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Best of the west
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Yeehaw! Give them cowboys and fish and everything swish
by GENEVIEVE PAIEMENT
Besides their totem poles and all that choice cheeb, beautiful British Columbia also has quite the reputation for tasty salmon. And it just may be the perfect gift for your lox-fiend auntie. The succulent Pacific Smoked Salmon option comes straight from Victoria--order it off the 'Net and it arrives in 24-72 hours. Choose from sockeye salmon ($6.25-61.95) or pink salmon ($6.95-111.95); both come in a heat-processed vacuum pouch. Put it in a cedar gift box with original northwest native artwork ($12.95-89.95) and watch auntie's eyes light up. Visit mysmokedsalmon.com to place an order.
For the wannabe cowboy boyfriend, check out Sergio Leone's super-duper The Man With No Name Trilogy: The Good, the Bad & the Ugly--For a Few Dollars More--Fistful of Dollars ($39.95 video, $49.95 DVD at Boîte Noire).
And for mom, who prefers plants and paintings to shoot-'em-up picture shows, offer her an enchanting window on the West Coast of Canada, and its effect on Canadian grand dame of painting Emily Carr, with Emily Carr Country, a brand new book by Courtney Milne ($60, McClelland & Stewart). Milne has placed his beautiful photographs of striking West Coast natural landscapes alongside Carr's loving descriptions of the land that shaped her art so thoroughly.
For an intellectual exploration of Western art mistress Georgia O'Keeffe and her application of Eastern ideals in her quintessentially Western still-life painting, there's Elizabeth Hutton Turner's Georgia O'Keeffe: The Poetry of Things (Yale, $54.50). Turner's analytical essays are illustrated by O'Keeffe's works.
Blazing saddles
Not everybody wants to jingle-bell rock the night away over the holidays--Uncle Bob wants to kick up his heels in a fitful, moonshine-fuelled hoedown, doesn't he? Help him get busy with The Western Collection: 25 Cowboy Classics by Gene Autry ($14.99 at Indigo). With staples like "Back in the Saddle Again," "Home on the Range" and "Tumbling Tumbleweeds," you can't go wrong.
Here's one for dad: if he always wanted a nice, crisp "chapeau de cowboy," but mom forbade this indulgence out of sheer embarrassment, go ahead and grant him his wish--he's old enough to look as ridiculous as he wants. Visit Henri-Henri hatters at 189 Ste-Catherine for an authentic Stetson or Akubra cowboy hat of wool, rabbit or beaver felt ($59-350). And that hat may be the gift that really keeps on giving, since Henri-Henri offers hat cleaning and maintenance as well, to ensure their products' long lives.
For the animal lover in your life, the one who doesn't just stick to fluffy, cuddly creatures like puppies or hamsters, there are cold-blooded western reptiles to be bought. Oh joy--nothing like a scaly beast to brighten the holidays. Head on down to the Reptile Depot (4232 Notre Dame W.) for desert iguanas from Nevada ($50-250) or horned toads from Texas ($50). The store also carries five or six other species who hail from out west and they'll help you pick out the right desert-like (or whatever custom environment is needed) home for the little dude.
On a similarly freaky note, L.A.-based publisher Alyson Books (c'mon, that's enough to make it sort of western, no?) has just released My Son Divine ($30.95), a touching memoir by Frances Milstead about her delightful, if extremely odd, entertainer son, the late great Divine. This is, without a doubt, a picture-perfect gift idea for any fan of underground filmmaking or crossdressing, or both. The book features many never-before-published photos of the 300-pound actor who often did drag, the man John Waters once called "a terrorist drag queen." Waters is quoted here, too, and there are endlessly funny anecdotes about their collaborations on such unforgettable indie fare as Pink Flamingos and Female Trouble.
If a more squeaky-clean version of American living suits your loved ones, consider giving them a trip to Brooklyn Heights (3981 St-Laurent), a private spa/personal training centre. Their very USA approach to "personal health care" includes a veritable melting pot of services and products from massages and specialty skin care products to candles and jewellery. Call 845-1661 for prices and details.
Finally, for your couch-encrusted hemp-activist, BC import buddy, help relieve his homesickness with a nice pipe or bong all the way from Vancouver (by Weston or Puff, $30-75). Look no further than local hemp emporium Je L'ai (159 Duluth E.) for all your patchouli-granola, West-Coast gifties for the cazh kids actually from there. It's all good, eh?
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