Been a very long time: HAPPY NEW YEAR!

It has been too long.
I was full of good intentions but they went by the board; disillusioned with the 'new' jewellery biz i stepped back from it, and from associated activities such as this blog.
Briefly, there is so much involved in the promotion of a tiny business such as mine, that I feel it is too much to take on. It is not as if I am 25 years old.  So a step back was required, to regroup.
However the business is far from dead, and I will make mention later in the blog of what will be happening.

Grisha and Mifa

Christmas in Garmisch Partenkirchen.
This is Grisha (5), who greeted us every morning of our stay with the family, accompanied by long suffering Mifa. We stayed in this popular skiing resort ,where my son and family are lucky enough to live, with no sign of snow. Happily for the resort it dumped immediately we left.


We set of for Poland, staying with my cousin in Vienna for a night, and on the second leg it started to lightly snow.  we arrived in the dark, in snow.

Polish snow landscape

Anita dropping in

Anita is my sister in law. There is absolutely no danger of her reading this.... but I shall in any case  be very polite here!
I suppose customs here are very like those of the countryside of the UK too, and indeed everywhere apart from very large cities, but being an only child towny, I am still not so used to large families who live very close by! I find it very funny that people just turn up. We had an especially large clump when Anita was here to check on her husband, the plumber was here and then Andrzej (about 55) walked in.
Frightened by lightning as a child Andrzej does not speak or do anything, it seems. But he comes around. And smiles a lot.

!st day

The first day here Stefan got stuck in. Priorities were kitchen and shower room. We had brought the oven and a secondhand hob from London but needed the other white goods: washing machine etc.

4 days later

4 days later, clearly incomplete but coming on a treat. It will be the best and biggest kitchen I have ever had, just terrific. Perspective looks funny as the ceiling slopes down towards the window.





So, here we are in Poland. the parents back in London have a carer living in and so we are free. And wildly enjoying it.  But we will come back to London, and all that entails: continuing to care for mother, 94, with Alzheimers, and father (96) who cares for her as long as he can. He does the major part of her care, and we provide the rest: shopping, cleaning etc etc.

And as far as the work is concerned, I have made contact with a designer who wants extra large paperweights AND some chess sets!   I am waiting for the glass forms for the chess to arrive. An exciting project.  More info for the blog when I have moved forward with them.

Meanwhile, HAPPY NEW YEAR AND HAVE A TERRIFIC 2015, EVERYONE.

The house in sun!

On my bike

Tomorrow I am off to Stopnica, Poland, to check on the house and to come back with Stefan by car.
He has been going great guns, building a staircase for the first time in his life!  Nice job.
I have started one to one Polish classes which are making a huge difference. So many things remain a mystery (ever tried to get Polish grammar?) until you get the right teacher, who makes it simple!
I have continued with the back seat position re the work, however I can feel myself climbing slowly into the front again. Slowly, mind. Nothing too precipitous.
I will be putting together a package for WWF once I am back. The idea is they will market a new WWF collection of mine, and I will too, and we will see if we can drum up some business. I need to get out to find suitable shops to carry the paperweights and anything else. I just have to get on my bike!

Honest confessions

I've missed doing the blog a few times now. Missed in the sense not done it, not pined for it.  It is the time for a little of re-evaluation.
I took a weekend out last week and spent 3 days at a London hotel, Kensington Close Hotel, Ken. High St.  Stefan had gone to Poland to work on the house (stairs and the kitchen) and I needed some space from the parents.
So I had a neighbour check in each day to see they were still breathing and could find the food, and I escaped.
3 days alone, reading, walking, swimming in their pool AND a facial on the last day. Pretty good. I am very grateful I could do that, it was splendid luxury.   Now I am back.
The days are full with things like a new walking regime (hard and exhausting); a new series of 1-1 Polish lessons; taking care of parents as per, and sorting stuff. The house is full of stuff (crap, actually) that needs to be recycled, or thrown. That means daily trips to the Sally Army with books and clothes.
I am not making anything new.
If work comes, then good. But I am feeling ambivalent about it all. To be honest. I do not feel I have the time to invest, the years it could take waiting for it to catch on...... how long? Maybe I will feel differently if somebody actually commissions something, but till then there is too much else to do. Reading for example. Has anybody else out there discovered the wonders of A.C. Grayling?  And all the classics that must be read and read, again.   But I do need to get on my bike and find some shops that will take the paperweights at least SOMEBODY must want to stock them!

Delphine

My education at school was not fantastic. If I had had Latin, learning Polish would be very much easier.... so I am learning the genitive case at this late stage. But it can be done, no biggy.
So I will leave it at that. Maybe next week there will be more about 'work', maybe not. We shall see.

Exotic animals I never knew

IJL was well worth the visit, but I was wiped out! Piotr and I brainstormed after we estimated what jewellery was of the moment so watch this space.




Courtesy of Wikipedia, I have found from the International Union for Conservation of Nature, ICUN a few exotically named, and indeed exotic, examples from the following categories of extinction.

Extinct: gone

Blackfin cisco, fish; dusky seaside sparrow; Schomburgk's deer, native of Thailand

Extinct in the wild: captive individuals survive, but there is no free living, natural population.

Wyoming toad; Hawaiian crow; Père David's deer

Wyoming Toad

Critically endangered: faces an extremely high risk of extinction in the immediate future

Axolotl, Mexican walking fish; merganser, water fowl; gharial, crocodile

Axolotl

Endangered: faces a very high risk of extinction in the near future. Bonobo; pygmy chimpanzee dhole, Indian wild dog; Goliath frog, the largest known specimens can grow up to 33 cm (13 in) in length from snout to vent, and weighs up to 3 kg (7 lb)

Goliath Frog

Vulnerable: faces a high risk of extinction in the medium-term. Dugong, the only living representative of the once-diverse family Dugongidae, similar to a sea-cow; gaur, Indian bull; fossa, cat-like, carnivorous mammal endemic to Madagascar.

Dugong

Near threatened: may be considered threatened in the near future. Asian golden cat; blue-billed duck; white-eared pheasant

Least concern: no immediate threat to the survival of the species: brown rat, brown-throated sloth, common frog.  

Brown Throated Sloth

At least we can rest easy that this sloth, this rat and this frog will outlive us all.

Launch!

Thanks to Laura, who has dealt with the Gordian complexities of the internet over the last months admirably, we have done it. It is launched.
The drawings will soon turn into items (and a  lot clearer than these pencil notes) and there will be more pics.

 

Laura was on the telly last week, wearing her Bonnie pendant. She says:

'Why didn't I think of it - next week I am sending out the PR's and newsletter again and using Bonnie's pendant in the preamble in my email to say 'As seen on Channel Four's 'Dog's: Their Secret Lives' - Aggressive Dog's Session, Nash's owner, Laura...aired 26th August (available on 4OD until ....)' 
Bonnie was her previous family dog who she had for decades. This dog in the programme, Nash, is a little bit difficult (to put it mildly).

Bonnie

To International Jewellery show this weekend, at Olympia, IJL, to check it out. I will go with a young, ambitious Polish jeweller, Piotr, who has the sense to see he needs to expand into Europe. No money in Poland. He is preparing to launch himself at Inhorghenta, Munich, February next year (where I will share his stand).

He will see if he will come and show to IJL next year. We might do it together, who knows.

Keep bum on seat

Finally finally getting to the end of the massive publicity shove Laura and I have been doing (mostly Laura) newsletter, press releases and the website all to be launched at the same time. Takes a lot of prep. No way I could have done this without her, no way at all.  It (the baby has its own identity now, called ‘It’) will need constant attention but the worst must be over.

So, yesterday sat down to do some drawing after, I am ashamed to say, months. I must put the WWF collection together for Top Drawer, and then to give to them to show at the Olympia show, details to follow. Self imposed deadline but real enough. 

Need to make drawings of all the animals and to understand them before I work on the actual piece in gold. I started with the panda.

First day, had a terrible time with ADHD…. Anything will do to interrupt me and heaven knows there are enough things going on in this house.

2^nd day was tigers. They are murder, with all those stripes that are not stripes at all, but ‘random’ marks, for camouflage of course.

Half an hour into it and the phone rings. The police. Father was knocked over, nearby, on his way to getting the bus to swimming. He crosses the busy main road when the traffic stops for the lights, always at the same place. The crossing is further down and phased so it takes ages.

But he couldn’t see the bike, of course, and it knocked him over. Ambulance, the lot. It took 4 hours till I was sitting down at the desk again.

Today, looking forward to doing the blog and pressing on with the drawings. But dad’s leg wont work. Cant put any pressure on it….so: call doc to please come. She says we need an x-ray.  Fairly urgent as hip is damaged. Thing is, as soon as he is in bed, mother is helpless. So both need feeding, etc.  Oh joy.

Waiting for ambulance as I write.

But this is what I did get done and I will continue, if it kills me.

       

Thoughts on caring

It is a cool, damp London.
Last Saturday Stefan and I drove to the Red House Cone at Stourbridge, the glass centre, where I taught a class to six delightful students. It was run by Simon Bruntnell as part of his new venture up there. Excellent. What a lovely set up.
I have 2 students coming today, one of whom, M, came a few weeks ago and the poor dear had to be sent home.
My mother was having the vapours and we needed the ambulance etc and all hell was bursting forth. M was so good about it, and is back for another try today. Lets hope mother can hold it in till the end of the class.
It illustrates the struggle many of us carers have. We have to hang onto our lives, and not become subsumed into the caring stuff.

Mother and me c.1949

summer hols nearly over

Stefan and I have been in Poland since 6 July, and will return finally after a month.  The trip is coming to an end as I write, only 3 days to go and we leave for Warsaw (Stefan dentist); Vienna (quickie visit to my cousin, Stefan’s 1^st time to Austria); Garmisch Partenkirchen for 3 days to visit son and family, and finally London. It was not a conventional ‘holiday’.

This is the house. 100km from Krakow, Poland.

We now have a pavement and new rainwater pipes!

It is far enough along for us to sleep in, and cook, but is basic. Cement floors are difficult, and in the baking heat I take showers outside, in the mud patch, with the hose. Mud due to recent torrential rain.

But the visit has been very productive.  All sorts  of work have been done and continues.

Such progress has been made that I feel very much at home. Stefan’s  family as ever is most welcoming, and I have made a bit of a breakthrough with the language. Really nice at last not to feel totally outside it all.

Our first breakfast... exciting or what.

It took a while to shake off the bad conscience leaving the work behind, to say nothing of other domestic commitments, but in time I felt better. Laura and I have been keeping up a long distance dialogue. She too has had her adventures that had nothing to do with work, so we have both been dodging domestic events and sparse internet connections while finalizing the website and polishing the newsletter. Roaming charges are prohibitive, still, so communication when it works is precious. You certainly learn to be economical with the chat.

Once back there is spot of teaching in the Midlands, then I need to get stuck in well and good into the WWW collection, using the Fairmined gold leaf, and getting ready with anything new that is cooking for Top Drawer, mid September, Olympia.

Off for a break!

We are off tomorrow!
It has been a long time since I needed a break so badly. I could sleep for a week.
We have a lovely Czech girl to be in the house for the parents, who will be here for nearly the whole month we are away.
I will miss the garden here... loads of veg. but then there will be plenty to eat in Poland. No danger of going hungry.

Work on www.ffjewellery.com is coming on, so will not be long.
Once back I WILL get more work done:  I have to do the sample pieces for the WWF for them to show in the Autumn.  Pictures of all sorts of endangered species (practically everything).

I have a new friend in Poland who can make the settings for very competitive rates.... so maybe there will be a more affordable range in the future. He has made some of the signet rings, so I can                 show them at Top Drawer. Mid September, Olympia, London.  More later.

Kicking off, or not?

I thought at one point maybe it is all kicking off, but on the other hand, maybe not.

Dad has infection of some sort and mother had an op. (finally) on her hand for a malignant nasty thing. A one day affair with local anaesthetic. I took her and stayed throughout.  So he, who looks after her, was out of action, willing but terribly weak, and she came home only one hand to work with!

She is more alzheimery than ever. First night she pulled ALL dressings off (skin graft too, so 2 sites) so we spent the WHOLE next day arranging and getting into hospital and getting redressed. From 9am till 7pm, that was.  The NHS is just great.

I got to the point any normal person would, and called Social Services, crying, please help us!  Small letters as it was not dramatic, just a case of, oh jeez. I have had enough of this.
We will get assessed next week and will get help, at last.

On the up, this is our Polish house!  It is much much further than this, with plastered walls, underfloor heating, floors next week and of course windows!  We shall stay in it this time and while there sort out all the fun parts: kitchen, tiles, fireplace and so on. And wifi, or veefee as they call it.

Stopnica, near Krakow, Poland

Meanwhile, Laura (my brick) and I are carrying on and the website gets ever nearer. 

I shall be doing Top Drawer in mid September, which is very exciting, so we will start to make a noise about that next month. Needless to say I am not getting any work done. I had a student booked for the day we had to go back to hosp and what with trying to get an ambulance etc etc she, poor dear went home, and we carried on battling on with the dramas.  There is considerable stress added to the picture trying to deal with the enforced idleness.

One week to go and we shall be off again, but still in contact should anyone care to get in touch.

Letting it all hang out.

Today, finally, Friday 5pm I sit and face the blog.
There is plenty going on, mentally and physically. I don't especially want this to turn into a personal diary, but at the same time it is cathartic to write stuff down. And maybe one person will read it and recognise something.
The biggest part is the caring for the oldies. They are getting older and older, more dependent. And yet. We were away in Poland for 9 days and dad insisted they would be fine. He only needed stuff in the freezer, and indeed they were fine. But today he is sleeping, fighting off an infection. Is actually very dependent while he is like that, cannot stand up.... let alone make lunch for the 2 of them.
I had my son and grandson visit for a few days and as soon as I got back from the airport I needed to make them lunch, and all that goes with that.
If anyone has been through this sort of thing, they will know. It is not just the physical work. It is the fear that hits when you see your dad unable to walk, your mum looking blank and confused, and you are trying to judge whether the doc needs to be called......and if it all were to start, to kick off as I think of it, then I am close to panic. The end of life thing, first one then the other, and all the stuff.  Very scary.

ANYWAY. This blog is supposed to be professional. I cannot get a lot of work done. But I am doing what I can. Laura and I ARE getting the website into some sort of shape. It already looks jolly good, I think, but still needs work. Have a visit at www.ffjewellery.com .

You can only do what you can do, as any mother with small children will know, something is better than nothing.
I have no picture this week. I will post one of the Polish house soon. We have plastered walls, windows and will have floors by the time we go again, early July.   SOOO exciting.

Witchcraft

I do not and will probably never understand what has been going on.
Yesterday precious hours were frittered, struggling with aforementioned pictures.
Today, it works.

New ring, faux amber About 1 1/4 in but needs to be measured.
Is big. It is quartz, wonderful stone.

Here is the proof.

Picture Jungle

It is a total jungle out there, with all the computers, programmes, tricks and whatnot. And the progs get out of date, and you have to upgrade, but they are not compatible, and they cant be saved, or exported or whatever you want to do cant be DONE.
Dear reader can see no doubt that I am a teensie bit frustrated here.
Old computer had old version of Photoshop.... no good any more I am told, and not compatible with newer computer. So go to GIMP.   Finally sorted how to make the altered pics smaller, but no way can I save them as jpegs. And I mean no way. You are just not allowed, I read all the threads on it.
So unless you have Gimp on yr machine (I think) you cant open them!
Nor can I even put the wretched pic up here, it has to be saved as a jpeg and I dont know how to do that!
grr.