June 26, 2004

Mauna Kea Views

We are having a bit of different weather... The sky is white like shining pearl,the sun shines through the clouds, bounces around, refracts actually and brightens the world...I feel like a flight of angels could swoop down... This is how I think heaven will be...It makes the water of the bay a blue grey green and rather than sparkle like it does on a clear day, its like dark marble with a glow from within. Colors are washy, like a watercolor painting that has faded from bright light...

In contrast to the brightness outside, its been dismal as far as sales are concerned at the store. I somewhat expected this, June and July are the worst months in this business, but the bills still got to be paid.

I have had a possible HUGE blessing tho, and I still have to wait and see how things will pan out. Douglas Glenn of Douglas Fine Jewelry in the Kona Village Resort, was in the shop this week. He has been a great supported of Azure Seas, and had gone to the old shop but saw that we had moved and people at the Cunningham directed him to our new location. He was very pleased with the look of the new store. When Woody told him of my plans to go to jewelers school in Ohio, he said "Wont that be a lot of money, I could teach you everything that you'd need to know. In fact, it would be great if I could have someone I could send people to get things repaired on this side of the island." He has a studio in Honokaa, up the coast about 1 hour from here I could go there one day a week and help him, and learn something, then work on things here once I get my bench set up. He also has a contact that may have a complete bench set up for sale...Sadly I think I know who that is, a fellow jeweler, a young man that was recently diagnosed with terminal cancer. He's in Honolulu and is not expected to recover. Its tragic, but my buying his gear would help me, and relieve the family of having to dispose of it long distance and I help them out financially. All in all, this sounds good... I lost two sales yesterday, because I cant size things and I have two large custom projects that are simple yet I could make a lot of money doing them... Its a constant prodding forward toward this goal.

Should this happen, I save myself a ton of money, no flight to Ohio which while I love to travel I dread the discomfort and a bit of embarrassment that comes with being a large woman is a tiny airline seat. I dearly wanted the adventure of the trip though, and regret that I am not going. Maybe next spring, that might be a good use for the Merrie Monarch "no sales" week next April.

Woody is struggling with the guard job. He knows that either its the local thing ie everything is "tomorrow", or hes not getting hours cause hes a old white guy. We will be pretty much ok next month, when due to the way the pay periods fall he will get more hours, but over the long terms this is a slow painful financial death for us.

I cant seem to get him to look for another job. I don't understand the reticence. Rejection? I don't know. I would keep looking. But I am not him...I am driven by different motivations.

This pay period He had an extra day, and he got the gal in Kona to take a day off so hes working Sunday. Its a long week for him.

I am enjoying the time alone. The Kitties miss him when he is gone. I find all of their toys on the bed with me when Woody is not home. I don't understand why they do that...Is it an offering? a bribe..."We will surrender all of the catnip mousies if you tell us where he is???" I tell them not to worry and we all have a good cuddle and a catnip mousie hunt in the covers... It beats them biting my feet as I sleep!

I can report that my Mother is better but I wonder if she has had a stroke. I think something "else" is now wrong. I don't know. The medical reports don't show anything more than the relentless march of Parkinsons... However, her friends have demanded that the nursing home get her out of bed and dressed and into the dining room everyday. I think that has got to help. Maybe she has given up as some people think. Or its just that time is marching onward...I have only the experience of my Father's excruciatingly slow march to the grave. 17 years of disability, and the last year was the worst, when we all agreed the chemotherapy was worst than cancer. His mind was nearly gone then, maybe this is similar. I don't know...

I think my biggest problem is that I have too much time to think about things. I spend a lot of time thinking when I should be praying and working on stuff that needs to get done...

I am working on a business plan for the repair side of the business, I will be meeting with Kathy Hammes to start the work on setting up a separate business. This is exciting. Azure Seas is about to get a sibling!

A blog note. No Saturday Slant this week. Im not sure what is going on with Pariah Burke, but I hope that all is well.