Newsletter

		Jewelry Designer of fine custom art jewelry

Newsletter:
Compliments of the Season

Hello again from beautiful St Maarten. The seasonal spirit is with us. Everywhere the decorations and lights make for a festive mood. We’ve had some really good weather as of late…..crystal clear blue sky and early trade-winds bringing in that pleasant relief from humidity. From all accounts it sounds as though our northerly neighbours are in for a cold winter. Hey, not to worry, you know that it’s still nice and warm down here.

Over the summer months some beautiful new jewelry designs by Hans were added to our collection. He experimented with some really unusual gem carving / cutting and also loved making some very delicate plique-a-jour enamel pieces. Not to mention the ever stunning Larimar jewelry, such a reminder of the Caribbean.

These are but a few show pieces. The new Jewelry Catalog can be viewed on the website. Here are the links to the new pages:
Unique Pendants and Titanium Jewelry

Plique-a-jour Jewelry

Tourmaline Rings

Larimar and Black Coral Jewelry

A couple of days ago it was the official start of high season. The bridge openings are back to 6 openings a day….believe me, we can see the difference. Best to avoid late afternoon trips directions from the airport to Philipsburg. The other direction is fine. It’s a shame because we enjoy Friday evenings at Buccaneer Beach Bar with Gianfranco and Max playing from 17h00- 20h00 and a bonfire that is lit on the beach. They serve the best burgers in Simpson Bay area.

Much upheaval is to be had on the political front. At one stage there was fear that the governing party was being toppled, but somehow all was straightened out. It’s important to have stability at this time, because negotiations have reached a critical stage, as to the finer details of dismantling the Netherlands Antilles.

A very important and successful Round Table Conference was held a couple of days ago. To reflect the change, the Netherlands Antilles Celebration Day has been changed to Kingdom Day.

We see that work continues on building projects, changing much of the landscape. We took pictures of the Caravanserai expansion project before Hurricane Omar. On an interesting note, here is a picture of the painted wall at the old Bamboo Bernie’s site. We’re wondering if the wall is still standing after the storm. Bamboo Bernie’s moved to the upper level in the Maho complex. The other pictures are of the Cupecoy Yacht Club development and the Blue Mall.


Caravanserrai building in August		Old Bamboo Bernie's painted wall

Cupecoy Yacht Club		Blue Mall in Cupecoy

You won’t believe what happened here. All of us know how dependant we are on electricity with our modern lifestyle. Well guess what? Are you sitting down? The newspapers announced that there is a fuel shortage at GEBE and that we could expect “load shedding”. What none of us knew, is that it would “shed”, never mind “load”. The entire Dutch side of the island was without power from 12h00 – 24h00, when our power came back on. And do you want to know why? Because GEBE, our electricity supplier, simply ran out of fuel. Fingers can be pointed this way or that way, but the bottom-line remains that at the start of high season, GEBE ran out of fuel. There is no quick solution to such a dilemma….fuel is not transported on go-fast boats. Never a dull moment. Luckily Hans sees the humour in situations like these, as illustrated in his cartoon.

We managed to “sneak away” and attend a well-known and well respected artist, Roland Richardson’s master class demonstrations, taking place every Wednesday from 10h00 – 13h00 at the La Samanna Art gallery where a great deal of his work is exhibited. It was an awesome experience. To see a blank canvass transformed right in front of you is quite magical, which very few painters share with an appreciative audience.

Roland Richardson’s signature style, which he captures so magnificently in his paintings, is the flamboyant flower. And were they in full bloom this year or what!!! We’ll sign off with this picture taken by Hans…..red symbolizing the spirit of Christmas.

We wish you and your families joy over the festive season with good health and peace in the coming year.

Fondly,

Hans and Anne