This page will contain the latest available news for the website, as well as a picture of the week (if there is one that stands out,) and a copy of the most recent newsletter sent to customers of the website.  This page may also have a "Weekly Special," which will be a percentage off of a given category, or perhaps free shipping on a category between the dates listed.  This special will be available ONLY to the website customers (no notice will appear in the real world shop) and will apply ONLY to items paid for immediately with PayPal.  Check this page:

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Weekly Special:  Stay tuned...

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Newsletter #232

Sunday, February 28

Well, February is gone with its hearts and candy, so it's time to look ahead to March with the wind and rain that it is famous for.  In like a lion, out like a lamb or the other way around.  I always say that I am going to pay attention to that and see if it pans out that way, then I always forget to make note of the beginning so I know if it is the same as the end of the month.  If today is any indicator of what tomorrow might be, March will be coming in like a lamb.  Our weather today couldn't be much better had I planned it myself; brilliantly sunny and temp at this moment in the 60's with little or no wind at all.  I saw a contingent of ten high-dollar motorcycles with their riders sailing majestically south on highway 60 this morning, the machines being plied by the doctors and lawyers who always ride bikes of that stripe as they play at being weekend rebels.  They couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day for their ride. 

Things here have been deadly dull for the most part; the weather hasn't been as pretty over the last couple weeks as it is today and the shop traffic usually reflects the conditions outdoors.  Of course the web traffic remains the same regardless of the weather and for that I am grateful.  I've been doing up pictures of the items that just never got photographed for the website and yesterday I got them cropped and rotated and resized and loaded to the FTP client, so today I should be able to get the descriptions and measurements written up on the individual pages and get those reloaded to reflect the changes for you.  I'll give you the page links as the Newsletter rambles on. 

BlingBling Plaza (Jewelry News)
It was Ruby Week here at Blue Moon; I sold three of them!  The largest of the Star Rubies was purchased along with two unique cuts of good quality Ruby; the stylized Baguette and the Trillion.  If it were not for the enormous out-of-pocket position I find myself in over the challenge from Ray of being able to acquire Sapphires of equal quality to the one he showed me and at a considerably better price, I would look at Ralphi's Ruby offerings, but I just can't find the resources to do that at this time.  Not to worry, though; I have lots of beautiful Rubies on the website and I believe that anyone wanting a nice one can still find a treasure there. 

As you may have noticed, the Kasumiga Pearl didn't last long; it has a new home in California!  I had pressed Kiro to get a few more for me if he could, and he did come through.  I will be receiving not one more but FOUR more!  Of course, they will each be uniquely different from each other in respects to color and presentation.  He got a creamy White one for me and I have to say that I have never actually had one of these in White before.  There is also to be a Cream, a Bronze and another Pink Rainbow!  There was also a pretty Baroque South Seas Cream White Pearl of lovely dimension and quality, so I said I would take it too.  Then he said that he had a group of something like 40 or 42 Keshi Pearls; smaller (in the 7-11mm range) but in unique colors so I said I would take those too.  Things got even more complicated when he described some Akoya Keshi; three of them in white.  I'm not sure what size they are, but I took those too.  I'm pretty excited about this, even though it will be a couple weeks before they clear the various customs houses and arrive here.  I'll keep you posted on the progress there in the next Newsletter. 

Also to keep track of will be those Sapphires I purchased.  Some of them are being cut in Sri Lanka, some in Vietnam and some in Thailand, so they most likely will not all arrive at the same time.  The final count for the package(s) comes to 19 and the colors will be Padparadscha, Blue, White, Yellow and Green.  Also arriving will be a Yellow Fluorite, a couple of Emeralds, a Ruby, a few Moonstones and a nice little Spinel in a violet tone of blue.  I can never focus on one venue at a time, so stepped off the cliff and got those few other stones too instead of just looking through the list of Sapphires and being done with it, lol.  The one Ruby that I had authorized ends up being a Trillion, so that may at least replace the one I sold yesterday.  I'm tapped out for funds in the Loose Stones and Loose Pearls venues for a while now, but at least the groups that will be arriving will go a long way toward filling the pages and generating the money for the next group, whatever those may turn out to be! 

Kimono News
I authorized the shipment of the next group and holy crap; almost swallowed my tongue when I got the emailed invoice for them.  My first thought was 'what the hell did I do NOW?'  Since it took me a while to go over Kiro's various emails of things I could get, along with the separate emails regarding those Kasumi and Akoya, etc., I had basically forgotten that I was already deeply invested in this garment shipment, so a couple of things in my world are going to be put off for a short time while I recover from this particular snafu.  I think there are 44 items in the shipment, which explains the dramatically higher cost of receiving a shipment from my darling Kiro; usually the parcels go around half or a bit more in terms of item count.  I do know that I will be receiving a Scroll with two carp on it, four Happis, two pairs of Women's Hakamas, some Obiages and Obijimes, a couple of Kimono for Women and a number of Haoris for both Men and Women.  Most particularly I want to mention that I will be getting some Obiages and Obijimes in black; they are hard to find and they do sell spectacularly well.  I think there will be some pairs of Haori-himo for Women's Haoris too; Kiro had them, offered them and I bought them.  I am pretty sure that Kiro knows that it is unlikely that I will decline anything he offers to me; he knows my taste so well and it is certainly not above him to engage in a little game of dangle the carrot from time to time, but then I do the same thing so I can hardly fault him for it, can I? 

For today, the items for you to check out once I get them loaded will be presented on the Women's Black Haori page, the Women's Haori page, the Men's Kimono page, the Hanten & Happi page and the Japanese Miscellaneous page.  He did send along as a preview (read enticement) two each of the Black Obiages and Black Obijimes, so I photographed them too and they will appear on their regular page, awaiting their kinsmen showing up sometime this week or next; this 'parcel' is being shipped in several pieces due to the size, which is above the one-parcel size limit with EMS.  He may send part of it by standard airmail, but I try to get him to not do that because it takes too long and there is more chance of something going wrong.  I do know for sure that the package with the Happis and Haoris is being sent in a single package by EMS, so that part of it will be here by Wednesday, I'm sure.  I have to be out of the shop on Tuesday afternoon, but if the package arrives ahead of schedule there will be no problem since it will be delivered before noon anyway.  Look at the pages I linked for now, and there will be more information in next week's Newsletter to bring you up to speed on the arrival time(s) of the remainder of the shipment. 

Coffee & Tea News
I have made the decision to remove both the Brazilian Brew (Santos) and the Chiapas (Mexican Custapec) coffees from rotation at this time and may permanently discontinue them; my staple French Roast of Sumatra, the Ambition, Kona Blend, Ethiopian Yirgacheffe and the new Peaberry from Tanzania are sufficient at this time to cover the non-flavored coffees.  I'm still on the fence about the New Guinea (Papua) coffee; it is one of my personal favorites, but I am not sure if we need to stock five unflavored coffees or six.  If you have an opinion, I would love to have you share it with me.  In the flavors, I have taken Southern Pecan out of the rotation for the foreseeable future, as I believe that whatever gap it may have filled has been closed admirably by any of the other nut-flavors I carry.  I have a dozen flavors; the newest of which are the Banana Nut Bread and the Irish Creme, so I think we are fine at the moment unless I start getting requests for particular flavors that I do not currently stock.  If that happens, I will of course reassess the situation and make sure everyone has what they need.  The rotation change will be reflected on the Whole Been Coffees page later today as I have time to make the adjustments. 

Since Spring is on the way to us in approximately three weeks, thoughts will be turning toward Summer heat and ways to alleviate the coming discomfort.  This usually means that my sales of Chinese Green Tea and Rooibos Tea will increase dramatically.  Even during the colder months, the Rooibos Tea remains a strong participant in the Let's-Keep-Angie-In-Business game because of its ability to make the transition to and from Iced or Hot in the most remarkably effortless and seamless fashion.  My opinion is that it is the ONLY tea who makes that adjustment so well.  I no sooner get the display full and attractive than it becomes decimated and pitiful; seemingly in the blink of an eye.  I bagged four batches yesterday and have four more sitting in their glass resting jars awaiting the bagging process.  I would like to get that done today, but most likely it will have to wait until tomorrow morning.  Check the current Tea page and let me know if there are flavors you would like to have made available to you; I'll see what I can do. 

That's it for now; thanks for reading and happy shopping!
Angie