It is with great sadness that I must report that my Nana, Elizabeth “Betty” Imhoff departed from her Earthly Incarnation one week ago today, on July 13th, 2016, after 102 beautiful years on this planet. Nana and I were extremely close, and I will not attempt to do her memory justice in this brief post. What I will do is to strive to fully incorporate her essence into the remainder of my life’s activities. There will be many much more comprehensive Nana oriented posts in the future, in which I will endeavor to communicate some deeper and more comprehensive reflections of the depth of love, humour, style and strength which this extraordinarily beloved woman embodied throughout her long and eternally memorable terrestrial existence. For now, I will simply say, that one of the many admirable and inspiring aspects of Nana, is the fact that she was able to raise three daughters on her own by running her own successful small business. Sadly, Nana was widowed in her 30’s, not long after opening her first fabric store. At its peak, Imhoff’s Yardstick grew to encompass three yardage stores, all here in Fresno, California. By the time of my early memories in the 1970’s, Nana had downsized to just one store, in which I had many wonderful experiences. I loved to caress the silk and velvet fabrics, and marvled at the mysterious buttonhole machine in the back room. Nana liked to tell the story of how that buttonhole machine had paid for her trip to visit her oldest daughter Judy and family in Australia. Nana never became rich with Imhoff’s Yardstick, but she was able to make a respectable living and simultaneously take very good care of her three girls, the youngest of whom was my mother, Mary Jo. This rugged independence is a quality that I intend to emulate in the next chapter of my life. I continue to believe that the excesses of modern capitalism, with its nationalist and imperialist underpinnings, requires extensive and substantive critique and remodeling. With that important disclaimer in place, I think that it is possible to utilize the vehicle of a small business to add real value to society and the world at large, all while simultaneously enhancing the lifestyle of the individual and family. With these lofty ideals in mind, Phoenix And Phriends will continue to be the flagship art piece of EyeDiel Enterprises, which itself will diversify into a variety of for-profit subcomponents. Episode 2 is well underway, and the infrastructure and methodology is being developed to radically improve both the speed and the quality of production. This blog, too long neglected, will begin to generate a large volume of high quality content, publishing weekly at minimum, and to unapologetically incorporate affiliate marketing, all while maintaining our integrity by promoting only products and services which we actually use ourselves, and believe to be truly beneficial. The next subcomponent of EyeDiel Enterprises which is in the process of becoming a reality is the Phoenixologica Etsy Store. The first item in the store, a 1970’s Soviet Vostok Amphibian watch, is now available for purchase. The current photos are entirely temporary and substandard, but the watch itself is quite excellent. Enough inventory to gradually roll out a truly respectable store has already been acquired. Appropriately artistic promotional photos will soon be taken, and many more beautiful vintage and handmade items will be made available in the days and weeks to come. I intend to finally grow comfortable with the idea and reality of running a business, and to develop all of the technical and conceptual skills necessary to succeed, both materially and morally. Once solvency has been achieved, the non-profit Phoenix Phoundation will be created in order to address a variety of environmenal, public health and educational issues. It is imperative that EyeDiel Enterprises become profitable in order to provide the scheduling flexibility and material resources to raise Phoenix with both the safety and richness of experience that I believe he desserves. Success must be achieved through the development of a company that Queen Nana Bettina could truly be proud of, one which adds tangible and enduring value to the Multiverse.
