Aloha Airlines, My plane declares bankruptcy

Queen of "Too much Stuff" should mend her ways

APRIL FOOL NOT
It is not an April fools trick. I found out late this morning my connecting flight to Continental is out of business. Today was there last day! I also found out my flight insurance does not cover that airline! They did not mention that before while I was paying.

PROBLEM SOLVING
Creative problem solving in action. After much run around on all their parts, insurance, 3 airlines and more it was suggested I try a smaller airline used in the islands to get to Honolulu.
Score. So now I can still make my connection. I have been very isolated from news and newspapers so I am lucky Steve knew and I did not show up at the airport tomorrow afternoon with an empty airline counter! The airlines did not notify me even though I had reservations. So, travelers beware!

TOO MUCH STUFF
I spent the whole morning and early afternoon figuring out how to make airline connections and not be on stand by and the rest of the day packing. As usual, I , Ms Pack Rat, brings to much stuff makes too much and has to pack like a maniac. I have three large boxes of pots to Fed Ex and three priority mail and 3 suitcases! Let this be a reminder to you all, don't do this to yourselves and remind me not too again.

SIX WEEKS IS A LONG TIME
And let me tell you 6 weeks is too long to stay with others and not be working. (Actually I stayed 4 weeks with others, traveled 2 weeks, and worked most of the time.)
If things had gone as planned I would have needed that long to create a show but we ended up with a new plan for sanity reasons. My show pots are staying here and will be in a show probably in June or July. Then we may show in Tulsa if we can pull it off or at least my pots will if not sold. Jamie's pots may be to fragile. She is sending me some of her bottles to put in my shop and sell at the herb fairs. It will be fun for you all to see them.

LIVING WITH OTHERS
Jamie is a sweetheart. It has been so great to be with her and work with her after so many years. I feel very close to her and admire her personal strength both physical and emotional. She works hard and fast. Youth is on her side and she strives to do her best. She is cute as a button and reminds me of Ian in many ways. It has given me a lot of insight about her generation by spending so much time together. She is like another daughter and dear friend at the same time. Steve has been very patient having me it seems "always here" and I have enjoyed getting to know him. He is very generous with his pottery information and we have had many interesting art discussions. His daughter Bella is fun to be around and has taught me to sit down and play board games. I played scrabble for the first time the other night. I was probably the only person in the world who had never played it.
I think we all did very well and all learned a lot about each other and how the world works.

BUGS!
I have never seen so many bugs. They are everywhere in Hawaii. If you think the insect world dominates the tropics, you are correct. I am constantly being bitten by something. The mosquitoes are obnoxious and hard to trick. I took vitamin B 12 100 grams and that was no help. We burned a ton of incense, not much help. I put dryer sheets in my pockets, helped a little. Sometimes even Off did not help. Perfumes, oils, different soaps, arnica, different shampoos and more.
I was eaten alive by either something in the rental car or in the hotel Manago. I looked up bed bugs on line and did a thorough search in my mattress with no results. Everyday I had a few welts. First on the bra line, then the sock line, then the waist line. It seemed like it was after riding in the car. Who knows how long it takes welts to happen. There are roaches everywhere. You just slap them and keep moving. Fleas are on my socks every now and then. Gnats, mosquitoes, fleas, roaches, moths, centipedes, and more. Phew! And I am great bait and allergic to almost every one.
The other problem for everyone here is rats. They are everywhere. They need more cats around.

FAR FROM HOME, LOOKING FOR A PADDLE
The big island is a long way from Tulsa. It scared me to think coming home could be difficult. I even imagined paddling the canoe at one point but found it a bit impractical. My left arm is still sore and that could slow me down.
I really want to get home and hope the journey home is not to difficult and is another interesting adventure.

BE HOME SOON I HOPE
If all goes well, I will be home April 2nd late in the morning. I don't know how quickly I will adjust to the time frame. If I am lucky I will just sleep and rest on the plane and then hit the ground running.

CONTINUE THE BLOGGING
I plan to continue my blog with art and pottery ideas and more of my book info. And of course, I will post any info about my block selling. Nothing has happened yet, thank goodness. I will be cleaning and sorting and selling all kinds of cool stuff I have collected over the years. It is time to share the cool stuff and let someone else have it for a while.
Thanks for all the emails while I have been here. It is fun to see who is reading this thing. If you have enjoyed it, drop me a line and let me know at Claylady00@aol.com. Remember the 00's are numbers not letters. I'll use this blog like a web site soon until I can figure out how to make a web page.

Thank you all!