Newsletter

		Jewelry Designer of fine custom art jewelry

Newsletter:
Summer

Phew! We were worried there for a moment or two, but fortunately the first two storms of the season Ana and Bill passed south and due north of us. A reminder, that it’s that time of the year. The storm brought much needed rain. The hills, especially Indigo Bay / Cay Bay were looking brown and barren. Even the cistern levels were getting lower rapidly.

Hans has been developing cutting-edge designs of motion gemstones. The design is technically challenging and very time consuming with a fifty percent success rate. Not that that deters Hans, who has this tenacity to keep on experimenting until he is happy with the end result. Hans discusses the concept here:
http://hansmeevis.blogspot.com/2009/07/of-cutting-carving-and-composite.html

Follow this link to our latest jewelry designs.

These stunning new Aquamarine designs will be featured in Destination next year. Don’t they look like liquid flowing water?

Look at the improved view that greets us every day. Truly inspirational scenery, feeding the soul. All the brush and wrecks were removed. A US$850 000.00 pier was built by government to promote employment through fishing.

Political news:
A new National Alliance / Heyliger Coalition Government came into power after the Democratic Party lost their majority seat. The new Government immediately tackled the controversial labour regulation which was implemented by the old Government in January. Now a committee will do an impact study meaning it was put on the back burner. The labour policy caused quite a stir amongst the business community.

Much discussion is taking place about the anticipated independence of St Maarten from the Netherlands Antilles. It seems like the 1^st of January 2010 date will have to be postponed again…. for the 4th time.

Island news:
The new round-about at the bottom of Cay hill (that terrifying no-rules-dare-to-go intersection at the bottom of the hill) will soon be completed. Hopefully it will bring some much needed relief to the Simpson Bay traffic situation. Admittedly the traffic has been much lighter as of late. The round-about project experienced its inevitable hiccups. Firstly a corner property owner was asked to “donate” a section of his property. Then, heavy-duty truck drivers had to demonstrate that they will not be able to negotiate the tight turn. Only then did the engineers reduce the size of the centre, which had already been constructed. Better now than never. The very questionable design of having passengers/pedestrians cross the main road in front of the airport is also being rectified at the moment. The ring-road construction project around the Salt Pond in Philipsburg is under way. It is slated to improve traffic in Philipsburg. Many are doubtful of that and would prefer to see more parking spaces. Major repairs have been done to the draw bridge. The bridge will again close for two weeks to maritime traffic to facilitate these repairs.

On the cultural side :
A fun musical was presented at the Philipsburg Community Centre by Dutch Nationals Joost and DJ, who were sponsored by the Dutch Government to promote and train local talent for two weeks. It was a privilege to see Clara Reyes perform. She is usually active behind the scenes producing and choreographing her own shows. Using sections from various musicals made for a lively performance.

St. Maarten Culinary Team did us proud once again. As you know St. Maarten/St. Martin is known as the Culinary Capital of the Caribbean. Winning silver medal for the 2009 Taste of the Caribbean Competition hosted by Puerto Rico, reinforces that statement. Well done team!!!! The 2009 St Maarten / St. Martin Culinary Team consisted of the manager John Jackson from Saratoga Restaurant, leader Frank Maer from Le Pressoir, Dino Jagtiani from Temptation/Rare, Stephane Decluseau from L’Astrolabe and Michael Geffroy also from Le Pressior with Paul Peterson from Temptation.
If this is not an impressive menu then what is? Produced from a mystery 19 ingredient basket. Listen to this…..
Coconut-lime Gouper Ceviche, beetroot foam with an asiago madelaine stuffed with Fava bean hummus and cinnamon spiced plantain chip as appetizer. This was followed by Tamarind-Coconut braised certified Angus Beef topped with creole ratatouille and Yantilla croquet on a chicken-mango chutney. The outstanding dessert of Chocolate Mousse stuffed with lemongrass, carrot and orange jam on sweet potato-coconut biscuit. Lime Tapioca Sabayon, Hibiscus Gelee and a croquant of brown sugar got special recognition by winning the award for Best use of Orchid Chocolate.

Not to be outdone, Paul Peterson of Temptation made history by winning gold for the second time in the Bartender of the Year category with his “Soualiga Sling” – sounds like a fun-time drink with severe consequences made of fresh watermelon juice, peach rum, coconut rum, fresh passion fruit and a dash of lime. We can see ourselves sipping copious amounts of that, lying in a hammock under the waving palm fronds, staring out over the sparkling aqua blue water, designing fantasy jewelry like this scarab beetle ring.

We readied ourselves for a quiet season this year, but were pleasantly surprised in large part due to your loyal support, which we thank you for. For the most part the island in general is reporting lower occupancies and business is down considerably.

The sad news is that the Cigar shop next to us closed down. Laurant and his lovely wife, Yordanka with their daughter Carla will soon be leaving for Argentina.
The good news is that in November Lal’s will be relocating to new premises behind Gourmet Marche serving lunches, early dinners and take-away. Great! Hans loves the Bunny Chow, which is half a loaf of bread hollowed out and filled with lamb curry.

We are planning a trip in September to Florida and the Carolinas on a path finding mission and to set up the preliminary admin details. The plan is to open a sister company in the States with the intention to keep us busy in the low season.

So much excitement!

Best regards,

Hans and Anne