Meet the Knick-Knack Nook

Whenever friends come to visit me on Bowen Island, I say, "We have to go to the Nook."

Rarely does a thrift store merit a sightseeing trip, but the Nook is one of the Seven Wonders of Bowen Island. The Nook is adjacent to the recycle depot, another Wonder where one can snag free goodies: Cat Stevens cassettes for one's old Volvo, a toaster oven, or "Anne of Green Gables". On Sundays we take our recycling to the depot after church, then visit the Knick-Knack Nook.

The Nook is a humble prefab building, like half a barrel turned on its side. This unassuming shack contains more wonder than Smaug's glittering lair. I could detail many a fortunate find: my music collection beefed up with cheapo CDs I'd never spend real money on, a bag o' clothespins for the student house, decorations for St. Patrick's Day, and my cabin furnished with all the veritable knick-knacks a girl could desire. I wouldn't be surprised to find an Arkenstone for fifty cents.

Today at the Nook, my Iowan friend Nathan was agog at the merch. "How do people on Bowen not want this stuff? It'd be snapped up in Iowa," he said, tenderly examining a piece of pottery which might have been a hookah, an oil jar, or a vase. This he deemed "actually nice decoration, not 1970s grandma stuff not even cool enough to be vintage."

I snatched up a linen tablecloth and a coral merino sweater -- $2 and $3 respectively. Victoria has thrift stores aplenty, but I can hardly stomach the prices post-Nook life. (The above photo shows the aforementioned items as well as candlesticks and a pottery vase I Nooked myself.)