Painting the town red...

Ahh... red. It's upon us now. The canopies of acers, many now carpeting us with their red leaves. Arches of rosehips abounding and red berries, such as the festive holly.

Red is a symbol for many things: love, passion, rage, and romance. It's a hot, fiery colour that energizes. Poppies, roses, sportscars, nails and lips can be many colours, but many of us associate them with red. Our culture is teeming with red references: Dorothy's ruby red slippers, the red pill from The Matrix, The Red Shoes, Valentino Red, and Rudolph's red nose. Among all these meanings is one we're feeling now: jolly holiday spirit!

As we head into the holidays, we all begin to see, use and wear more red. It's all around us in the form of ribbons, ornaments. lights and Christmas sweaters. And it must be said, red looks great in many textures: silk, velvet, wool, cotton, etc. all look lovely in red. In the shop, we notice our customers gravitating toward red notebooks, inks and wrapping papers. Napkins and ribbons, too.

Let's take a look at what's in the shop this season as we paint the town red: