox Shadow with his giant braces and puffy pubescent fro (which his Ohio based sister convinced him he should "lighten" a touch with Sun-In.) Not knowing the potency of said product, 14 year old Chris Cox poured an entire bottle on his head and ended up with an orangey white mane that any pro wrestler would die for. I looked like Anthony Michael Hall's long lost nerdier -if that's possible- brother.
None of that is going to show up in a shadow, Chris.
And with that... a boy's dreams were dashed.
The gaping hole in your teenage heart would be visible in a shadow.
Only if he purchases the metaphoric-shadow package, Frank.
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