Summer: A Time for Travel

Summer is always a fun time in Isadora’s.  Thousands of people visit the historic Pike Place Market each May through September, many of them taking a moment, a half an hour or even a half a day to pop into our store, and enjoy our collection. 

Seattle Pike Place Market

We so enjoy hearing each individual’s story as pass through our store and lives, enriching us with a greater sense of the people of this world we live in.  And sometimes those of us who work in the store get a chance to take a trip ourselves.

Tourism is not a new thing.  On my very favorite movies and novels (It is so rare I like both) is “A Room with a View” by E.M. Forster where the young Lucy Honeychurch is transformed by a trip to Italy during the early 20^th century.

Mt. Vesuvius Ash Cameo Brooch

I feel, the good vacations we eagerly anticipate, thoroughly enjoy, and hold as a memory for years to come.  The great vacations transform us.  And so I ask myself, how do we hold those memories after we leave, retain the beauty and the emotional sustenance they provide having returned to our normal life once again? 

Egyptian Revival Bracelet

I remember a quote from the movie Rebecca (another book/movie although I confess I never made it to the book after being captivated by Laurence Olivier’s Maxim de Winters).  Joan Fontaine’s character says, “You know, I , I wish there could be an invention . . . that bottled up the memory like perfume.  And it never faded, never got stale.  That whenever I wanted to, I could uncork the bottle and live the memory all over again.”

1920's Butterfly Wing Necklace

And I suppose one can’t truly live a memory again, but like Joan Fontaine’s imagined bottle, I believe an object can be the keeper for a memory.  You look at it and remember the smell of your vacation, the excitement, the transcendent moments.  And for me jewelry has always been a perfect memory holder.  It is something personal, so personal it is worn on your person and whether it is a ring on your finger or a locket on your neck you hold the memories close when you put that piece of jewelry on.

Vintage Italian Themed Charm Bracelet

And just as I love to look at my souvenir’s brought back from different parts of the world, I also like to look at what others chose to collect on trips aboard.  Particularly the tourists of yester year-whether it is an Italian cameo purchased on a Victorian lady’s grand tour, a piece of Egyptian revival enamel jewelry inspired by the opening of King Tut’s tomb, a British butterfly wing pendant sold at the British Empire Exhibition of 1924 or a sweet 50’s silver charm bracelet collected by a young girl as she traveled the world.