This is romance.

Photo copyright Aji, 2019;
all rights reserved.

Now, this is romance.

We have the water for four days (what came over the weekend was a small amount, the runoff into our ditches from a flow headed downstream a different way; this is allocated specifically to Wings's land, and will feed the fields and fill the pond). That means monitoring the weir gates above us off and on, so Wings went up early this morning to check on them and fix the sandbags back into their rightful position. It's hot, hard, heavy work, even at that hour.

And he came home with that.

It's a bouquet of wild-growing Indian paintbrush, spiked at the back with fresh desert sage. The whole house smells wonderful, and it's an utterly tradish gift between soul mates, best friends, and love of each other's lives. After so many frankly ghastly days in a row, this has made my week. 

Even so, the ghastliness isn't going anywhere. We're on day two of no help, which means he's doing everything himself in this heat and humidity, with help from me where and as I can. [With my health issues now, that's not much, sadly; there was a time when we could do everything ourselves, just the two of us, but no more.] And now, he's hooked up the trailer and is headed to down to pick up the lawn mower, which is fixed, but I have no idea what that's going to set us back. We had set aside some money for [at least a little of] the medical testing I was supposed to get done yet this year, and since Friday we've paid out ~$4,500 in taxes, medical bills and expenses, insurance, etc. And once again, my health has to take a back seat to everything else, and so do the repairs on the plumbing disaster, which is also affecting my health in tangible ways. 

So, yeah, I'm discouraged right now, and I don't see any way out. I'm still suffering this invasive, full-body reaction to the steroids. My pain levels are completely out of control, unresponsive to such pain meds as I'm allowed (which isn't much, but it usually takes the edge off; not today, though, and a lot of that is due to the fact that I can't sleep, from, you know, the pain and inflammatory response and the breathing issues). I'm about an inch from dissolving myself, and I can't, because there's so much work to do, and so many things that have to be paid. Every time I think I've managed to get us ahead of the curve, even the tiniest bit, we get slapped back down, and the stress and fatigue are killing me.

I've got to make some sales NOW to cover all of this, so what follows is all the cut-and-paste: sales here; testimonials here; wishlist (such as it is still) here. Thanks to the two folks who sent in testimonials; once again, I'm going to try to get them up tonight, although it all depends on how the rest of the day goes. We need more folks to send them in, too. Wings dropped his new bead pieces (two necklaces; four pairs of earrings) a few days ago; you can find the summary post here. Please share their individual links, and be on the lookout for the other new works, especially the belt, which he hopes will be done finally this week. He also has two new cuffs (which, if all goes well, will drop later today or tonight, so please be on the lookout), two new necklaces, and a pair of earrings in the works. [Edit: Also, his new beads are waiting at the P.O. box here, as noted above, so he will no doubt have more in the new series of necklaces and earrings soon, four of the latter of which dropped yesterday, here; these are from a U.K. lapidarist, and they are a phenomenal selection, so please share them, as well.] And while I spend every spare moment chasing those sales, there aren't many spare moments for me these days, especially with my ongoing breathing issues and whatever else is going on that they haven't identified yet. So please, help us get the word out. I've got to bring in more sales somehow.



All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2019; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.