Ruri's house is located on a hill facing the sea where the entire town is made of stone of various colors, from the roads to the buildings. It is one of the small but lovely two-story houses. The entrance is terracotta with red geraniums, and the two windows are beautifully decorated with flowers arranged in hanging baskets. A simple and elegant arrangement. Arranged by Ruri. The sea breeze that comes in through the see-through curtains from the window overlooking the sea is comfortable.
Ruri met her husband Ryan at his art exhibition. It is an encounter at an art gallery near the flower shop where Ruri often goes. His works are modern landscape paintings with colorful colors and people are included and have a very warm feeling. Ruri really liked Ryan’s work, which depicts the seaside, and bought it. That was how the two met. They are both very nature-oriented, have no interest in luxury, and are very similar in that they spend their time surrounded by only what they need. Ruri runs a miscellaneous goods shop. She sells only products made from natural materials. It's not busy, but the job of selling environmentally friendly products fits well with Ruri's sense of values.
Ruri has Mondays off. On Monday, she went to the weekly fresh market. She was going to buy flowers and food to decorate the living room. The market was a little less crowded than usual. She bought the ingredients at the organic vegetable shop she usually go to and looked around at other shops. There are many interesting items such as handmade soaps, sauces and breads. Ruri makes her own soap, bakes her own bread, and Ryan is good at making sauces. Every time she goes to the market, she come back with a fresh feeling. There is something life-inspiring about getting in touch with people who make a living selling a variety of handcrafted items. Ruri and Ryan make most of their own, but Ruri thinks it's important to buy something each time to help the people who open the market.
She finished shopping and was on her way home. She entered an alley a little way in from the seaside, and turned right just past the main street lined with meat markets and liquor stores, to take a look at an alley she had never turned before. Among the various shops lined up, she found a shop that she was interested in. It was a second hand shop. She put the things she bought in the store and searched the store. Inside, there were old tableware, rare silver teapots, linens, and various other things that seemed to be of value. Behind the piles of linen she could see a saucer that looked like a small ceramic olive trough. The flower patterned porcelain doesn't look expensive, but it has a unique cuteness. Only one was left. Ruri picked it up. At that moment, an indescribable, mysterious feeling welled up in her hand. Or maybe it feels like she've met something that she should have met for the rest of my life. Ruri didn't think about it that way at the time. She was the only one among the many items in the store that caught Ruri's attention.
Ruri asked a very tasteful female clerk about the origin of the pottery, but she replied that she didn't know where it came from. Said it was there from the beginning. It didn't even cost $3, but she was extremely satisfied, as if she had obtained something that money couldn't buy.
She treasured the pottery and placed it on her piano. Ruri thought it was the place for her new favorite pottery. On the bottom of the pottery, it was written in fading English letter that it was made in Japan. She didn't know which company it was made from, but she didn't care whether came from Japan or which manufacturer. She was happy to bring home her favorite little pottery.
Ruri's life up until now was neither good nor bad, nor flashy, nor plain, but rather a simple life. Ruri was happy about that. She didn't expect much, and if she could do simple but mundane things with a happy feeling, Ruri would be fine with that.
Ryan comes home and notices the pottery, oh, it's a new plate. He said to Ruri, and he said it looked familiar, as if its place had been there before. She thought so too.
Ruri’s store opens at 11:00. Ruri purchases only what she likes one by one. The interior of the store is comfortable, like a room full of Ruri's favorite things. Wooden statues, Kenyan wooden ethnic body carvings, wooden games, rectangular handmade glass vases, Vietnamese floor lamps, Japanese ceramics, Ethiopian fruit baskets, Asian fabrics, Ethnic items such as African blankets are lined up. All are unified with natural materials. When a customer comes to buy something they like, she often sees them choose it without hesitation, and she always think that this is also a connection between things and people. It rained in the morning that day. It's almost noon now, and it's already sunny, but thanks to the rain in the morning, she feel like the town has been cleaned up.
A female customer came in saying ''hi''. She wasn't very amiable, but she was obviously a gentle and pleasant woman. She wears a cool cotton pullover and loose cotton pants. She is ethnically dressed. Ruri also said hello and welcomed her with her smile. She said feel free to take a look, and she welcomed. A lady is looking for a fruit basket to put in her dining room. She said. Ruri told the woman that she had baskets from Ethiopia and Kenya, and took her items and explained. A woman asked if it was made in Vietnam. She said she used to live in Vietnam and her house is decorated also from Southeast Asia, so if possible she would like something from Southeast Asia, she said. When Ruri says she doesn't have a basket but a lamp from Vietnam, she says the woman was actually looking for the lamp as well as her eyes twinkled. She saw it and she liked it so much she bought it. A lade told Ruri a little about the time when she was in Asia, and she often went to Thailand, but the damage after the tsunami, and the chaos in the country afterwards, has now greatly diminished the peaceful part of it before. And the number of tourists has decreased, and she said very sad. She had a little conversation with Ruri, and Ruri was very knowledgeable about the state of the world. Ruri really understood. She said Ruri she would come again and she left cheerfully. A few customers came that day, but there were no sales. Ruri sometimes asked herself why she was running this shop with so little income. The rent is very cheap, and the landlord says he doesn't need a rent, just because it's nice to have a nice shop, and he rents it out for a free rent, so she can get by, but Ruri doesn't care about herself. She asks if this is okay. It's too mediocre, too frugal, and miscellaneous goods in a fashionable town, but she tries not to think about it too much, but deep down in her heart, she thinks it's boring. She says she doesn't have the courage to change her current life.
Ruri finished her work and headed home. She got the ingredients for dinner at the supermarket. She's going to make Mediterranean food and vegetable fruit salad tonight. Ruri is 95% vegetarian. Ryan also likes her Ruri's diet, and both of them try not to eat much meat. She feels more stamina when she doesn't eat meat. never tired. It doesn't cause heartburn, and it keeps her body silhouette. Ryan always chooses the wine. He always chooses unusual wines, and Ruri enjoys tasting each one differently. They both love cooking. Every day, he prepares restaurant-style dishes, drinks wine, and enjoys the end of the day. Rather than going out, spending a relaxing time together at home is the real pleasure of the two of us.
After putting the purchased materials into a white cotton shopping bag, Ruri headed home. On her way home, she passed a woman in the crowd. The woman was about the same age with beautiful long black hair, and she looked clean. She was a woman you could see anywhere, but for some reason her Ruri consciousness went to her.
The dinner was delicious as usual and thoroughly enjoyed with wine. For Ruri, her greatest pleasure is setting the dinner table for that night's dinner, simply decorating it with things you have at home, like a different restaurant each night. Today's dinner is Syrian food. A ful of bean dish and a Mediterranean salad with oranges. Lemon with Dijon, mint, and Italian parsley dressing are an exquisite combination. The wine was a company of Portuguese wine.
The next day was cloudy. The weather forecast predicted that it might rain. Some new items were scheduled to arrive at her store, so she entered the store a little early. The product was delivered before the store opened, and she was busy checking the product and displaying it in the store. This time, although the number was small, the store was lined with attractive, natural products with new faces. In the afternoon, two young women came into the store and bought a set of colorful Mexican plates and wooden salad spoons and forks, which were new to the store. Some Spanish plates are similar to Mexican ones, but the women chose the bright Mexican colors. Ruri thought to herself that she suited her bright, sunflower-like personality. After that, there were several customers, and for some reason today there were more customers visiting the store than usual. Ruri couldn't help but wonder if these products were supposed to come and came here on this day. Today's sales were better than usual. As if a new product had brought a new owner to the store, Ruri thought that as soon as she had followed the script, the product had gone where it was supposed to go. She closed her shop for the day and she was on her way home. She needed to buy tags for display, she needed to go to the stationery shop, she took her way to less frequented neighborhoods away from where she usually goes. After she finished shopping at stationery, she found a natural food store just around the corner. She always wished that there was a natural food store in this town, so she found it unexpectedly and was excited as if she had discovered a treasure. She quickly went inside.
The black-haired woman who passed her on the street greeted . A woman said, 'Hi, welcome. Have I met you somewhere? ’ she asked Ruri. Ruri said her that she passed by her yesterday. She said she was impressed with your beautiful black hair. The woman flipped her skirt and bent her knees like a princess to greet her, she said thank you. She couldn't help but laugh together. In the store, various organic vegetables, flour, rice, and natural home goods are arranged in an orderly manner. From every corner you can see the neat yet natural character of the woman. The woman introduced herself as Rami. The woman introduced herself as having moved from a coastal town on the other side of the peninsula and opened this shop. That day, Ruri bought ingredients for dinner and went home. Ruri told Ryan that day, after dinner, while she was drinking wine, she passed by a woman, and she quickly talked to her about today's store. She said that Ryan’s encounter with the black-haired woman might be a fate, like her encounter with pottery.
After that, Ruri was able to get what she needed at Rami's shop almost every day because she was a naturalist, and Rami also visited Ruri's shop many times. Ruri believes that ingredients that can be safely put into the mouth will make the taste of the meal even more exceptional. The two started talking about business and other things, and a natural friendship began.
By the end of September, the heat had eased, even in the mild Mediterranean climate. Ruri felt like going to that antique shop again and went. She was also greeted by the same very pleasant lady. Ruri told the woman that she had run a shop in a different location before, but she asked where. She's the other side of the coast, she said. Before she started the shop, she said she inherited her merchandise from someone who had an antique shop before that and she decided to close it. She said she had that pottery from that time. She also found that the store was the same coast where Rami came from. It was a coincidence in her mind, she thought. At the store she got a coffee cup made in Spain and she came home.
The next day, Ruri went to Rami's shop again and bought vegetables and fruits. At that time, she said that she had bought a pottery that she liked at an antique shop, but an antique shop came from the coast where Rami lived. Rami asked how big the pottery was. Open her palm, this much? she asked. Ruri, yes. she replied, and she began to speak of the pattern on the pottery that Ruri had obtained. Ruri was surprised, does she know the pottery? When she asked, she said that in fact, Rami's mother was running an antique shop, and that her mother loved it from the bottom of her heart, and that her mother had acquired her after a fateful encounter. she said. What a coincidence! Ruri said, if it belongs to your precious family, I'll bring it! When she said to Rami, Rami shook her head and said that Rami told mother she should leave mother’s favorite pottery to herself. Mother said The people who came to the shop should have it, so when she decided to close the shop, that pottery should go to that person when someone needs it someday. It seems things come for reason. Rami said that she was supposed to meet Ruri and that pottery. She thought that Ruri from her heart. Ruri once again thought that ties with things and ties with people really existed. That's why she told herself that she didn't dear to her heart the people and things she should have met. When she buys vegetables at Rami's shop, she finds herself choosing vegetables that look delicious from the bottom of her heart, while thinking about what her precious Ryan is eating. On her way out, she said she thanked Rumi from the bottom of her heart and left the store.
In this town, she used to think that she was boring before she opened a store. And she came to think that it was a very precious thing in the life that she had chosen. On her way home, she walked over the cobbled hills, the voices of the townsfolk going about their daily lives, and the way she looked at them, she felt a sense of familiarity in her heart. The postcard sight of her sunset lighting up her city and the sea seemed more beautiful than ever.
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